Because twins share genes, but may have different exposures to environmental factors, studying twins allows an, "opportunity to control for genetic susceptibility," Dr. Elma D. Baron, at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and colleagues explain in the latest issue of Archives of Dermatology.

Their analysis of environmental skin-damaging factors in 65 pairs of twins hints that skin aging is related more to environment and lifestyle than genetic factors.

But when it comes to skin cancer, the researchers say their findings support previous reports that both environment and genes affect skin cancer risk.

Baron's team examined facial skin of 130 twins, 18 to 77 years old, who lived mostly in the northern Midwest and Eastern regions of the U.S. who were attending the Twins Days Festival in Ohio in August 2002.

At this time, each of the twins also separately reported how their skin burned or tanned without sunscreen, their weight, and their history of skin cancer, smoking, and alcohol drinking.

The study group consisted of 52 fraternal and 10 identical twin pairs, plus 3 pairs who were unsure of their twin status. Identical twins share all of their genes and fraternal twins share only about half.

From these data, the researchers noted strong ties, outside of twin status, between smoking, older age, and being overweight, and having facial skin with evidence of environmental damage.

By contrast, sunscreen use and drinking alcohol appeared correlated with lesser skin damage.

Baron and colleagues say the current findings, which highlight ties between facial aging and potentially avoidable environmental factors -- such as smoking, being overweight, and unprotected overexposure to the sun's damaging rays -- may help motivate people to minimize these risky behaviors.

皮肤老化？别怪基因。一项针对双胞胎开展的最新研究表明，皱纹、红褐斑以及血管瘤等皮肤问题和长时间日晒、吸烟以及体重超标有关。

位于美国俄亥俄州克里夫兰的凯斯西储医学院的艾尔玛?D?巴伦博士及其同事在最新一期的《皮肤病学档案》中解释称，由于双胞胎拥有相同的基因，但可能受到的环境因素的影响不同，因此研究双胞胎可以“对基因易感性加以控制”。

研究人员对65对双胞胎的皮肤损伤环境影响因素进行分析后发现，环境和生活方式对皮肤老化的影响大于遗传因素。

但在皮肤癌的问题上，研究人员称他们的发现与之前的研究一样，认为环境和基因对患皮肤癌风险均有影响。

巴伦的研究小组对130个年龄从18岁到77岁的双胞胎的面部皮肤进行了研究。这些双胞胎大部分居住在美国中西部偏北地区和东部地区，他们于2002年8月参加了在俄亥俄州举行的“双胞胎节”。

在这项研究中，每对双胞胎也分别报告了他们的皮肤在没有涂防晒霜的情况下晒伤或晒黑的情况、他们的体重、患皮肤癌、吸烟以及喝酒的历史。

这些双胞胎中包括52对异卵双胞胎和10对同卵双胞胎，以及三对不确定自己属于哪种类型的双胞胎。同卵双胞胎的基因完全相同，而异卵双胞胎只有大约一半的基因相同。

研究人员通过分析这些数据发现，不论哪种类型的双胞胎，受到环境伤害的面部皮肤与吸烟、年龄增长、体重超标有很大关系。

相比之下，使用防晒霜以及喝酒的人皮肤损伤较小。

巴伦及其同事称，目前的这项发现强调了皮肤老化和可避免的环境因素之间的关系，如抽烟、体重超标、无防护措施地过度日晒等，该研究可以促使人们尽量避免这些伤害皮肤的风险行为。