Okay, so Zoe Tay has far more wrinkles than Fann Wong.

But Tay, the TV queen of Singapore for more than a decade, has every reason to have more facial lines - she is a mother of two while Fann has no children yet.

So say a number of readers who rushed to her defence after reading a report in LifeStyle last week, which highlighted how Tay, 41, appeared many years older than Fann, 38, in the recently concluded Channel 8 blockbuster serial The Ultimatum. In the 30-part drama, they play characters who were both 34 years old.

The readers who wrote in response to the story included Ms Kelly Zhong Higgins, 40.

Said the broker and mother of two: 'Zoe definitely looks older than Fann. But people have to take this into consideration: Zoe has given birth to two children. Childbirth takes a lot out of a woman.'

Tay's first son, Brayden, was born in 2005, while her younger son, Ashton, was born two years ago.

Indeed, those who supported Tay highlighted the fact that she has given birth twice, while the younger Fann got married only recently.

'She still looks pretty for a mother of two. As for Fann, she has yet to give birth, so obviously, she looks younger than Zoe. I believe once Fann has two children, she will also wrinkle,' Ms Margaret Lim, who has two children, commented in her e-mail.

But how much, really, does child-bearing take out of a woman and her looks?

Some doctors say that a woman's body undergoes tremendous changes during pregnancy, and there are certain factors in pregnancy and child-rearing that can age a woman.

Dr Christopher Ng, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at GynaeMD Women's and Rejuvenation Clinic in Camden Medical Centre, says that a lack of sleep or inadequate rest from the demands of looking after a newborn baby can cause mothers to sometimes look tired, develop eye bags and look older than their age.

Dr Valentin Low of Dr Valentin Low Aesthetic and Laser Clinic in Orchard Road's Paragon Medical Suites adds that stress is one of the leading causes of visible and internal signs of ageing.

'If a woman finds pregnancy and child-rearing stressful, her hormones will be imbalanced and she will display signs of ageing on her skin,' he says.

But Professor Christopher Chen of Gleneagles Hospital's Christopher Chen Centre for Reproductive Medicine said that while pregnancy may lead to a noticeable change in a woman's body shape, such as the expansion of the pelvis, it does not commonly lead to more wrinkles on the face.

The only effect on the face would be chloasma - a pigmentation of the skin around the cheeks, eyes and nose due to hormonal changes. This may or may not fade away after childbirth.

Agreeing, Dr Ann Tan, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Paragon's Women and Fetal Centre, says: 'With exercise and good care of one's diet and skin, pregnancy and child care do not need to cause irreparable damage to a woman's body and looks.'

Child-bearing aside, there are also other factors that could have led to the different ageing processes between Tay and Fann, or any other person, for that matter.

Genes and the environment, for example.

Dr Lee Mun Heng of Starcap Medical Group says that some people have genes that help them fight the ravages of ageing such as damage to tissues and loss of skin elasticity better.

'However, the environment plays a massive role as well. We are exposed to environmental attacks like ultraviolet rays, pollutants and oxidants,' he adds.

It was reported that Tay started using beauty products only in her 20s.

But Dr Jane Yong of Stellar Medical Asthetic Clinic in Novena Medical Centre thinks that starting a beauty

regime in your 20s is not too late.

'If you start early, you will 'lock in' your skin at that age. So, if you start at 30, you will have the skin of a 30something. But of course, we don't advise this for kids. I advocate people to start using beauty products in their 20s. A person's natural ageing process starts around then,' she said.

Whether it is motherhood, genes or using beauty products late, there could be many reasons why Tay looks older than Fann.

Perhaps one of them could simply be because she is older, albeit by only three years.

Or, as administration head Nancy Lim, 53, wrote in her e-mail to LifeStyle, Tay could just do with better hair.

'Her current hairstyle does make her look very 'aunty'. She should perhaps re-style her hair.'

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Additional reporting by Magdalen Ng

This article was first published by The Straits Times.