Medical Monday: Skin Science
By: Mark Moseley
Updated: February 9, 2009
Wrinkles, lines, dis-coloration -- just some of the skin problems that detract from the beauty of your face. Could the causes and cures of those problems be linked to your genetic makeup? A new camera system can give a true view of skin beyond what doctors can actually see. Cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Leslie Baumann has been improving the skin of her patients since 1997. She believes the keys to acne, scarring and aging is not superficial.
"Over the years I've kept a list of names of people who for some reason don't age very much, so they smoke cigarettes, they lay in the sun and they don't do anything i tell them to do, but their skin looks great," said Baumann, "Obviously that's genetic and i want to find that gene.
"We can do trials for example, where we put one cosmetic product on one eyelid and another product on the other, and when you have your plastic surgery and get your eyes done we can then take that skin and look under the microscope and look for differences."
Doctors here will also continue to offer participation in research trials, which means patients get to test cosmetic treatments for free and sometimes they actually get paid.
Some of the world's leading geneticists are already working on unlocking the causes of many diseases. They will begin to look into the skin conditions and the process of aging this year.
