A crucial protein in skin, collagen is a building block of not only skin, but hair, nails and joints too. What gives your skin its natural resilience and youthful bounce? Collagen! Unfortunately though, as it declines, lines and wrinkles start to appear. And that wonderful plumpness we took for granted in early life, starts to subside. But collagen does so much more than just keep us looking young. It’s thanks to collagen that our body is held together and made strong. It makes up thirty percent of the body's protein and seventy percent of the skin's protein. It’s responsible for so much! Sadly as early as 30 your collagen naturally starts to break down. Ageing together with other reasons – like lifestyle habits and even your genetics – all contribute to less and less collagen over time. However, it’s not all loss and no gain.
While the reasons you’re in a deficit – and we’ll get to those shortly – are common and sometimes unavoidable, there are steps you can take to boost your skin both inside and out. Collagen supplements as well as collagen inducing treatments (like skin needling, laser and radiofrequency mean you can up your collagen levels and turn back your skin’s clock.
The Common Collagen Culprits
From smoking (one of the biggest sins for skin), to UV damage (ditto), to ageing, inflammation and stress, all these impacts on your collagen levels. Your genetics plays a big role too, and while you can’t help your DNA, if there’s something like stress that you need help with, our skin renewal aesthetic medical experts are always ready to assist. It’s the same for conditions like inflammation, which you may think simply appears on your skin, but actually, inflammation in the body triggers collagen loss too. This happens when the condition becomes chronic and a process called metalloproteinases (MMPs) starts in the skin. Enzymes then sneak into the spaces between skin cells and break down proteins such as collagen and elastin, stopping them from producing. Advice and treatment from a skilled Skin Renewal aesthetic medical doctor is critical in instances like these. This means you then know what’s really going on inside and how best your skin’s collagen can be restored.
The Best Collagen Treatments
Heard of Dermapen? In terms of increasing collagen production, this form of micro-needling is highly beneficial, signalling to your skin that it’s time to go into repair mode and fix itself. It does this through micro-injuries; thousands of tiny wounds (some made as deep as the dermis), causing inflammation in the skin. And that’s a good thing! These minute needling wounds trigger the release of growth-factors. And that’s what you want for new tissue layers and the natural production of collagen (and with hardly any downtime at all).
Fraxel DUAL laser too is beneficial yet gentle, with minimal downtime. Used specifically for issues like sun damage, wrinkles, excessive superficial pigment, brown spots, it’s also able to turn on your collagen switch. Not only does it stimulate new collagen, but it encourages new healthy skin cells. Not wanting to go under laser therapy, or try out skin needling? Or perhaps you want to boost your treatments by adding dietary supplement support? Seek out one that contains essential foundational vitamins like Vitamin C and antioxidants like Glutathione. This means support with immunity and also important antioxidant benefits. iSkin Collagen has both those and more, with bio-active peptan to enhance overall mobility and of course, a collagen boost.
While we’re all going to have to deal with collagen loss and the issues that cause it, we live in a time of highly effective non-invasive treatments that can really help. By committing to them, and enhancing our skin and health with supplement support, collagen loss needn’t be a massive cause for concern. It’s all part of your skin’s journey.