## 4 Discussion
As can be seen from the current research situation, research on the cosmetic phenotype is still in its infancy, and research on relevant key markers is still lacking. In addition, it was confirmed whether the SNPs identified in the previous study were also validated in this study. As a result, two SNPs with p-values of less than 0.05 were replicated. As a result, two SNPs with \(p\)-values \(<\) 0.05 were replicated. Two replicated SNPs were rs9873353 (_STT3B_, \(\beta\) + SE = 0.55 \(\pm\) 0.26; \(p\) = 3.48 \(\times\) 10\({}^{-2}\)) and rs11685354 (_TNS1_, \(\beta\) + SE = 0.32 \(\pm\) 0.16; \(p\) = 4.05 \(\times\) 10\({}^{-2}\)). Although the trend was confirmed differently from the previous study, the problem of sample size cannot be excluded, and it may still be a meaningful result; however, further studies are needed in the future. To provide a detailed description, the previously identified SNP (rs98733534) for the moisture trait was replicated in the current study. _STT3B_ (rs98733534) has not been identified as a functional gene, and the function of the skin is still unclear. However, _STT3B_ showed replication in both previous and current studies on moisture and has potential as an indicator of moisture properties. Also, _TNS1_ (rs11685354) was replicated in the pigmentation trait, encodes localized to the plasma membrane region where cells attach to the extracellular matrix [50], and was involved in the formation of fibrillar adhesions [51]. To evaluated the consistency or inconsistency of the results, a meta-analysis was performed. We did not identify any genome-wide significant SNPs. However, _UNCX_ (rs76548385) of the pigmentation phenotype showed more significant p-values than in the previous study. It is considered an important marker showing a significant trend in this replication study. _UNCX_ (rs76548385) encodes a homeobox transcription factor involved in somitogenesis. Some homeobox genes regulate melanocyte biology [52]; thus, we consider _UNCX_ a potential candidate for markers associated with pigmentation. As a limitation of this study, a new SNPs were discovered and several SNPs were replicated, but the same SNPs showed that the opposite effect direction may be due to the insufficient number of samples. However, since meta-analysis was not performed in this study, the results may change after meta-analysis in the future. Given that facial skin measurements are factors that can be affected by various environmental effects, it seems that a number of confounding factors were included in the results of the genetic correlation analysis. Although the phenotype was analyzed by dividing it into tertiles due to such confounding factors, the GWAS for cosmetological phenotypes is still in the initial research stage, and it is thought that the statistical analysis method can be continuously developed. We hope that this study will serve as a starting point for studying the combination of genes and cosmetological phenotypes in the field of personal customization. This study discovered new significant SNPs in the combined study and confirmed that some SNPs were replicated in the current study and previous studies. However, since the current study was performed using a smaller sample size than the previous study, some data that are not important in this study may be significant in studies with larger sample sizes. Although this study requires additional research, it has the potential to contribute to the development of cosmetic-related genetic research in the future.