How young - or old - does a person's face imply they are to others, and what factors influence perceived facial age? Not surprisingly, the factor most correlated to how old your face looks is .... your age. But beyond chronological age, factors like wrinkling and discoloration play a role in such perceptions.
A study of ~2000 Dutch Europeans, replicated first in another population of 600 Dutch and then a second time in 1,000 Dutch, concluded that DNA variants in the MC1R gene are correlated with perceived facial age. Specifically, a set of four MC1R SNPs were pooled and carriers of one "risk haplotype" looked on average one year older than non-carriers, and carriers of two risk haplotypes looked on average two years older.10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.008
The four MC1R SNPs chosen to define the risk haplotype with their risk alleles are: rs1805005(T), rs1805007(T), rs1805008(T), and rs1805009(C). The risk haplotypes themselves are defined here in SNPedia by corresponding genosets as follows: