"I found out my skin’s actual age. And it shocked me."

This 23-year-old had quite the wake-up call when it came to looking after her skin.

It has been hammered into me my whole life: Your skin is the largest organ in your body, so take care of it.

And I’d I like to think I have.

I’m 23, I don’t smoke, I cleanse, tone and moisturise daily and you wouldn’t catch me dead on the beach without SPF 30+.

So when I decided to try My Beauty Potential, a free online tool that uses decades of medical research on how the skin ages to tell you your exact skin age in fifteen minutes, I figured I’d score pretty well.

But that’s when I remembered all those times I couldn’t resist picking at my high school acne.

Just as an FYI, this post is an advertorial sponsored by My Beauty Potential. 

Or that time when I was 14 and decided on my last day of holidays at the beach that I couldn’t go back to school with out a tan. So I ignored mum’s (very sensible) advice and sat in the sun sans sunscreen for three hours. Yeah, actually, that level of lobster-like-sunburn has happened more than a few times.

Hell, even last year I subjected my skin to a wholly unnecessary facial peel. Plus there’s what has been genetically passed on to me…

Eeek. Now I was a bit nervous.

Related: The amount of time most women wait  before their partners see them without makeup.

The My Beauty Potential program was created by a leading Australian dermatologist who found that educated clients got better outcomes when looking for skin treatment options. So it’s basically like seeing a dermatologist for advice about treatment you may or may not need.

Because what’s the point of spending thousands at skin clinics or beauticians without seeing actual results?

So with a small mirror in hand I hopped on the website and entered my details. The program started with a short educational video that explained what happens to skin as it ages.

I was starting to notice a few of those ageing symptoms on my own face.

As I clicked through a compilation of photographs of real people who each depicted a different skin change or concerns, I was prompted to select the image that best matched my reflection and grade my interest in treating the area.

The program covered all usual skin concerns- acne and acne scars, pigmentation, wrinkles, pores, sunspots and more.

Related: The health and beauty news that amazed us this week. 

For me, my worries were my large-ish pores, forehead wrinkles and the pigmentation across my nose and mouth.

And then came the results. The moment of truth.

I have an overall skin age of 25, so as a whole I’ve aged prematurely – two whole years older than my actual age.

However, my eye area was younger than my biological age, which told me that treatments that target crow’s feet (the tiny wrinkles around your eyes), aren’t suitable for me. Good to know.

But before I could start sobbing over the results, My Beauty Potential had already put me in contact with a reputable, quality medical skin clinic in my local area that could talk to me about addressing the skin concerns I highlighted in the test and the areas of the face that if treated, will make the greatest improvement to my appearance and skin health.

And yes I know I can’t really complain about having 20-something-year-old skin but it’s never too early to start taking care of it.

The My Beauty Potential research champions that the right non-invasive treatments may make skin look, on average, seven and a half years younger.

Ah, yes please. I would never turn down 18-year-old skin, especially when it’s this simple to get.

My Beauty Potential is a free online tool developed by leading Dermatologist, Associate Professor Greg Goodman. It helps you discover your exact skin age in less than fifteen minutes from the privacy of your own home.

Using decades of medical research, My Beauty Potential provides you with a personalised skin ageing report based on an in-depth online analysis of your face. On completion, you are put in contact with a reputable, quality medical skin clinic in your local area, who can recommend a treatment plan that achieves the greatest improvement to your appearance and skin health, based on the results.