Zits in high school may mean youthful looking skin in adulthood

For teens, a face full of oozing, bulging, and bursting zits is sure to mortify. But the puss-spewing horror may be a sign of a glowing godsend to come.

Those who suffer through acne early in life are likely to have longer telomeres (protective DNA caps on the ends of chromosomes) in their white blood cells—a feature that suggests their cells may age more slowly. The finding, published Wednesday in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, may finally explain a phenomenon dermatologists have long noted: that past acne sufferers tend to have more youthful looking skin, with less wrinkling and thinning, compared to peers who never battled blemishes.

“Our findings suggest that the cause could be linked to the length of telomeres, which appears to be different in acne sufferers and means their cells may be protected against ageing,” lead author of the study, Simone Ribero, a dermatologist at King’s College London, said in a statement.

For the study, Ribero and colleagues measured the telomeres of 1,205 female twins, a quarter of whom reported having acne at some point in their life. After accounting for things like age, weight, and height, the researchers found that those with a history of zits had longer telomeres. That finding suggests slower cellular aging because those telomere caps, which are made of meaningless, repetitive sequences of DNA nucleotides, sit on the ends of chromosomes and prevent the useful bits of genetic blueprints from deteriorating. However, over time, the telomeres themselves deteriorate, getting shorter and shorter leading up to cell death.

The researchers also examined skin biopsies from acne survivors and age-matched people who had never been plagued by pimples. They found that the latter group tended to have higher activity in genes involved with cell death. This finding squares with the idea that there’s a genetic component behind the glowing skin of some former zit zappers.

However, it’s important to keep in mind that the study is only a correlation; it doesn’t definitively prove that past pimple poppers have delayed skin aging and, if they do, that longer telomeres are the cause. More research is needed, Ribero said. But for now, those coping with complexion may take comfort in the preliminary findings.

The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2016.09.014 (About DOIs).