Twins’ Breasts Reveal Appearance Factors

Annual Twins Days Festival provides participants for study

Women who wonder how they can maintain great looking breasts may have more answers thanks to a new study of identical twins. Researchers found that breastfeeding, moisturizing and hormone therapy can lessen the perceived aging of the breasts, while factors such as smoking and drinking frequently have the opposite effect. Participants in the study were recruited at the Twins Days Festival held each year in Twinsburg, Ohio.

The researchers recruited 161 pairs of female identical twins at the festival with an average age of 45.5 over a 2-year period. Each pair of twins was studied for external factors that could influence breast appearance and aging.

After applying controls for genetic factors, researchers found that breastfeeding, daily moisturizing and hormone replacement therapy significantly decelerate the perceived aging of the breasts. Cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol, multiple pregnancies, higher body mass index (BMI), and larger bra and cup sizes were found to contribute to accelerated breast aging.

In conducting the study, aesthetic breast features were rated by plastic surgery residents and analyzed against data on the medical and personal histories of the participants. This information was used to determine the significance of different external factors on breast appearance.

The study was conducted by investigators from University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland under lead author Hooman T. Soltanian, M.D., and was reported in the September issue of Aesthetic Surgery Journal, the peer-reviewed publication of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS).

Breast Augmentation and Breast Lift procedures were among the top five cosmetic surgeries for women in 2011, with 316,848 breast augmentations and 127,054 breast lifts performed, according to the ASAPS.

Source: American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery