Featured Image Credit: Darrick E. Antell, M.D
Just because you're identical twins doesn't mean you'll always stay that way.
Like we saw the fascinating results of a pair of identical twins when one used Botox and the other didn't, two more twins are shocking onlookers with their differences.
A photographic study looked at the effects of sun exposure on identical twins, with one plastic surgeon sharing a side-by-side photo to highlight what sun damage can do to your skin.
Dr. Darrick Antell carried out the experiment on Gwen Sirota and Gay Block, with the pair assuming they looked identical as they approached 60.
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After sharing the photos, Block says she looked like an older version of her twin: "At first I thought he'd touched up the photos. I went, 'Oh my gosh, I really do look older'.''
Block explains how she’d regularly bake herself on the beaches of California and smoke marijuana during a stressful period in the 1970s, with both thought to contribute to her looking 'older' than Sirota. She referred to herself as going 'hippie' and bathing on nude beaches.
Block moved from Baltimore to the West Coast, now believing her skin had been damaged by the Sun. Meanwhile, Sirota largely avoided the Sun and recreational drugs, meaning she didn't have the same deep wrinkles as her sister.
Even though Block turned 'straight' when she became a born-again Christian, she then did missionary work under the blazing summers of China and Thailand, later living year-round in Hawaii.
As for Sirota's thoughts, she chimed in saying: "Gay's skin definitely has a different tone to it. There's no two ways about it—the sunning was definitely bad on her. Every year we get older, it's more and more obvious."
Antell took the photos way back in 1997 in Twinsburg, Ohio. Snapping the sisters at the annual Twins Festival Antell explained: "I was really taken aback by some of the differences in aging. It became pretty clear that sun was the main villain in this case."
Antell looked at pictures of the twins back in 1959, where they both had smooth skin at the age of 21.
Both decided to go under the knife, but unfortunately for Block, Antell claims that her 'rougher skin damage and reduced elasticity due to collagen breakdown' means some of her effects couldn't be fixed by plastic surgery.
Antell says that the case of Gwen Sirota and Gay Block can be used to show the impact the Sun has on our skin and what it can meanlater on in life. He concluded: "You can talk until you're blue in the face about all the health hazards. But tell them they'll age quicker and not look as attractive, and people will probably listen."
