Understanding One Truth 818. Is this premium product worth the price? An interview with Rachael D’Aguiar
One Truth 818 Review. What is it?
As we’ve previously discussed, the market for ‘anti-aging’ skincare products is absolutely huge. There are so many options for looking after your skin, nearly all of which claim to be ‘anti-aging’.
And of course, we understand why this is the case - looking younger is worth its high price, to many. And those who have the funds to spend, well, they tend to look the most youthful, and thus the premise already proves true. You can look younger - if you have the money to spend on it.
And that’s where we come in. We believe that your aesthetic age is an investment, worth your hard earned dollars. But you have to be smart about it! We help you do just that.
Today, we’re going to review the company OneTruth 818, going much more than skin deep, to help you answer the question - is this premium price point product worth your hard earned dollars? One Truth 818 certainly makes the claim that their products will do the job, consider their headline website statement (at the time of writing).
Some of the reported benefits of using One Truth 818 are lifting of the skin, particularly eyelids and the neck. In this post we interview their Co-Founder to find out more.
“Unleash the enzymes that repair DNA damage. Scientific skincare that truly reverses the signs of ageing.
As time passes by, the Telomeres at the ends of our Chromosomes get shorter. This shortening is what causes us to age. But there is an enzyme within your genes that can undo the ageing process, all you have to do is activate it”
At Longevity Blog, we help you sort through the hype and get down to the real results you want, by helping you to test before & after results yourself. Our job is to ask targeted questions of the founders and lead scientists at longevity tech companies, to help direct your personal investment into your own longevity strategy, effectively.
Once again, today, we are going to do just that.
One Truth 818 Reviews: What is ‘Scientific Skincare’?
In our review of OneTruth 818, one thing that really jumps out at us are the marketing claims that the product is rooted in solid science.
We of course love the sound of the term ‘scientific skincare’; there simply isn’t much science behind most skincare products at all. Most of the science that is in place is basic safety testing, uses animal models and doesn’t actually evaluate efficacy in human skin tissue directly.
But, upon some detailed investigation, One Truth 818 does appear to break this mould. And in our interview today, we are going to hear from Director and Co-Founder Rachael D’Aguiar about the science that backs their unique product line.
A foundational part of the multiple claims by One Truth 818 is the activation of the gene which produces telomerase.
Telomerase is an enzyme which repairs/maintains telomeres, which are aprotective ends on the chromosome. And it is the chromosome which contains all of the DNA information required by your cells to healthfully replicate and function.
Notably the discovery of telomerase won a Nobel Prize in 2009.
Telomere dysfunction is now known to be one of the causes of aging. Within the skin, increasing amounts of evidence are linking telomere ‘attrition’ (shortening) to skin aging, but more research is needed to demonstrate the direct link between telomerase and improved skin health.
What is known however, is that UV damage, so called ‘photoaging’, reduces telomere length as damage from sun exposure is accumulated. More recently, telomere attrition in the skin has been linked to significant increases in skin cancer risk.
So, while more science is needed to have ‘all the answers’, this is common in the longevity technology sphere. As we look out for our long-term health, we get to choose how far ahead of the ‘proven’ science we individually are comfortable to reach.
This is the ‘art’ side of practicing longevity, and is of course exactly where your own self-experimentation fits in. The answer to ‘will it work for me?’ - well, that is of course the only thing that really matters!
And with that, let’s hear more on these topics from an expert on telomeres, skin health and aesthetic age…
PARTNER Discount Code!
A part of our mission is to make your longevity budget stretch further.
Through our collaboration with One Truth 818, we have a negotiated an industry leading 15% off coupon code for our readers.
Use the code longevityblog at checkout!
This interview was conducted in September 2023 over Zoom and is an audio transcript with minor edits for clarity, brevity and correctness.
One Truth 818 Serum Review
Longevity Blog (LB):
Rachael Thank you and welcome to Longevity Blog, we're really excited to hear more about the science behind your product line, your company, One Truth 818. And to kick off, we'd really like to hear from you on what the term “scientific skincare” means to you.
Rachael D’Aguiar (RD):
Absolutely, you know, most skincare products on the market, are not actually based on science, the information comes from regurgitated blogs, or vloggers, and really outdated information, or they'll talk about a new ingredient.
But they don't stop to ask, what's the starting base of this? Where's the science? What does ageing look like in the skin? How do cells age? And then let's go from there. So everything we do, is based on science, not a trend, and not something that we read from someone else.
What is TAM 818?
LB: And to that point, the name of your company is actually based on some science, you've got this number in there - “818”. There's a fascinating scientific story behind where that number comes from. Could you tell us about that?
RD: I can. So we work very closely with Dr. Bill Andrews, who is the molecular biologist who actually discovered this molecule, which we call TAM 818. TAM stands for “telomerase activating molecule”.
Dr Bill Andrews discovered telomerase and is also an avid runner who enjoys ultramarathons.
You can't shove telomerase into your skin. It has to be activated within a cell and used within a cell. But the interesting part is the number 818. That's what people always ask us about.
It's also a nod to Dr. Bill Andrews’ tenacity, because the TAM 818 molecule was the 314,818 molecule that he screened and tested.
All up he actually screened and tested over 400,000 molecules for telomerase activity, this one being the strongest.
LB: That's really a sign of tenacity, as you've just shared and Bill Andrews is clearly a very important figure in the history behind the science and has a relationship with your company.
Could you tell us a bit about Bill and where he fits into One Truth 818 today?
RD: He is an award winning molecular biologist, and he's credited with discovering the gene and the enzyme telomerase, which at the time was touted as the biggest discovery since antibiotics.
It actually triggered the Nobel Prize in 2009 to be given to the people who discovered telomeres, although they discovered them in the early 1980s. So it wasn't until Dr. Andrews discovered telomerase, that it showed the importance of what a telomere was.
Now he's the president of Sierra Sciences with a personal motto “cure ageing or die trying” and he's been nicknamed “Dr. Telomere”. So he really is the authority on everything and all things telomeres.
What are the ingredients in One Truth 818?
LB: The discovery of this telomere activating molecule 818 - it has become a fundamental ingredient in your product line. Naturally, we're all very curious. Now we know this is your IP, this is your secret sauce, but what can you tell us about TAM 818? We're fascinated and curious here, Rachael.
RD: I can tell you what it's not. It's not a peptide, it's not a protein, it's not an amino acid, it didn't exist until we created it. So it can't even be categorised, which probably explains why Bill has been able to test it as being the strongest telomerase activator on the planet by over 300 times.
There are many scientists studying the role of telomerase in maintaining healthy telomere function. You can read more in this article from the Journal Experiential Dermatology.
It is completely safe and non toxic. It's a small molecule so it penetrates the cell. Lucky for me, the very first tests that he did in his laboratory were on human fibroblasts skin cells. So right from day one, we've known it can do for the skin.
LB: Wow, that's really interesting to hear that it's been created or discovered, in a way. What an amazing discovery to find a small molecule that can penetrate the skin, get into the cell and then activate the telomerase gene.
There's an important connection between telomere attrition (the shortening of telomeres) and skin ageing. Could you talk to us a little bit about that connection? The scientific evidence is growing on this topic.
Why Telomeres are Important for Skin Aging
RD: What I am going to tell you here is the complete opposite to what the skincare industry will tell you.
We know that every time a cell divides, the telomeres shorten, and that cell can divide approximately 50 times until the telomere is so short that it can't divide anymore. That cell then becomes a senescent cell.
“I can tell you what it’s not. It’s not a peptide, it’s not a protein, it’s not an amino acid, it didn’t exist until we created it.
So it can’t even be categorised, which probably explains why Bill has been able to test it as being the strongest telomerase activator on the planet by over 300 times. ”
However, if you listen to the regular skincare industry, they will tell you that to have younger skin, you need to increase cell turnover, you need to bring new cells to the surface faster, but this actually speeds up cell division, accelerating the ageing process.
With One Truth 818, it is the complete opposite. TAM 818 has been proven to lengthen telomeres. So when that cell divides, the telomeres shorten, and then the telomerase enzyme is expressed so that those telomeres really lengthen. This means you are undoing the ageing process, reversing the ageing process.
I want your takeaway from me today to be: 'cell division equals ageing'. There is a Hayflick limit, your cells cannot keep on dividing past that. It's telomere shortening, cell division, that drives this.
LB: With this cell division, you are not naming names here, but we'll jump in there and say this is the premise of retinol of retinoids. That's one of the approaches that we could say that you're citing, which is again to take off that top layer of skin bring the new youthful skin cells to the surface.
This takes skin cells through their lifecycle more quickly, thereby accelerating the ageing process. This brings us to an important distinction for One Truth 818 - you are talking about a rejuvenation and about keeping cells that are there healthier for longer.
Transitioning just over to another type of damage to the skin, let’s talk about UV damage. The “photoaging” effect. It is the primary driver of ageing in the skin and there is unique relationship between photoaging and telomere shortening.
Could you introduce our audience to this relationship?
Telomere Attrition and DNA Damage
RD: When you are exposed to UV radiation, you damage parts of your DNA. This includes the telomeres, which are the tips of your DNA, there to protect your DNA.
In my mind, it is actually no different to the other sorts of damage which the skincare industry is intentionally doing to the skin. Ablative laser for example - there is no reason why it wouldn't be the same as the damage caused from UV radiation or other forms of toxicity.
Learn more about the role of UV damage in skin aging in our interview with One Skin CEO Dr Carolina Reis.
These types of damage lead to telomere shortening, and the shorter your telomeres are, the less likely they are to be able to produce collagen, elastin and balanced pigmentation.
The photoaging issue, when it comes to telomeres, it's twofold. The cells are constantly dividing, trying to heal the damage.
It also is damage to the pigmentation cells, which then start throwing more pigment out, which is also an issue of short telomeres. The shorter your telomeres are, the more likely you're going to have pigmented skin.
One Truth 818 Serum and Pigmentation
LB: This is fascinating because one of the primary signs of ageing in skin is pigmentation which is ultimately a defense mechanism. Tell us about more about the relationship between telomere attrition and pigmentation.
Before and after changes of skin pigmentation after 60 days of One Truth 818 serum.
RD: If you look at your children, or someone younger than you, they have collagen, they have elastin, and they have a balanced pigmentation, because they have lovely long telomeres and really functioning cells.
But between those 50 divisions I was telling you about (Hayflick limit), between really long telomeres, and critically short telomeres, you have old age. When those telomeres hit old age and are incredibly short, they can't produce collagen, they can't produce elastin and they will vomit pigmentation on the surface of your skin or they will stop making pigment whatsoever, and you will have white patches.
These are all conditions caused by aged cells. They are not separate things that need separate treatments. If you can re-lengthen your telomeres, and have a younger cell again, it functions like a younger cell again.
Does One Truth 818 improve wrinkles?
Improvements in wrinkle depth from One Truth 818's independent study with Abich Laboratory.
LB: In this exploration of the concept of scientific skincare, your company commissioned a study in Italy with an independent laboratory to test your product on 100 volunteers of widely varying different ages.
There were some really interesting results after just 30 days usage of One Truth 818, and there are two categories that we want to go cover today.
The first is measurement before and after by high quality optical sensors from the company EO Tech. This provided an ability to 3D map the skin and look at the “surface topography” - or simply put wrinkles and smoothness of the skin.
What did this study find after just 30 days?
RD: To my knowledge, the largest scale topical study ever performed on skin, certainly in the field of epigenetics on skin. This is where we found the information about pigmentation, for example. So my background, I come from a regular skin background, I worked as a skin therapist for about 20 years before I came into this.
I had all those beliefs, that all the conditions of ageing were all separate, that they were different issues among themselves.
I was actually really surprised myself at the time, to go hang on what's happening here and to talk it through with Bill, and that is where we understood actually, pigmentation is caused from aged cells.
For the smoothness and wrinkles results you’re asking about - there was a 14% reduction in wrinkle depth and skin roughness decreased by 12% on the forehead, and 11% and nearly 10% in the ‘crows feet’ region.
One Truth 818 Before and After skin elasticity
LB: Thank you for sharing those. As we mentioned, there was second part of the study we were very interested in, which looked at skin elasticity and firmness.
Using a scientific grade “Cutometer” digital cutaneous (skin) probe, which is the ‘standard’ for measurement of elasticity in dermatology - there was some really exciting results in elasticity, and firmness, and in fact firmness improved by 20%, skin elasticity by around 10%.
What is going on with telomeres and skin elasticity and firmness? These are quite significant changes for these measures, and in only 30 days! Clearly something valuable is happening here.
RD: Can you imagine putting something just topically on your skin, and your cells produce more elastin?
The volunteers were between 36 and 65, so they are not naturally going and producing a whole lot of elastin and with elastin, think “elastic”, it is all to do with the tautness and the turgor (skin turgor is the skin's ability of skin to change shape and return to normal).
Any kind of sagging is happening because you have a lack of elastin, so to be able to increase that by almost 10% just by popping something topically on your skin, is absolutely incredible. Just testament to the fact that your cell is behaving like a younger cell again.
OneTruth 818 and Telomere Length
LB: There is quite an exciting story coming together here, Rachael, and in this discussion there has been talk about telomerase, telomeres, scientific research. On this topic, we have a follow-up question:
One of the observed benefits from the One Truth 818 customer base is a notable improvement in sagging skin around the neck.
Do you have any direct evidence of before and after telomere length in this skin that shows TAM 818 is making skin telomeres grow longer?
RD: All of that was done by Dr. Bill Andrews, before we even popped TAM 818 into a skin cream. He was able to say, on his scale of measurement, that TAM 818 was a 16% “HeLa”.
At that level, it should actually reverse ageing and make a cell immortal. We had a molecule that was already tested to activate telomerase and human skin cells.
The Abich laboratory studies we were just discussing really surprised Dr. Andrews and his scientists, as it discovered that telomerase preferentially lengthened the shortest telomeres first, which explains how you get such a visual result so quickly.
OneTruth 818 Before and After Photos
LB: On the topic of visual results, your customers love sending you before and after images. If you were to summarise what you have learned from the users of your product, what would you say the most common observations are?
RD: Lifting of the skin, so particularly eyelids and necks, which are typically very, very hard to have an effect on without some kind of surgery.
The quality of their pores, because everything about the texture of their skin changes. Pigmentation is another - the effects on pigmentation are incredible.
This is a before and after from the One Truth 818 customer base that appears to show significant reduction in wrinkles and improvement in skin thickness below and around the eye.
Trying One Truth 818 Serum Yourself
LB: That's exactly the type of thing that our audience likes to hear, because we are a group of self-experimenters.
The next thing that we want to ask you, building off of what you just shared is, what a protocol would be for self-experimentation.
Our audience want to know, is One Truth 818, worth my hard earned money? Is it worth my investment?
We excel at before and after images for skin longevity. Check out this post for some ideas on how to get quality before and after images for your own self experiment.
Let’s get specific - what product, how many times a day, for how long, and most importantly, how do they see before and after and know - this product is working for me?
RD: I tell everyone to take a before shot - go out into natural light, with no makeup and a totally relaxed face. Notice what time of day it is and take some photos from the front and from the two sides.
The regime, it is the most simple thing that anyone has ever told you to do. Clean your face and then put the One Truth 818 serum on from your forehead over your eyes over your lips and down your neck, that is all.
Two pumps will do the face and the neck.
Longevity Blog is Testing One Truth 818
LB: We actually have a bottle of the serum here (shows bottle), and we have been told that a bottle of the serum at the protocol you just mentioned will last around two months, correct?
RD: 8 to 10 weeks with twice a day.
LB: So just over 2 months, less than three. Thank you.
RD: I do encourage twice daily use, as all of our experiments are done on twice daily use. The more frequently you activate telomerase, the better results.
Don't buy this product and keep it as a once a week treatment, or once a month as a special occasion, you won't see the results you are after, I want you to activate telomerase twice a day to see the results that you're after.
Longevity Blog is testing both One Truth 818 Serum (centre) and the Atomiser (right). Over the course of the 3 months we expect to use 2 bottles of the serum and one bottle of atomiser to complete the self experiment.
LB: That's for the serum and then we also have the atomizer (show atomizer bottle), which spritz on your face across the day, and also you can put it on before you put on the serum. Were would this sit in a self-experimentation protocol?
RD: The atomiser is super hydrating, so if you have problems with hydration, you can pop it on under the serum, and even use it over makeup because it's water based, no oil.
For example, you would use the serum morning and night like I've told you to and then you could carry the atomizer in your handbag and use it as frequently as you want throughout the day.
Rachael’s Personal Approach to Longevity
LB: Great, thank you, Rachael for helping us walk through what that self experimentation might look like. Of course, in true Longevity Blog form Nick is already two and a half weeks into testing this on himself and will be sharing results with some very high quality Visia scanner before and after images.
As we shift this conversation toward closing out, we are really always very curious to hear how our interview guests look after their own longevity. We call it having your own longevity strategy.
Let's narrow this down into two categories. You are obviously very, very knowledgeable about the aesthetic age, looking young, staying young. What is your protocol, what things are you doing to look after your aesthetic age as an important asset in your life?
Rachael enjoys hiking and this is one of the trails she experienced recently and believes this is a one of the key factors to longevity.
RD: I think the big one because everybody looks at my skin, I have my skin routine down pat but what can throw me with my skin is hormones.
I'm almost 48 years old, I'm a woman, so hormones can be a bugbear. So really, I'm a supplement queen, I love my supplements, and most of them are adrenaline balancing and hormone balancing for me means iodine to make sure my thyroid is taken care of, vitamin B for stress levels, otherwise, those hormones really throw my skin out.
LB: And beyond aesthetics?
RD: I also try to look after my immunity and we have a couple of supplements repair for lengthening telomeres and eliminate for eliminating senolytic cells.
Another big thing, which again does come to telomeres, is I exercise. My choice of exercise is dance because it brings me joy and happiness, as well as strength and oxygen.
I think you need to find what makes you happy while also exercising so that you carry on doing it. That's a big thing for me!
LB: Absolutely, because an unhappy life is not one that you want to keep living. So I love that you take us to that point at the end. Rachael, thank you so much for joining us today on Longevity Blog.
It was really fascinating to learn about One Truth 818 and telomerase activation and all the ways that it intervenes in healthy skin. Thank you very much for joining us.
RD: My pleasure, thanks for having me!
FDA & TGA DISCLAIMER
This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not meant to substitute for medical care or to prescribe treatment for any specific health condition. These blog posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and only may become actionable through consultation with a medical professional.
One Year With OneSkin OS-01 - Review, Questions and Where to Start
we have updated our oneskin OS-o1 Review
Curious to know if OneSkin OS-01 actually works?
At Longevity Blog, looking younger is about far more than vanity. How ‘young’ you look is an asset to be protected, an investment in your longevity, particularly in developing and maintaining a longevity mindset.
But as we have previously explored, keeping your skin young and healthy extends into actual, tangible longevity benefits much beyond aesthetics and how young you ‘feel’. By switching on the repair mechanisms of your skin, you are reducing systemic inflammation across the body. In doing so, you’re slowing down ‘inflammaging’, one of the key reasons you get biologically older in the first place
In our interview with OneSkin CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Carolina Reis, we heard about the destructive role of senescent cells in the skin. These aged cells send off inflammatory signals to the surrounding tissue, which extend their impact throughout the body.
But, by looking after the healthspan of the skin - “skinspan” as OneSkin refers to is - we can halt or even reverse this process.
“Once you have senescent cells, there is a cascade of inflammatory signals leading to events such as collagen breakdown, which in turn will lead to a series of further dysfunctions in the skin.
These results in breaks in the skin barrier, and eventually, the signs of aging that we experience growing older, which are loss of firmness, wrinkles, dark spots, and so on.
If we're able to partially block the senescent cell feed forward loop, this allows the young and healthy cells to continue to proliferate, keeping up with healthy collagen and repairing your skin barrier, essentially reversing aging.” (Dr. Carolina Reis in our interview with her from February 2022)
But does oneskin actually work?
A classy, sustainable and innovative product. OneSkin OS-01 FACE.
It’s one thing to claim you can reverse skin aging, another to suggest you can halt or reverse cellular senescence in the skin.
It is another matter altogether to prove it. To know - “Does OneSkin OS-01 actually work?”
At Longevity Blog, our job is to put such claims to the test. And we did this, in a groundbreaking self-experiment that we published in August 2022 after our Founder Nick tested their product on his face for six months.
The results were impressive. With a reduction in Nick’s apparent skin age (as measured by a Visia scanner) of 7 years. (See the Before and After review here)
ONeSKin OS-01 - ONe year Later
In this brief follow-up, we wanted to share Nick’s further experience with OneSkin OS-01 after 12 months of using this product.
It’s natural to wonder, what happens after longer term use of OneSkin? Or was the testing a fluke? Could another factor have been in play?
Over the course of the 12 month period, Nick did not make any major changes to his skincare routine. He maintained regular sunscreen use and daily cleaning with a squalene cleanser. He applied a generous amount of OneSkin OS-01 FACE each evening, and watched the results come in.
As Nick is now executing a follow-up self-experiment with IPL Laser Therapy (be sure to subscribe to get notified when we drop this exciting new video project!), it was time to gather some additional Visa scanner data.
What he found might surprise you….
PARTNER Discount Code!
A part of our mission is to make your longevity budget stretch further.
Through our collaboration with OneSkin, we have a negotiated a 15% off coupon code for our readers.
Use the code ‘longevityblog’at checkout to save!
Note: You must use the above link for the discount code to be applied to your order.
OneSkin OS-01 FACE, after 12 months of continual use at once per day, significantly improves skin texture.
OS-01 FACE Smooths Skin Texture Dramatically
Texture as measured by the Visia Scanner is primarily an analysis of skin smoothness. Texture measures skin color and smoothness by identifying gradations in color from the surrounding skin tone, as well as peaks (yellow) and valleys (blue) on the skin surface that indicate variations in the surface texture.
While Nick’s forehead was not sampled in the before image, his cheeks were in both the before and after. We can see a dramatic decrease in the peaks and valleys from left to right.
Anecdotally, Nick’s skin ‘feeling smoother’ was on of the most notable benefits of using OneSkin.
OneSkin OS-01 FACE, after on year of daily use, appears to reverse Nick’s wrinkles.
ONESKIN reverses wrinkles
While we saw a significant decrease in wrinkles after six months, those changes were only just beginning. After 12 months, we can see the Visia scanner barely detects wrinkles on Nick’s face.
“Wrinkles” are furrows, folds or creases in the skin. These are known to increase in occurrence as a result of sun exposure, and are associated with decreasing skin elasticity.
“Once you have senescence cells, there is a cascade of inflammatory signals leading to events such as collagen breakdown, which in turn will lead to a series of further dysfunctions in the skin.
These results in breaks in the skin barrier, and eventually, the signs of aging that we experience growing older, which are loss of firmness, wrinkles, dark spots” -Dr Carolina Reis, OneSkin CEO- (read the interview)
OneSkin OS-01 FACE using it for one year seemingly halts the accumulation of new UV damage.
OS-01 Peptide holds UV damage stable
While we didn’t see any big changes in Nick’s UV damage levels over the 12 months, this means more than you might think.
UV damage is accumulating due to sun exposure over the course of your life. As a triathlete, Nick is outside often and gets plenty of sun exposure. Australia, where Nick lives, is also known for very high UV levels and high incidence of skin cancers.
You can learn about technologies for detecting skin cancers early in our interview with MoleMap.
The analytics on the Visia Scanner showed a small, but meaningful decrease in ‘feature count’ - otherwise tracking the total number of UV spots underneath his skin.
With this small decrease and UV damage overall holding stable, even with Nick getting chronologically ‘older’ - it does look like OneSkin OS-01 is helping out in this category too, although less dramatically.
OneSkin OS-01 FACE, used for 12 months with no other changes, significantly improves spotting (skin lesions, pigmentation).
ONESKIN OS-01 FACE reduces spotting
“Spots” as detected by the Visia Scanner are typically brown or red skin lesions including freckles, acne scars, hyper-pigmentation and vascular lesions.
Spots are distinguishable by their distinct color and contrast from the background skin tone. Spots vary in size and generally have a circular shape.
After one year with OneSkin, Nick’s spotting dropped by an impressive 40%!
ONESKIN after one year - We’ll keep Using it!
Our verdict continues to be that OneSkin OS-01 not only works, but is an essential part of your longevity strategy for your skinspan.
In world awash in ‘beauty’ products and ‘skincare’ brands, we are proud to be collaborating with a longevity technology company like OneSkin who are breaking the mould and targeting skin aging at its source.
However, these results really only apply to one person - that’s our Founder Nick. If you want to know if OneSkin OS-01 will work for you - there’s only one way to find out!
Run your own self-experiment! We provide some good tips on how to do just that in our previous blog post here.
If you decide to give OneSkin a try, be sure to use our exclusive discount code to save 15% and extend your longevity budget just a bit further.
Enter ‘LONGEVITYBLOG’ at checkout. Note that you must use our unique link here to have this code applied to your order.
If you do self-experiment, we’d love to hear from you! Please share your results with us and who knows, you might just end up on Longevity Blog yourself!
The First Longevity Blog Video Project is Here - IPL Laser Therapy
FDA & TGA DISCLAIMER
This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not meant to substitute for medical care or to prescribe treatment for any specific health condition. These blog posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and only may become actionable through consultation with a medical professional.
One Skin Review - Self-Experiment Before and After Results with OS-01
Reviewing One Skin OS-01 - Does it really work?
Hey there, and welcome to Longevity Blog. Questions like these are what we obsess over.
We’ve previously introduced our readers to the topical supplement OS-01 from OneSkin, a longevity technology company with a new approach to skin health.
OS-01 gets it's name from the proprietary peptide discovered by the One Skin research team, which has been shown to turn on cellular repair mechanisms in the skin - meaning it is actually fixing things like UV damage, not just covering them up. You can read about the science in more detail here.
If you’re one of those impatient folks looking for ‘the answer’ - for our Founder Nick’s face, it was a yes it does work! And we can show you how to test it on yourself, keep reading.
For Nick, OneSkin OS-01 reduced his aesthetic age by 7 years.
Early results from beta testers and research studies have been very promising - but of course the primary question for you remains - will it work for me? Does OneSkin OS-01 really work?
As with any longevity technology, asking and answering this question is very important.
After all, if OS-01 really can “reduce your skin’s biological age” as the company claims, then perhaps it really is worth shelling out $120/bottle.
(By the way, that’s only $102/bottle when you use ‘longevityblog’ at checkout to save 16%).
If the product really can reduce your skin’s biological age, then you might just make this investment.
But, of course, with any supplement, you’d need to know with high confidence that it is working. After all, even with a subscription, this decision could cost you upwards of $1000/year.
So - the question is, how do you know with certainty that OS-01 is working?
That’s exactly what Longevity Blog loves to do - help you figure out what works for YOU.
If that’s your jam too, please read on.
How to Tell if OneSkin OS-01 Really Works
As we covered in our interview with OneSkin CEO and Co-Founder Dr Carolina Reis, there appears to be some real science behind their biological age reversal claim.
More relevant to the question of reviewing One Skin OS-01’s effectiveness, we also asked Dr Reis how can you test OS-01 on yourself and know if it really works?
Here’s an extract of part two of our interview, where we dug into this topic area:
Will OneSkin OS-01 Work for You?
Longevity Blog:
How long should our readers run on OS-01 self experiment? What is a long enough period to evaluate before and after?
Carolina Reis: We don't know yet, exactly. For example, right now, we are running this clinical study in which our primary goal is to measure the change in the skin biological age. And we have the participants using the product for six months, up to a year.
… We continue to search for a method that can be quantitative and we still don't have it, unfortunately, to offer to consumers.
So I would say to start by taking pictures, making sure that's you use the same light and same time of the day. Take these every two weeks and every month and compare side by side.
… The clinical trial level of rigor is six months. We've heard from users benefits can be seen after three months.
OneSkin Before and After Pictures - Surely We Can Do Better?
If you’re scientifically minded like us, you might find this answer somewhat unsatisfying.
How many of us are really skilled enough at using a camera, pointing it at ourself, getting the angles and lighting done correctly/consistently and come away with photographs that can really see the often subtle differences in skin health that might occur over months at a time?
And while there is promise in some of the future ‘quantitative’ methods for measuring skin age directly, that technology is not here yet.
Surely there could be a better way?
Well, our friends, we did our homework, and it turns out, there is a better way.
And if you ask us, it’s pretty damn cool.
Review OneSkin OS-01 Effects on Your Skin with a Visia Scanner
Nick getting his follow-up Visa scan at NextHealth LA.
To conduct an effective self-experiment with any skincare regime change, we recommend that you locate some nearby skin clinics and ask them if they operate a Visia Scanner.
It may take a few calls, but these devices have become very common in such clinics.
We’ve previously covered this technology in earlier posts, and we are a big fan.
Not only does this system provide solid, repeatable quantifiable metrics (pore size, skin redness, texture, etc), but it also is relatively cheap to operate (often a clinic will do this for you for free as a part of a skincare consultation).
A Visia scan also will provide you with the “TruSkin Age” of your face, which we have deemed your ‘Aesthetic Age’ (analogous to your biological age), revealing how old you look, based on a pretty comprehensive algorithm.
While this TruSkin Age is a proprietary algorithm and we cannot know exactly how it works; Campbell Scientific have shared the eight most influential metrics which go into the TruSkin Age calculation (we share those below).
Self-Experiment Guidance
If you’re interested in giving this a try, we suggest the following:
Keep your skincare regime unchanged except for adding OS-01 to your protocol (control your self-experiment)
Get both before and after scans from a Visia unit at a nearby skincare clinic
be sure to use the same ‘prep’ routine before each scan
do with with a clean face
use the same products you used in the before image in the after image
Run the experiment for at least 3 to 6 months
Compare the results, focusing on both:
the TruSkin Age
wrinkles, texture, spots and UV spots (as reported by Visia unit)
What are you looking for? How do you compare the results?
Well the simple answers is that if your TruSkin Age improves, whatever you’re doing is working.
But of course, we love the details, so we’re going to walk you through an example looking at the four most important skin metrics for an OneSkin OS-01 self-experiment.
One Skin OS-01 Results with Pictures
Our Founder Nick absolutely loves to be a guinea pig for longevity technologies of all sorts.
He was very enthused to try out OneSkin OS-01 using the above framework, where he applied OS-01 daily to a clean face before bedtime with approximately 98% compliance over 5 months.
What did he find? Shockingly, according to the Visia Scanner OneSkin OS-01 reduced his aesthetic age by 7 years.
Most valuably, the Visia scanning unit was not with out direct justification for this drastic improvement - and we’re going to look into the details as to what changed to create this improvement.
NOTE: Moving ahead, many will note there is a slight variation in Nick’s face angle in the before and after images. We will discuss the possible impacts of these on each metric.
Visia Scanner Metrics as Reported by Campbell Scientific
Visia scans report on 8 key metrics, which are used to determine your TruSkin Age and track the impact of skin care treatments over time.
Some of these metrics are more responsive to a given intervention than others. So it is important to know which of these metrics to pay attention to when you’re self-experimenting.
Using abridged descriptions from the Campbell Scientific FAQ page and bit of input from skincare specialists, we decided to track four metrics in this self-experiment with OneSkin OS-01:
Wrinkles : Wrinkles are furrows, folds or creases in the skin, which increase in occurrence as a result of sun exposure, and are associated with decreasing skin elasticity. This skin feature has the greatest variability from image to image as it is highly dependent upon the facial expression of the client.
Texture: Texture is primarily an analysis of skin smoothness. Texture measures skin color and smoothness by identifying gradations in color from the surrounding skin tone, as well as peaks (yellow) and valleys (blue) on the skin surface that indicate variations in the surface texture.
Spots : Spots are typically brown or red skin lesions including freckles, acne scars, hyper-pigmentation and vascular lesions. Spots are distinguishable by their distinct color and contrast from the background skin tone. Spots vary in size and generally have a circular shape.
UV Spots : UV spots occur when melanin coagulates below the skin surface as a result of sun damage. UV spots are generally invisible under normal lighting conditions.
We’ll now progress through the results from each and discuss. In each a ‘lower’ score (number below the image) is considered ‘better’ with respect to the TruSkin Age and overall skin health.
Does OneSkin OS-01 Reverse Wrinkles?
“The change in the wrinkles around my eyes was my biggest visual observation,” reports Nick. “I’ve actually looked in the mirror and said ‘Wow’ out loud. I really feel as if I turned back the clock with my eye wrinkles”
But does the Visa scan agree? Emphatically yes. In the before image, a significant number of individual, smaller wrinkles around the eyes were detected (noted in green).
In the after image, Nick’s skin is relatively unwrinkled.
While there was likely an impact on the wrinkle algorithm from change in facial angle, it is very unlikely that this the source of such dramatic improvement.
The biggest impact of the difference in before and after facial angle is the change in the looped area (blue line) closest to the nose/inner eye. However, even if we removed the entire region below the eye due to this effect, there would still be a very significant change in wrinkles along the outer eye/upper check junction.
This individual result is also supported by clinical evidence (see accompanying image from OneSkin), where ‘in vivo results’ (in real humans) showed reliable improvements in skin elasticity & less wrinkles.
We conclude that improvements in Nick’s skin health from OS-01 were the driving force for this significant result and big change in the 'wrinkles’ category.
Does OneSkin OS-01 Improve Skin Texture?
Moving onto our next metric, we analyse skin texture.
Improvements in skin texture and smoothness after topical application of the OS-01 peptide have also been observed in the clinical setting. Source: OneSkin
Based on our interview with Dr Reis in February, we’d expect there would be observable improvements in skin texture.
Particularly given the noted impact of the OS-01 peptide on this parameter in the clinical setting (see image at right).
This likely connected to the observable improvements in the overall skin barrier, as discussed in our interview with Carolina.
“We assessed all the parameters after 6 weeks and 12 weeks. One of the most interesting results that we got from this study was an improvement in the skin barrier, which happened only on the side of the face that was treated with the OS-01 peptide.”
Once again, in the before and after scans, there are very significant differences.
In this metric, the overall score for texture is less significant than the total number of different blue and yellow dot pairs. These are the “peaks (yellow) and valleys (blue)” on the skin surface.
We observe a dramatic improvement in skin smoothness/texture after 5 months. While there may have been impacts from the slightly different imaging angle and small variations in the facial scanning region (the blue loop around Nick’s cheek), neither could account for such a large difference.
To us, this looks like OS-01 clearly improved skin texture for Nick.
Does OneSkin OS-01 Improve Skin Spots?
A self-experiment by longevity blogger VivaSparkle, where OneSkin OS-01 reduced the appearance of age spots over the course of 3 months.
Age spots are one of the most notable and widely recognised signs of skin aging.
Such ‘spots’ are detected by the Visia scanner, which is searching for brown/red skin ‘lesions’ (including moles and freckles) and also hyper-pigmentation.
We know from other anectdotal sources and early users of OneSkin that improvements in ‘age spots’ have been notable. One such example is from longevity blogger VivaSparkle (shared at right).
For Nick’s before and after results with OneSkin, there is once again a pretty clear signal.
While there are slight variations in the scanning angle and the looped region of analysis (blue line), the changes in the density of detected age spots are quite clear.
There are fewer age spots per unit area on Nick’s cheek, jawline and nose.
Based on these results, we believer that OneSkin OS-01 has reduced the number of age spots on Nick’s face after five months treatment.
Can OneSkin OS-01 Reverse Sun Damage? UV Spots
Lastly, we review the before and after results for UV spots.
These spots are picked up using a special UV imager and a flash of UV light, to make these spots visible (they are invisible to the naked eye).
They form as a result of UV damage, as the melanin coagulates beneath the skin surface, and will eventually lead to visible damage at the skin’s surface and are a sure sign that collagen is also being degraded.
As Dr Reis pointed out, this is one of the primary drivers of skin aging, and in fact, OneSkin uses UV radiation in the lab to artificially age their 3D human skin equivalents.
Simply put, UV radiation is nasty stuff and it really damages your skin.
One of the chief claims of the OneSkin team is that OS-01 is turning on the body’s repair mechanisms for exactly this type of damage.
However, we did not observe a clear result with UV spots before and after in this self-experiment.
While there does appear to be a decrease in the density of UV spots before and after, and the (score) has dropped in the after image (by over 20%), we do not believe the results are conclusive on this one.
In short, there may have been improvements in UV damage to Nick’s skin, but due to the small change, variation in scanning area/angle, it is not possible to conclusively determine this.
Will You Self-Experiment with OneSkin OS-01?
Nick confirms that after these results, he is most certainly going to continue using OS-01 daily.
And now, with this self-experiment complete, he has high confidence that the costs of doing so are well worth it.
This is precisely why we aim to support our readers with examples on how they conduct their own self-experiments to see what longevity technologies work best for them.
Will you conduct your own test with OneSkin? If so, we’d love to hear from you!
Don’t forget our discount code (“longevityblog”) so you can save 15% on your order.
OneSkin Discount Code!
A part of our mission is to make your longevity budget stretch further.
Through our collaboration with OneSkin, we have a negotiated an industry leading 15% off coupon code for our readers.
Use the code longevityblog!
Note: You must use the above link for the discount code to be applied to your order.
FDA & TGA DISCLAIMER
This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not meant to substitute for medical care or to prescribe treatment for any specific health condition. These blog posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and only may become actionable through consultation with a medical professional.
One Skin Before and After - Skin Aging in the Future: An interview with OneSkin CEO Dr Carolina Reis - Part 2
Reverse Skin Aging with OneSkin
Can you reverse the age of your skin naturally?
This is a very popular question. After all, who doesn’t want to look younger?
More important than looking younger, however, is the need to reverse or delay the age related decline in the health of your skin, becoming known as your skinspan (the healthspan of your skin).
Consider that your skin is your largest organ, and it plays a very important role in overall bodily wellness and longevity, much beyond how you look.
In fact, the senescent cells associated with skin aging are known to trigger age related inflammation beyond your skin, throughout other areas of the body.
Talk about beauty that is more than skin deep! If we want to maximise healthspan and look out for our longevity, intervening in the aging of our skin is key.
Interestingly, the focus of our second part interview with Dr. Carolina Reis, CEO Of OneSkin, is precisely targeted at this question. Can you reverse the age of skin?
Or perhaps the more targeted question YOU really care about - can you reverse the age of your skin? And how would you know if you did?
The team at OneSkin seem to think this is possible. And they are making some series headway on proving it. Consider the following claim, made on their website:
OneSkin’s scientists screened over 1,000 peptides for their effects on skin’s biological age and discovered a proprietary peptide: OS-01, the first peptide proven to reduce skin’s biological age! OS-01 powers all of OneSkin’s products and takes the guesswork out of choosing effective anti-aging products.
OneSkin OS-01, a topical supplement focused on your ‘skinspan’ - aka the healthspan of your skin.
At Longevity Blog, our job is to put such claims to the test, by helping you to test before & after results yourself. We also ask the tough questions of the founders and lead scientists at longevity tech companies, to help you cut through the marketing and onto the results.
Let’s do just that.
OneSkin: Can it reverse skin aging?
As we covered in part one of our interview with Dr Reis, there appears to be some real science behind this biological age reversal claim.
This is because OS-01 is not your typical skincare product. Instead, it is a topical supplement, one that may actually help your skin to become younger, at least as far as biological age is concerned.
We cover the details behind why OS-01 can produce such results in interview part one. In part two, we ask Dr. Reis - how can you test this claim for yourself?
To learn more, let’s continue our 1:1 interview with OneSkin CEO and Co-Founder, Dr Carolina Reis.
OneSkin Discount Code!
A part of our mission is to make your longevity budget stretch further.
Through our collaboration with OneSkin, we have a negotiated an industry leading 15% off coupon code for our readers.
Use the code longevityblog at check-out!
May 2023 Update
Our Founder Nick self-experimented with OS-01 FACE and had some very impressive results.
See his face before and after using high resolution facial scanning technology at 6 months and after 12 months!
This interview was conducted in February 2022 over Zoom and is an audio transcript with minor edits for clarity, brevity and correctness.
Have you read Part One?
OneSkin Before and After
Longevity Blog (LB):
Give us some advice on how our readers can run a self experiment and come to the conclusion - yes, OS-01 helped my skin be healthier.
Dr. Carolina Reis (CR): We continue to search for a method that can be quantitative and we still don't have it, unfortunately, to offer to consumers.
We do have the molecular clock (MolClock, more on that shortly), but it's not a consumer friendly testing method primarily because requires a skin biopsy to access skin biological age changes.
So I would say to start by taking pictures, making sure that's you use the same light and same time of the day. Take these every two weeks and every month and compare side by side.
For the future, we are trying to develop a method that ideally would be non invasive. Perhaps using a tape stripping, where you could collect samples from your skin and we could predict your skin biological age.
OneSkin How to Use It
LB: First off, whenever you need guinea pigs for your biological skin age, we are happy to participate!
How long should our readers run that self experiment? What is a long enough period to evaluate before and after?
CR: We don't know yet, exactly. For example, right now, we are running this clinical study in which our primary goal is to measure the change in the skin biological age. And we have the participants using the product for six months, up to a year.
Our Founder Nick is using a before & after approach to validate OS-01 on his skin using a Visia scanner. He is retesting at 3 months.
August 2022 Update: Nick’s results are in and you’ll be shocked
We need to collect biopsies and sequence the DNA, isolate the DNA and then measure the skin biological age before and after treatment. We do know the process of improvement is incremental. Soon we will have good data from this clinical study.
We get a lot of feedback from our customers with testimonials around the improvement of dark spots and sun damage. You can certainly see this from pictures. Some see improvement in three months or less.
The clinical trial level of rigor is six months. We've heard from users benefits can be seen after three months.
LB: Just to contribute to the discussion, our plan is to have our Founder Nick test the product for three months with before and after assessments from a Visia scanner
Biological Age of Your Skin
“Our goal is to use this skin biological age measurement as our reference to see if our products is working.”
LB: Let’s quickly address the MolClock and what you just described in terms of skin biological age. This is a very interesting concept. What is MolClock? And where do you think this concept of skin biological age and measuring it is going in the next few years?
OneSkin’s MolClock is a first of its kind. Estimate the biological age of your skin through an epigenetic analysis.
CR: Every tissue in our body has its own biological age, which is often different from our chronological age. Depending on your genetics, on your lifestyle, you can have a higher or lower biological age compared to your chronological age.
What matters, in the end, is your biological age, because that reflects the health of your tissue. We are always aiming to have a lower biological age. The good news is that biological age is changeable.
Our goal is to use this skin biological age measurement as our reference to see if our products is working. We do this by reading the DNA of the skin and using an algorithm that can estimate skin biological age. Once we have that we can test products to see if they are reducing it.
Our current algorithm is called MolClok, which we trained with more than 500 samples of skin from which we know the chronological age.
LB: This sounds like you’re looking at the epigenome?
CR: Yes.
LB: Great. Thank you for that follow up and example.
Let's extend that a little bit to where you think this technology is going. Specifically, where OneSkin as company is going over the next 5 years?
OneSkin is a Longevity Technology Company
CR: OneSkin is a longevity company. The fundamental approach of our technology is to understand aging and to develop interventions that can target and reverse aging.
The first application for the OS-01 peptide that we discovered is to target skin aging and to improve skin health. But eventually, we will test and expand the use of this peptide in other age related conditions.
Because we are targeting senescent cells – which are a driver of aging in many tissues and the root cause of many age related diseases - we believe we can treat other cells/organs as well.
For example, in adipocytes (fat cells) we hope to decrease the senescent cells there to treat, for example, metabolic conditions like obesity. There are many opportunities to understand if this peptide can be translated to other applications.
One Skin have compiled an early, but convincing body of research supporting the rejuvenative effects of OS-01 in human skin. Read more on the One Skin website.
Even more, a systemic application, where we would potentially treat our whole body and prevent the accumulation of senescent cells and maintain the health of our tissues as we age in order to avoid age related diseases.
OneSkin we will not only test other applications for this peptide (OS-01), but will also continue to research new molecules and new interventions as this science evolves. We want to be the company that offers a one stop shop for longevity.
Obviously skincare will be our core business. But eventually we can expand, for example, to hair treatment/hair loss and potentially other conditions. Our main goal is to help our consumers to age at their best with products that are scientifically validated to optimize health. That's the goal.
Dr Reis on the Longevity Future
“I envision a future in which we’ll be able to control or fine-tune aging at the molecular level. We’ll be able to actually regulate the aging process. ”
LB: That's a grand vision and will get our readers very excited. You just talked about skin aging, hair loss, fat tissue, and these being driven by cellular senescence. This all fits into a bigger picture for longevity technologies over the next decade and more.
Add to that narrative for us a bit. Where do you think this industry is going, led by visionary CEOs like yourself? Look at the 5 to 10 year horizon, tell us what you see.
CR: I'm so excited about that, too, because so much has changed in the past 5 to 10 years. I can clearly see how fast we will experience those changes happening in the next few years.
I envision a future in which we'll be able to control or fine-tune aging at the molecular level. We'll be able to actually regulate the aging process.
For example, the science of cell reprogramming, the fact that you can reprogram a cell to go back in time, and to go back to a younger state is definitely promising. I do believe that those technologies will get to a point that we can offer them to consumers to extend our time in good health.
Skin age is just the first target for OneSkin. In the near future, the application of peptides like OS-01 may extend to other areas of cosmetic health and potentially even internal organs.
Another interesting technology we can explore is single cell sequencing, which is being used to understand what happens in one single cell as this cell ages, creating a very clear map of the aging process. This allows us to come up with several interventions that can reverse that process.
The same goes for gene editing and CRISPR, which will allow us to deliver specific treatments to specific tissues.
There is so much that's happening. I think the overall view is that we will get to this point in which we have control of our biology and we control it in a way where we can prevent diseases and have more years in good health.
LB: This vision is something that motivates you very personally, and has for quite a long time. It's a passion that we share, including with our audience and the broader longevity movement
We're going to wrap things up here, and as we do, we always like to hear a bit about the practical things that you personally are doing now in your own longevity strategy.
We've got all these exciting technologies coming up, but at the same time, the fundamentals we already know and understand.
For example, we've heard you mention cardiovascular disease risk in your family. Give us a few examples of your own, as we call it, longevity strategy. What are you working on now?
Carolina Reis’ Longevity Strategy
CR: As you mentioned, I have a history of cardiovascular disease in my family, and knowing that and knowing all of the studies around on meat consumption and longevity - I reduced the consumption of meat, particularly red meat, in general. My diet is mostly vegetarian, I occasionally I eat fish.
I also take some supplements. I'm currently taking NMN, and I did biological age test, before I started and I am planing to do another one to see if this will impact on the biological age itself. I'm also doing some blood tests that I hope can help me see the effects of NMN.
Speaking of NMN… Our Founder Nick ran a self-experiment using NMN + Resveratrol. Why not take the chance to read about it here?
Another hack is fasting. I know that fasting is very good for you. I used to snack often and eat every three hours. Now I'm trying to eat fewer meals and fast more.
The hardest one, I would say, is trying to manage stress. Running a company is sometimes very challenging.
I know the impact of stress in our health and, I feel, on my skin, literally. So I'm focusing a lot on meditation to be able to navigate better those challenging times.
LB: Those are very valuable examples. Thank you so much for sharing those. We particularly like your example with NMN. Our Founder Nick also tested his biological age before and after initiating an NMN protocol and improved his biological age by three and a half years over 6 months.
Carolina - thank you so much for sitting down with us today and sharing all of the amazing things happening at OneSkin. With that we can close it off!
CR: Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me!
Before You Go!
Why not check-out Nick’s self experiment results from OS-01 and learn how to run your own!
FDA & TGA DISCLAIMER
This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not meant to substitute for medical care or to prescribe treatment for any specific health condition. These blog posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and only may become actionable through consultation with a medical professional.
oneskin - targeting skin aging at the cellular level: An interview with CEO Dr Carolina Reis - Part 1
DOES ONESKIN OS-01 WORK?
Let’s face it (pun intended?), the beauty industry is riddled with unsubstantiated ‘anti aging’ claims.
It would be challenging to find an aspect of longevity more difficult to navigate than keeping your youthful appearance.
Yes this certainly does not stop most of us from trying. The question - ‘how do I look younger?’ and related variants regularly top the Google search results time and again.
At Longevity Blog, we’ve been very cautious about engaging with the skincare sector, as navigating the science versus claims in this space is fraught.
But with today’s interview guest, we are confident we’ve discovered a company well worth your interest: OneSkin.
Let’s take a closer look at why.
OneSkin: Not just another ‘anti-aging’ skincare product
Not content with the aforementioned status quo, our interview subject Dr Carolina Reis and her co-founders set out to create a very different kind of ‘skincare’ company when forming OneSkin.
One with a very different approach to tackling skin aging and invested in the rigorous science required to back up any newfound claims (which in the case of their team are quite impressive).
Differentiators run deep at OneSkin, with Dr. Reis going so far as to describe OneSkin as a ‘longevity company’ at its core.
This is of course right up our alley.
OneSkin Technology
Their flagship product, OneSkin OS-01 does appear to offer a fresh approach to tired claims - with perhaps an industry first truly ‘anti-aging’ approach to skincare.
This is because OS-01 works differently than any other skincare product you’d be familiar with.
“You use a topical supplement in the same way that you take a supplement to improve your organs, internally. But a topical supplement treats our largest organ – the skin”
In fact, it’s not even a skincare product - rather, it is a topical supplement - whose benefits may one day run much more than skin deep.
Rather than covering up the effects of aging (fillers, moisturisers, etc) or relying on removing layers of skin to make you ‘look younger’ (retinol, peels, etc), OS-01 helps your skin to actually stay younger.
How? We’ll be diving into the details in this interview series. But to understand the basics - you first need to know that “OS-01” gets its name from its principal ingredient - a previously undiscovered peptide.
Peptides are made up of amino acids and serve as the fundamental building blocks of protein. They are required by many processes in the body - in the case of OS-01, the function is in cellular repair.
Peptides are not new to the skincare industry. However, the approach used to discover the OS-01 peptide is. As are the results this particular peptide seems to realise in human skin.
OneSkin OS-01 - Aging Repair at the Cellular Level
OS-01 removing senescent cells (stained in blue). Image credit: OneSkin
This is because OS-1 has been shown to directly assist with skin repair at the cellular level, particularly in response to UV damage.
It does this by preventing the formation of and clearing senescent cells.
And why does that matter?
It brings us to the key point of differentiation between OneSkin OS-01 and most every other anti-aging skincare product.
Senescent cells are a directly involved in aging, and in many cases are known to be a cause of aging itself - particularly in the skin.
To go further into this topic, we always like to hear directly from source. So, let’s get onto our 1:1 interview with OneSkin CEO and Co-Founder, Dr Carolina Reis.
May 2023 Update
Our Founder Nick self-experimented with OS-01 FACE and had some very impressive results.
See his face before and after using high resolution facial scanning technology at 6 months and after 12 months!
OneSkin Discount Code!
A part of our mission is to make your longevity budget stretch further.
Through our collaboration with OneSkin, we have a negotiated an industry leading 15% off coupon code for our readers.
Use the code longevityblog at checkout to save!
This interview was conducted in February 2022 over Zoom and is an audio transcript with minor edits for clarity, brevity and correctness.
OneSkin OS-01 has demonstrated some very impressive visual results. Here’s an example of a before & after showing dramatic improvement in a clinical setting.
What is a topical supplement?
Longevity Blog (LB):
We’d like to start by better understanding two concepts that your team uses. One is “topical supplement”.
Your team refers to OneSkin OS-01 as a topical supplement, not a beauty or skincare product, very interesting.
Secondly, this concept of “skinspan”, which sounds closely related to healthspan. These are new concepts to our readers- tell us about them.
Dr Carolina Reis (CR):
You use a topical supplement in the same way that you take a supplement to improve your organs, internally. But a topical supplement treats our largest organ – the skin. By treating your skin topically (“on top of”) with this supplement, you optimize the health of the skin.
So “topical supplement”, basically means a product that's designed to optimize the health of the skin.
Obviously, topically, because we want to act directly on the site where we want to see the improvements. Also a “supplement”, since the supplement definition reflects better what we envision for this product.
Namely, extending their health and the function of the skin, more than just acting as a cosmetic (improving only the appearance, focusing on the surface) while we target aging at the molecular level.
What is Skinspan?
LB: And skinspan?
CR: In the same way that we are researching longevity interventions in science in order to expand the healthspan, that's the time that we live in good health and free of diseases, skinspan is referring to the time that our skin is healthy and functional.
More than just looking to improve the appearance of the skin, we want to extend the time that your skin is healthy and functional.
The consequence of that is that your skin will look better. Our primary focus is on the health of the skin. That's why we like to use skinspan instead of other classic cosmetic terms.
Why does skin age?
LB: In previous interviews, you've often addressed the concept of “skin aging at the molecular level”. Now, that's interesting phrase - give us an example of how the skin ages at a molecular level.
At right, UV damage in our Founder Nick’s skin, as taken by a Visia scanner. Nick will be putting OS-01 to the test - be sure to subscribe to Longevity Blog updates to see the results!
August 2022 Update: Nick’s self-experiment results are in! Can you believe he looks 7 years younger??
CR: Aging happens at the molecular level. As we age, we observe many mechanisms in the body that stop working properly. One clear example is the accumulation of DNA mutations, which in the skin are primarily caused by sun damage.
When we are young, we have DNA repair enzymes that fix this damage. But as we get older, that system becomes deficient.
If we are able to make that system continue to work efficiently, we can avoid that accumulation of damage that can lead to a more broad dysfunction of the tissue.
OneSkin Replicates Aging in the Lab
LB: The concept of UV radiation being an environmental trigger for skin aging through damaging DNA, it brings us back around to one of the foundational pieces of work that OneSkin has done - replicating skin aging in the lab.
There's some really interesting details here – for example, your team uses actual human skin - we want to know more about this. Phrases such as “3D human skin equivalents”, or “human cell based platform” jump out at us. You're using these tools to study the aging process. Tell us more.
CR: In order to develop a product that reverses aging, we need first to understand how aging works. If we can have a model in the lab that can replicate the skin aging process, this will allow us to test interventions.
A core piece of OneSkin’s technology is their unique ability to create human skin equivalents in the lab - and use them to create highly effective products for the treatment of aging.
We are growing human skin in the lab with tissue engineering techniques that myself and my co founders brought from academia.
Human skin is made up two major layers - the dermis and the epidermis. We reconstruct both of these layers in the lab and then test products on that skin.
We use neonatal skin cells, as well as skin cells from donors in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 70s.
Using a proprietary “recipe”, we can grow these cells into skin layers and then put it together in a way that replicates the natural human skin.
OneSkin develops products using human skin
LB: And what do you do with these 3D skin equivalents after you build them? What advantage does this provide you in developing interventions?
CR: The beauty of this approach is that these models replicate human skin so well, that the results we obtain “in vitro” (in the lab using skin models), will be very similar to the results that were observed in the clinic (in actual human skin).
This enables a very successful translation from lab to clinic, increases the chances our product will perform well when people buy it.
Examples of human skin equivalents in the OneSkin lab for three different ages.
Most cosmetic companies that are testing “anti aging” products on human skin are using neonatal cells. Basically they're testing aging products in baby skin. This makes it very easy to see improvements, but those improvements don’t necessarily show up in aged skin.
LB: This leads directly into our next question – on the topic of human skin equivalents you have samples of cells from young through to aged skin – but you also work on actually “aging” human skin in the lab, namely with UV radiation.
Then you embark on a process of testing many different peptides, several hundreds to one thousand or on the human skin equivalent model. Tell us about this process.
Peptides, senescent cells and skin aging
CR: When we started searching for moleculse that would reverse skin aging, we had one hypothesis - that one of the main triggers of skin aging is the accumulation of damaged cells called senescent cells.
We partnered with a university in Brazil that was studying antimicrobial peptides to see if any of them could be effective in decreasing the amount of senescent cells in the skin.
We started with a library of 200 peptides and created random variations in the sequence of those peptides to generate a total of 800 peptides.
We tested these peptides on the aged skin model and measured which ones were most effective in reducing the amount of senescent cells and were not toxic to healthy cells. That’s how we discovered our main peptide OS-01.
LB: Let’s talk about this peptide.
We found one quote about this this peptide, that it “consistently showed the ability to decrease human cellular senescence caused by aging, ultraviolet light, and other genotoxic stress is by 25 to 50%”.
Translate that to something a bit simpler for our readers?
CR: Let's say that we start with a cell population that's completely healthy. We then we can “age” those cells by exposing them to UV radiation. If, after the insult (UV exposure) 50% of cells became senescent in a sample, the samples treated with the peptide would only have 25% of cells became senescent.
“Whenever you have an stressor, our peptide helps induce DNA repair enzymes.”
This is a 50% reduction in senescent cells total burden. That's one way that our peptide works.
Whenever you have a stressor, our peptide helps induce DNA repair enzymes. This makes it much less likely that cells accumulate damage and go into the senescence state. This means you maintain healthy skin function for longer.
Is OneSkin OS-01 a senolytic?
LB: That sounds like improved “skinspan”! This means that OS-01 one wouldn't strictly be considered a senolytic (a technology which removes senescent cells).
It is however, helping to avoid the buildup of senescence cells by promoting cellular repair. Is this correct?
CR: That is correct, but it's not the whole picture.
Our data supports that our peptide decreases both the production of inflammatory factors from the senescent cells but it also prevents healthy cells from becoming senescent even if they are in the presence of other senescent cells.
Because the main harm of senescent cells comes not from the senescence cells themselves, but more from the of inflammatory signaling that spoils the surrounding cells, causing them to age faster.
If we can block that communication, we can basically stop or decelerate aging.
Why are Senescent Cells Important in Skin Aging?
LB: Yes, you've talked about this in a couple other places. You've used the term “feed forward”. This is the concept of how senescent cells induce more senescence through inflammatory cytokines, creating a cascade of more accelerated aging.
How are we changing skin aging from “natural aging” once we introduce this peptide to our skin?
Fantastic results from longevity blogger VivaSparkle, where OneSkin OS-01 reduces the appearance of age spots, which are partly caused by senescent cells.
CR: Once you have senescence cells, there is a cascade of inflammatory signals leading to events such as collagen breakdown, which in turn will lead to a series of further dysfunctions in the skin.
These results in breaks in the skin barrier, and eventually, the signs of aging that we experience growing older, which are loss of firmness, wrinkles, dark spots, and so on.
If we're able to partially block the senescent cell feed forward loop, this allows the young and healthy cells to continue to proliferate, keeping up with healthy collagen and repairing your skin barrier, essentially reversing aging.
LB: This is getting back to one of the points you made at the beginning, which is the desire to create a skin product that doesn't simply cover up the effects of aging, but instead intervenes at one root cause of aging, which is cellular senescence.
There's a few ‘anti-aging’ skin products that are pretty popular that I'd like to get you to comment on. Retinoic acid/retinol and hyaluronic acid.
OneSkin OS-01 versus Retinol / Retinoic Acid
LB: Explain for us the difference between your OS-01 product and retinoic acid.
CR: Retinoids or retinoic acid work by peeling off the upper layers of your skin inducing a cell turnover. You grow a new layer of fresher skin, but not necessarily a younger skin. Your skin will look better, but this does not target what is driving aging at the cellular level.
From left to right, aged skin, and aged skin treated with OS-01 (notice epidermal thickening) and with retinoic acid. Image credit: OneSkin.
Using OS-01, you can promote skin rejuvenation in a more effective way - from the inside out, instead of the outside in and without the side effects of retinols (redness, dryness, skin sensitization and so on).
LB: The other ingredient that we just asked about was hyaluronic acid. This is included in your OS-01 product.
HA is a pretty useful tool in terms of skin health – so to our question: How do we know when we're using OS-01 that it's not the hyaluronic acid or other ingredients which are producing the results you claim? How people can be confident the benefits they are seeing are from the OS-01 peptide?
Does OneSkin OS-01 Work? Clinical Results
CR: When we ran our clinical study, we wanted to assess exactly that. We want to make sure that OS-01 is delivering more than our formulation.
Our clinical study was designed to be “split face”. So half of the face was treated only with the “basal” formula and half of the face with the formula plus the OS-01 peptide.
We assessed all the parameters after 6 weeks and 12 weeks. One of the most interesting results that we got from this study was an improvement in the skin barrier, which happened only on the side of the face that was treated with the OS-01 peptide.
In-vitro (in the lab on human skin equivalents), we conducted several tests in which we have treatment with the formula only and with the formula plus the OS-01 peptide.
We evaluated a series of genes known to activate or suppress skin health - genes related to aging, inflammation, collagen production, hydration, and so on.
Customer feedback: OneSkin OS-01 heals a stubborn eczema condition which steroid cream could not.
We then computed a skin score, combining the alterations observed in gene expression, in which a high score means a healthy skin, or the better for the skin.
The OS-01 peptide formulation always achieved the highest score compared with the formula without OS-1.
LB: Just to clarify, for the readers, what you're describing is that you've taken the formulation (the OS-01 product) and tested it with and without the OS-01 peptide and saw the above improvements only when the OS-01 peptide was included. This is how we know the OS-01 peptide is the primary active ingredient
COMING UP: Self-experimenting with OneSkin OS-01
LB: This leads us nicely into the topic of self experimentation. Give us some advice on how our readers can run a self experiment and come to the conclusion - “yes, OS-01 helped my skin grow younger”…
Read Interview - Part Two!
August 2022 Update: Nick’s OneSkin Self-Experiment Results are In!
FDA & TGA DISCLAIMER
This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not meant to substitute for medical care or to prescribe treatment for any specific health condition. These blog posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and only may become actionable through consultation with a medical professional.
Assessing the Aesthetic Age with Advanced Facial Scanning Technology
How old you ‘look’ is about far more than vanity
In my last post, I shared three online tools for assessing your biological age. In this follow-up post, I want to discuss another segment of technologies, related to assessing one’s apparent youthfulness. This refers to how old one ‘looks’. In my last post on this topic, I coined the term aesthetic age, so let’s roll with it.
How old you look has MUCH more to it than simple vanity. I know from personal experience that many people who utilise available technologies to look younger often will keep their efforts to do so relatively secretive, in order to avoid the negative stigma that has become attached to it. “Oh, she’s definitely had work done”, is a typical example that highlights the stigma I refer to.
But your apparent youthfulness is an professional asset, and does wonders for your subjective experience through boosted confidence and increased self-image. You need do nothing more than ask someone in your life who bears the marks of old age in their face to describe their experience venturing out into the world on a day to day basis. Many of them will tell you they ‘feel invisible’, receive poorer levels of service in the retail and restaurant industry, and miss the days of being attractive to members of the opposite (or same!) sex.
beauty that is skin deep
There are many factors that regulate of one’s aesthetic age, and it can be difficult to find an objective measure of how old one looks. I previously shared how I like to turn the question ‘how old are you’ into a game of ‘well, how old do I look?’, getting a median guess of ~27 years old. This is one useful way of forming a statistical approach to the question, as in my experience the results form a relatively neat gaussian distribution.
But as a scientist, I crave something more data driven - and that’s what inspired my latest visit to NextHealth in West Hollywood. Last November during my first visit to NextHealth I learned about an incredible piece of technology for assessing your aesthetic age - the Visia. This unit utilises multispectral (including UV spectrum) imagery to look deep into the skin of your face for clues about its health. To complete the scan, you place your chin and forehead into the unit, and hold still while a series of 3 flash photography images are taken, and submitted to the Skin Analysis System’s algorithms. But let’s let the expert (Matthew at NextHealth) explain it…
The scan took only a few seconds, here is what it looked like
How Old is My Face?
Visia scan results through eight different actionable categories
The results came quickly, and thankfully, pegged me a bit under my actual age (34) with an aesthetic age of 31. This is much older than my biological age of 22 years old, so while it is a relatively youthful result - I’d like to know how I can do better! (If you’re interested, you can listen to Matthew describe my results here)
This is one of the things I LOVE about NextHealth. They, like me, are obsessed with optimising human performance. In the 30 minutes following my scan, Matthew diligently and patiently answered my many questions about how I can work to improve the apparent youthfulness of my skin.
Here are two areas of action I will be experimenting with improve my aesthetic age before my next Visia scan.
UV Damage
I live in Australia, where the sun’s ultraviolet rays are known to be extra intense (thanks Ozone hole!), and the relative rates of skin cancer are roughly double most other areas of the world. In fact, roughly 2 in 3 people will get some form of skin cancer by the age 70. I’d very much like to be in the 1/3 that doesn’t!
The Visia scanner was able to highlight the need for me to take much more care with my facial sunscreen routine, and search out proactive solutions for reducing my UV spots. One great option is the Broadband Light (BBL) lasering, which focuses an intense beam of light energy into the skin of the face can destroy these spots and quite literally reverse the age of your skin.
I’m definitely going to be trying this out in the near future! And of course, I’ll share the experience with you :)
Wrinkles
Wrinkles in the skin can be addressed in several ways, but I’m relatively uninterested in the ones that cannot lead to a lasting difference (e.g. creams that plump your skin or wrinkle-fillers or makeup, etc). So far, there are two options that I am experimenting with:
1) Retinol
Before (Left) and After (+ 6 weeks at 2% retinol daily)
Prior to the Visia scan, I had actually run a 6 week retinol experiment on the skin surrounding my eyes. Maybe that has already led to me appearing younger than my 34 years, given I look 31!
By applying a 2% retinol (which is actually just the active form of Vitamin A), I accelerated the turnover of the cells on the top layer of my skin, bringing a more youthful layer to the surface. I found it difficult to capture the difference meaningfully on my iPhone camera, but I did take some before & after photos. IRL (that’s “In Real Life” for the less hip crowd) the results were quite obvious. My ‘crow’s feet’ had receded, and the skin around my eyes was visibly less wrinkled. I plan to continue my use of retinol, increasing the concentration of the serum to at least 4%.
2) Botox
If you’re like me, you are likely very skeptical of the benefits of botox injections. I was under the impression that they were merely a temporary fix, would leave your face expressionless and that botox will make your wrinkles worse if you stop the injections.
Upon further research and consultation, I found none of these things are actually true. But what is important to note is that there are a variety of factors that go into a successful treatment regimine that will actually have a meaningful impact on your aesthetic age.
First - while botox might help you look more youthful in the short-run, it really should be viewed as a way of ‘maintaining aesthetic age’ rather than turning back the clock. Creases and wrinkles in your face are slowly deepened over time by long-term repetitive use (think of folding a piece of leather over and over and over…). Botox fill reduces this repetitive strain on your skin.
Second - botox injections are more of an ‘art’ than a strict science. Seeking out someone who is experienced, can demonstrate skilled results through testimonials and has an absence of bad reviews to their name is a must.
Third - consistency is key. It takes awhile to work out the right strategy for achieving the results you’re after, and if you’re not willing to put up the budget to keep the practice up for the long-haul, you might be better off not trying this one at all.
I’m currently in the research phase with the botox option on my end, so stay tuned and I’ll be sure to share any self-experimentation I undertake with botox.
How can you access this technology?
My first Visia scan and consultation with NextHeath were complimentary - so if you live in LA or have any travel plans through the area, your first choice is obvious!
However if you’re not in LA, it is very likely that you can find a local aesthetic care facility that has a Visia unit, as they are relatively popular. I am currently writing to you from San Antonio, and a quick internet search revealed at least two options. I even tested the capital cities of Australia and found locations there as well. A simple Google of “Visia scan near me” seems to be a handy approach. The Canfield Science (Visia’s manufacturer) website lists distributors in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Oceania and even Africa!
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