While we’ve all heard the old adage told teasingly to hubbies-to-be that if you want to know what your wife will look like, just look at mum-in-law. Turns out there may be a large grain of truth when it comes to ageing skin.

I think my mum looks brilliant for her age. She lived an exciting youth that included lugging a backpack across the wide expanse of the 1970’s middle east in her 20s to lugging my sister and I across Australian cities in her 30s. It was about this time she developed a strict skincare regime that set the tempo for me growing up. I have perhaps an even more in-depth routine than my mum these days, but given I have my father’s complexion I have wondered if I’ll be blessed with my mother’s well preserved skin as I age. I’ve taken solace in the latest research that suggests I have nothing to worry about.

A group of plastic surgeons from the Loma Linda University Medical Center in California scanned the faces of mothers and their daughters and found the daughters' faces were beginning to sag, wrinkle, thin and lose elasticity around the eyes in exactly the same patterns as their mothers' faces. This similarity increased after the daughters hit the age of 30.

One of the surgeons, Dr Matthew Camp, said the study was the first to prove scientifically that women age like their mothers. Until now, Camp said, studies of facial ageing have mostly been subjective and observational. Another author of the study, Dr Subhas Gupta, said knowing exactly how a woman's lower eyelids will change with age can help surgeons plan a surgical correction that will prevent the changes seen in her mother. One other reason to thank mum!

‘If you come in when you are 30, we can tell you where you will have changes and quantify what you will need and where,’ Gupta says. ’The findings were surprisingly repetitive regardless of ethnicity and actual age difference between mothers and daughters. You can beat Mother Nature to the punch and not have your mother's eyes.’ Now the researchers plan to look at the whole face in a larger number of mother-daughter pairs to see if the findings hold.

Further to this, 2010 saw the dream of retaining youthful looks into old age inch a little closer. Scientists announced that they had identified the key genes involved in ageing skin using data generated by the human genome project – the international effort to decode human DNA. The researchers, led by scientists working for Procter & Gamble, found 1,500 separate genes that govern how long people stay free from wrinkles and believe they’ve nailed the eight major causes of ageing skin.

Until now, the best that most of the expensive anti-ageing creams can do is smooth over wrinkles or plump up the skin. But thanks to research in the past few years, the findings of the multi-billion human genome project may have yielded results in finding the genetic cause of ageing.

Dr Jay Tiesman, a principal scientist at P&G Beauty - the cosmetics division of Procter & Gamble – whether you grow old gracefully depends partly on your lifestyle and partly on these genes. Dr Tiesman explains that one of the most important factors the way that skin collects and retains its moisture, using molecules that bind water into skin. As skin ages, the genes that control this process become less active and skin retains less moisture, causing wrinkles.

Another involves collagen, which gives is the protein that gives skin its underlying structure. As we age, the genes that degrade collagen can become overactive, leading to more wrinkles. Other factors involve inflammation, how the skin reacts to sunlight and the skin's response to free radicals.

Of course, all this data doesn't mean you're going to look exactly like your mum. Regular SPF use will help you ward off the sun's harmful rays and cut back on the risk of fine lines and sun spots. And, until we uncover the fountain of youth, a good skincare regimen tailored to your specific skin type will keep you looking the best you can at any age.