Are you wearing the right genes for your skin?

Every physician knows that if ten people, with the exact same illness are given the exact same medication, there may well be exactly ten different results. It might work perfectly for one, weakly for another, cause an allergic reaction in another, a side effect in another and cause yet another to dance the Macarena naked in church. Exactly. Enter the remarkable and practical world of personalized medicine, custom made to your specific genes. The slightest difference/mutation on a chromosome may result in a baby being born with any number of skin conditions, or tend to become a three-eyed Ranger fan. In fact, we are all mutants. 

When it comes to medications, some clinics now perform a personalized gene sequencing on the patient PRIOR to prescribing an anti-depressant, for example. 
It’s important to note that your genes don’t necessarily sentence you to a life of psoriasis, diabetes, obesity or any other of the multitude of conditions affected by your genes. The gene loads the gun, the environment pulls the trigger. So should your SkinDNA report indicate that your skin is the product of perfect genes, yet you decide to go and sizzle on the scorching sand and sun in the Seychelles for 18.34 hours per day, while smoking a mountain of Marlboros and inhaling Costco sized cartons of Snickers bars, you might get a wrinkle or two. This further underscores the importance of being aware of the four evil S’s for skin care: smoking, sun, stress and sugar. (For more see here)

Knowing your skinDNA can allow you to personalize your skin care routine, targeting specific potential future flaws. In fact, what you do now for your routine may not be contributing to healthy skin at all and could even be contributing to degeneration. Like maintaining your car or your teeth, your skin needs regular maintenance as not all flawless skin is healthy and not all healthy skin is flawless. 

So, what will the SkinDNA test tell you?

• Do you produce enough collagen a protein essential for skin tonicity and firmness. Should your genes show that you underproduce collagen or elastin then you should consider a collagen booster such as skin peptides as part of your preventative skincare routine. (In fact, peptides work better than collagen replacement.)

• Do your skin cells get too much sugar, which in turns leads to wrinkles and saggy skin? Your DNA can determine how sweet your blood is and how sour this can render your face, a process called glycation. Sugar binds to collagen and elastin, two proteins in our skin that keep it looking firm, young, elastic and bouncy. This produces Advanced Glycation End Products, appropriately enough…AGE! These AGEs are substances that damage those youth-giving proteins and actually prevent the body from repairing them.

• While you likely already know if you are Zulu warrior king or an albino, you can learn more about your genetic predisposition to pigmentation issues and hence damage caused by the sun.  

• You should test to check if you lack the correct genes to produce antioxidants properly. Antioxidants are essential to battle the dangerous, ubiquitous free radicals which are absolutely brutal to your face. Free radicals cause a lot of skin damage but primarily they destroy collagen, the protein that gives you a youthful, toned and radiant face.

• How easily are you irritated, your skin that is. Can you rub battery acid on your face no problem or does the slightest change in the wind three time zones away cause your sensitive skin to rebel, redden and rash. In other words, is your skin predisposed to being easily inflamed. Your genes, in fact, determine if you should be looking for a skincare product with “anti-inflamaging” properties or not. 

So, put your genes in the wash and see how they come out, clean or ……dancing the Macarena.