RoC Skincare is recruiting 30 pairs of identical female twins aged 40 and older in the US for the next phase of a clinical study that combines its patented clinical retinol with wearable lifestyle tracking. The 12-week trial will use Oura Rings to record sleep, stress and other biometric signals alongside standard skin assessments, as the brand tries to separate product effects from daily-life influences on visible aging.
Why twins?
According to Art Pellegrino, RoC’s chief scientific officer, identical twins offer an unusually clean comparison because they share DNA and much of their early environment. When their skin ages differently, lifestyle and environment become more plausible explanations than genetics alone. The company describes identical twins as close to a natural control, making it easier to see what the retinol regimen is doing on the skin.
RoC says the first pilot study was designed mainly to test whether that model could work. Pellegrino says the answer was yes. The pilot did not attempt to measure how much skin aging comes from genes versus lifestyle; the expanded study is intended to examine that question by tracking daily factors such as sleep and stress while genetics are held constant.
How the study works
The expanded cohort will follow women aged 40 and older in the US for 12 weeks. Participants will wear an Oura Ring, which tracks health and wellness metrics including sleep, stress, heart rate, heart rate variability and temperature trends. RoC will compare those biometric patterns with clinical skin measures: expert grading, digital photography, corneometer readings and participants’ own assessments.
Because the brand cannot ensure twins have identical sun exposure or diets, it is recruiting pairs with similar levels of environmental damage wherever possible and monitoring sleep and stress throughout the study. Pellegrino says the combination allows researchers to ask whether a twin who sleeps poorly or reports more stress responds differently to the regimen than her sister.
That could include checking whether weeks of poor sleep line up with lower hydration readings, or whether the twin with lower stress sees fine lines improve faster. RoC is also interested in the reverse question: whether visible skin improvements make participants feel less stressed.
Pilot signals and limits
Pellegrino says twins in the pilot’s placebo group had similar or worse signs of aging at the end, while twins in the treatment group showed as much as or more than 20% improvement in four weeks. Those are company-reported pilot observations, not proof that the product will produce the same results in the larger study. The brand frames the work as one stage in a longer research program on “skin span,” or how long skin keeps looking its best.
Across the skincare industry, Pellegrino says wearables are creating an opportunity to factor in how people live when recommending products. RoC expects results from the twin study by mid-2027 and says the findings will shape how it develops products for skin longevity and designs future clinical studies.