Los Angeles Times
Twins Face Off in Plastic Surgery Study
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This week is the annual shindig of the American
Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery when hundreds
of docs gather to chew the fat over mid-cheek anatomy,
neck aesthetics and scientific algorithms for suturing
broad or bulbous nose-tips. Among the exciting-sounding
talks ("Malpractice Litigation After Rhinoplasty,
Mastering Shape and Contour of Buttock and Lateral
Thigh") was this one: "The Twins Facelift Study
- Six Years Later." What is it about?
Elizabeth Sadati, spokeswoman for the society,
told us that there's a lot of debate among aesthetic
plastic surgeons about the best way to do a facelift.
So, six years ago, four docs decided to each use
their favorite method on two sets of identical twins-and
from time to time the four get together and present
pictures of the twins to their colleagues. Then
the surgeons have a good old natter about how each
face is holding up.
"Because twins are genetically as close as you
can get, it was felt that this might be one way
to kind of judge the longevity and overall results
of these various facelift techniques," Sadati explains-though
clearly, she adds, this isn't a scientific study.
You can only compare identical twin with identical
twin, for one. Different docs did the surgery, for
two.
For three, there's many a thing besides genes that
determines how fast ones face develops wrinkles,
age spots and jowls like a bloodhound: smoking,
sun damage, stress, nutrition, alcohol consumption
- ah, the face I might have now could I only turn
back the clock.
It would be gorgeous, I am sure. The benefits of
clean living are nicely illustrated by photos taken
by dermatologists of the smooth, youthful faces
of elderly monks who've lived lives of serenity
and virtue (out of the sun, none of this boozing
and puffing and yanking ones face into grimaces
and grins all the time).
They're well-illustrated too, by a study done by
New York plastic surgeon Dr. Darrick Antell.
Antell went to Twinsburg, Ohio (where twins meet
up once a year), took photos of more than 50 pairs
of identical twins and got them to fill out questionnaires
about their lives. (Fun study!)
Some of the twins, he found, were still very alike
in midlife-such as a pair of Mennonite women who
had great skin and lived similarly sin-free lives,
in the same house even. (Antell's doing his own
facelift study on twin pairs who've aged very similarly.)
Other twins, though, differed a lot-such as relatively
youthful-looking Gwyn and her more-wrinkled sister
Gay, who loved to sunbathe, smoked a pack of cigarettes
a day for years, drank and had a lot of stress in
her life.
Most of us know why the sunÁs bad for skin: It's
those UV rays trashing the collagen and elastin
that makes skin young and pliant. And smoking does
its number by narrowing blood vessels in the skin-cutting
it off from nutrients and oxygen. But stress?
Again, says Antell, it's a matter of the
blood supply: When we get wigged out, hormones direct
blood away from the skin and toward vital organs
like the heart so we can run away from that mastodon
or wolf or whatever. These days, though, stress
in the workplace and elsewhere in our life is kind
of like spending all day getting chased by a mastodon.
Is that how I came by my wrinkles? If so, I feel
cheated. I'd sooner they came from debauchery.
Sleep Better, Be Smarter
Antell's study didn't reveal whether sleep deprivation
also helps turn faces to prunes - but, hey, even
if it doesn't sleep deprivation may stop connections
between nerves in the brain from changing when we
experience new things, according to the journal
Neuron. (Change of this kind is good: It's
what learning is all about.)
This finding - by scientists at UC San Francisco
- came from studies on cats but could well apply
to us too. And it's just the latest chapter on what
the point of sleeping even is: After all these years,
scientists still don't really know.
What can you do to help your neurons make oodles
of new connections? In a pamphlet we have just received,
the Better Sleep Council reminds us that "sudden
loud noises...can disrupt sleep" and "if you sleep
with a partner, your mattress should offer you both
enough space" and suggests we try sleeping in dark
rooms and avoid caffeinated beverages before bedtime.
I will bear those things in mind.
Plastic
surgery article by Rosie Mestel
Other related articles on twins
and plastic surgery:
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