RoC Skincare is preparing a larger clinical study of its patented clinical retinol in identical twins after a pilot that combined skin assessments with wearable biometric data. The next phase will recruit 30 pairs of adult women aged 40 and older in the United States and follow them for 12 weeks, the company says.
The model rests on genetics being held constant. Identical twins share DNA and much of their early environment, so differences in skin aging are more likely to be explained by lifestyle or product use, according to Art Pellegrino, RoC's chief scientific officer. He says twins are about as close as researchers get to a natural control.
What the pilot measured
In the pilot, RoC paired its retinol regimen with clinical skin measures and Oura Rings, which track sleep, stress, heart rate, heart rate variability and temperature trends. The company says the pilot was designed to test whether identical twins could provide a more precise way to study visible skin aging; Pellegrino says the answer was yes.
RoC reports that twins in the placebo group had similar or worse signs of aging at the end of the pilot, while those in the treatment group showed at least 20% improvement in four weeks. Those results are company-reported and come from a pilot, not a completed larger trial.
The pilot did not try to quantify how much skin aging comes from genes versus lifestyle, Pellegrino says. That question is left to the expanded study, which aims to examine how daily factors such as sleep and stress change the picture when genetics are held constant.
Adding lifestyle data
Participants will wear Oura Rings throughout the study. RoC plans to compare each twin with her sister, looking at whether poor sleep or higher stress lines up with differences in skin response. Examples include checking whether weeks of poor sleep coincide with lower hydration readings, or whether the twin with lower stress sees fine lines improve faster. The company is also interested in whether visible skin improvements make participants feel less stressed.
Skin changes will be assessed through expert grading, digital photography, corneometer readings and participant self-assessment. The combination is intended to connect clinical skin measures with lifestyle data rather than rely on either alone.
Limits and next steps
RoC cannot guarantee that twins have identical external influences such as sun exposure or diet. The company says it is recruiting pairs with similar levels of environmental damage where possible and tracking sleep and stress closely during the study.
Pellegrino says the findings will shape how RoC develops products for skin longevity and designs future clinical studies. The company expects results from the twin study by mid-2027.