Skin stretchability and sagging: The impact of aging, ethnicity, BMI, and skincare interventions

Summary: Skin’s mechanical properties, including stretchability, are essential for skin function and change with intrinsic and extrinsic aging. Loss of stretchability due to reduced collagen and elastin contributes to skin sagging. We previously introduced a novel tensile test method that appeared to correlate more strongly with skin aging than cutometers and allows direct measurement of stretchability in the direction of gravity. In this study, we applied this method to a large cohort to further investigate correlations between skin stretchability and aging as well as other factors like BMI and ethnicity. Additionally, we assessed improvements in stretchability and visible sagging following a 12-week application of skin creams. A cohort of 280 women (ages 10–78) was evaluated for skin stretchability using our previously validated skin tensile test. Demographic data, including age, height, weight, and ethnicity, were recorded. In a separate open label clinical study, skin stretchability and sagging were evaluated in 92 women (ages 35–64) over a 12-week period following the application of skin creams with assessments at weeks 0, 4, 8, and 12. The cohort analysis revealed a decline in skin stretchability with age (r= 0.414, p<0.001), with a more pronounced decrease in Caucasians compared to African Americans (p<0.001). BMI also influenced the rate of decline. The clinical study demonstrated improved skin stretchability (p<0.05) at different time points following cream application, which was aligned with visual reductions in sagging. Our findings confirm the correlation between skin stretchability and aging with variations across ethnic groups and BMI categories in a large cohort. The observed improvements of skin stretchability after skincare treatment correspond to observed sagging improvement. These results underscore the importance of skin stretchability in aging-related concerns and highlight its potential as a target for sagging interventions Rong Kong¹, Robin Thacker¹, Krystal Henry¹, Chithra Ganesan¹, Beth Swansegar¹, Bethany Thimmesch¹, Louise Schneider¹ 1. Research and Development, Amway Corp, Ada, MI, United States. Clinical Research: Epidemiology and Observational Research