Dwarfs can live for hundreds of years, but how? (Dermatologists hate them!)

From the dawn of fantasy fiction, dwarfs have most often been described roughly in the same way: short and stocky, long beards, can smith stuff, good fighters, can live for hundreds of years aging very slowly after "puberty", heavy drinkers.

But now, dermatologists want to know their secret.

How can they live so long and start growing wrinkles only after 100-200 years? And they even keep their strength and endurance! If only we could understand more... "scientifically" how their body works.

(No dwarfs were harmed in the making of this question.)

Jokes aside, what would need to change in human biology - aside from build and height, of course - to create dwarfs and have them live for at least 200 years without suffering from age-related issues, only starting to actually "enter old age" after that period?

All I can think of is something along the lines of "stem cells, but more numerous and on steroids".

Would this even be possible in our world? If not, what could be changed to allow it?

Dwarf from after puberty (25 years?) to 200 or more years of age (image source)

Dwarf in old age, with regular wrinkles, aches and whatever (image source)

posted about 6 years ago

Hankrecords‭

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