An In-Depth Look At Beauty DNA Test Kits
Beauty DNA kits are gaining popularity, but are they any good?
Beauty DNA test kits are gaining popularity. However, the accuracy of these at-home test kits is being questioned by those in the scientific community. Beauty DNA test kits examine patients’ genetic makeup to determine the health of their skin and hair. Kelsey Castanon from PopSugar tested a few beauty DNA kits and shared her results. Based on the article she wrote, these kits can be quite pricey, and the results can vary in range, depending on the test one takes.
The first two beauty DNA kits Castanon tested were from Orig3n, which costs $99 and Vitagene’s Skin Report, which costs $79. The results of both tests mainly focused on Castanon’s skin health. Based on her results, Orig3n and Vitagene recommended specific practices or certain ingredients to look for in beauty products to maintain or improve her skin’s health. Meanwhile, the third kit–HomeDNA Skin Care kit–gave the PopSugar reporter an extensive 11-page report on her skin health. Unlike the other two tests, however, the $99 DNA kit recommended specific products for Castanon to buy and use.
Scientists and professional medical providers seem to have a growing concern about the recommendations for at-home genetic tests like the HomeDNA Skin Care kit make to their patients. For this reason, Ambry Genetics tested the accuracy of at-home DNA tests. The study did not focus on beauty concerns, but diagnoses or medical predispositions patients had toward a particular illness or disease. The researchers concluded that up to 40 percent of raw data collected by the kits yielded false positives. In other words, the DNA kits are not that accurate in determining future medical risks, reported Fortune.
Hadley King, a dermatologist, talked about beauty DNA kits and their accuracy, as per Huffington Post. King’s thoughts on these home beauty tests seem to reflect the findings of Ambry Genetics’ study.
“At this stage right now, I think this is mostly a gimmick. Some of the products are great because they contain important ingredients like retinol and vitamin C, but we really don’t need to check DNA to recommend these ingredients. The future of medicine is definitely headed in a DNA-specific direction, but we are not yet at the stage where we can effectively harness this information for beauty products,” King said.
The study also observed that the recommendations at-home DNA kits made were not specific to a patient’s results, but were true for the general population, reported Nature. Both the study and King recommend talking to a medical provider when determining health care needs. Researchers believe the results from at-home DNA kits should be shared with a medical professional before treatment.
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