After investigating my unusual skin/tissue traits via Grok-AI, the working theory I came up with is that my elastin production never turned off and is still producing elastin at high rates. I passed all the simple test criteria Grok came up with for that. Anyone here have tests or questions for me?
Which ones. More info please.
Via Google AI…
In elderly males, elastin production declines, leading to traits like sagging, looser skin, and reduced elasticity. This age-related loss of elastin, along with collagen, contributes to wrinkles and skin fragility. Other skin changes include a thinner epidermis, reduced sweat and oil production, and more fragile blood vessels that cause easier bruising.
Skin and tissue traits
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Reduced elasticity: Elastin and collagen levels decrease, causing the skin to lose its firmness and develop sagging and wrinkles.
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Increased fragility: The skin becomes more fragile and may tear or bruise more easily due to a thinning of the epidermis and the underlying supportive structures.
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Structural changes: Elastin fibers can become fragmented, and the overall architecture of the dermal connective tissue changes with age.
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Thinner appearance: The epidermis thins, making the skin appear more transparent.
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Loss of firmness: Skin firmness decreases significantly with age, as shown by compression tests, which is a direct result of the loss of structural proteins like elastin and collagen.
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Changes in fiber characteristics: Studies have found that elastin fibers in aged skin can become thicker and more curved, though the overall network integrity decreases, as noted in this Nature article and this NIH study.
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Increased bruising: Fragile blood vessels in older skin are more prone to damage, leading to easier bruising.
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Decreased glandular activity: The skin produces less sweat and oil with age, which can lead to dryness.
Factors influencing these changes
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Intrinsic aging: The natural, chronological aging process itself leads to a gradual decline in elastin and collagen production.
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Extrinsic factors: Environmental factors, particularly ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, accelerate skin aging and damage elastin fibers.
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Hormonal and health changes: Hormonal shifts and chronic conditions that are more common in older adults can also impact skin health and the production of these vital proteins.
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Smooth, highly elastic skin with only my face showing any age/sun damage. Extreme joint and tendon durability (play soccer 3x per week with no injury or bruising). Grok estimate of hand/foot photos was age 30, unprompted. Pass skin-pinch tests as if in twenties.
Further data - elastin production acts as extreme glucose sink. Sugar load test after fasting:
Blood sugar went DOWN 15% for an hour, then gradually back to starting point. No BP change over the time period.
Unless you can figure out some way to quantitatively measure this (or at last objectively estimate it) this seems like a stretch…
Here is what CGPT5 says on measuring elastin:
There is no direct, non-invasive test currently available to measure elastin production in living human skin — elastin turnover is notoriously difficult to quantify because:
- Elastin synthesis occurs mainly during fetal and early postnatal life; adult skin has extremely low elastin mRNA expression and minimal new elastin formation.
- The protein’s half-life is decades long, so any change in elastin content happens slowly and at microscopic levels.
That said, there are indirect and research-grade methods that estimate elastin content, degradation, or elastic function. Here’s a breakdown:
1. Histological / Biopsy-Based Quantification (Direct but Invasive)
- Elastin staining (e.g., Verhoeff–Van Gieson, Orcein, or Hart’s stain) can visually quantify elastin fibers in biopsy tissue.
- Immunohistochemistry with antibodies to tropoelastin, fibrillin-1, or fibulin-5 reveals new elastin synthesis or organization.
- Quantitative image analysis of stained sections or electron microscopy can measure fiber density and morphology.
- Occasionally, ELISA for desmosine/isodesmosine (elastin crosslinking amino acids) is performed on skin extracts to quantify total elastin.
Used mainly in clinical research or drug/peptide trials (e.g., tropoelastin stimulators, retinoid studies).
2. Non-Invasive Mechanical / Optical Estimates (Functional Proxies)
These methods assess elastic recoil or viscoelasticity rather than protein synthesis directly:
- Cutometer® (suction elasticity test): Measures deformation (Ue, Uf) and retraction (Ur, Ua) under vacuum. Ratios such as R2 (gross elasticity) and R7 (elastic recovery) correlate moderately with dermal elastin density.
- Ballistometer / Reviscometer / DermaLab elasticity probes: Use mechanical impact or vibration to assess elastic return. They give reproducible relative values that track changes over time.
- High-frequency ultrasound (20–50 MHz) or Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT): Detect dermal echogenicity and structure; lower echogenicity often corresponds to degraded collagen/elastin networks.
- Multiphoton microscopy (two-photon fluorescence + second harmonic generation): Can directly visualize elastin fibers (autofluorescence) vs. collagen (SHG). Used in advanced research and sometimes in anti-aging clinical trials.
3. Biochemical or Molecular Markers (Indirect)
While not skin-specific, certain circulating or tissue markers can suggest elastin turnover:
- Desmosine / Isodesmosine (plasma or urine): Crosslink amino acids released during elastin degradation — elevated in COPD, photoaging, or elastolytic conditions.→ Reflect degradation, not synthesis.
- mRNA or protein assays (skin biopsy or culture): Tropoelastin (ELN gene), fibrillin-1, fibulin-5, and lysyl oxidase-like 1 (LOXL1) expression levels can indicate active elastogenesis.
4. Indirect Clinical Surrogates
In practice, physicians or aesthetic researchers estimate “functional elastin” through:
- Elastic recoil on Cutometer / Reviscometer (tracked over months)
- Skin thickness / density by ultrasound or OCT
- Photodamage scoring systems (Glogau, Griffiths, etc.)
- Response to known elastin-stimulating interventions (e.g., retinoids, fractional lasers, radiofrequency, micro-needling with growth factors, or exogenous tropoelastin peptides)
Practical Takeaway
There’s no consumer or clinic test that quantifies skin elastin production per se.
You can estimate dermal elastic function or remodeling using:
- Cutometer or Reviscometer readings
- High-resolution ultrasound/OCT imaging
- Serial comparison of skin elasticity and firmness over 6–12 months
I would not put much value in visual self measurements as we all want our skin to look good, so the bias is strong. If you want to do the indirect clinical surrogate measures in as objectively a way as possible, see this CGPT output: