Beauty Doc Blog

It is common knowledge that as we age, our bones lose some of their strength, and we should ingest calcium to keep them strong.  But did you know that collagen is what makes our skin strong, and that through aging it, too, decreases, just like calcium?  Collagen is important to not only our skin’s health and beauty, but for staving off certain diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.  Collagen is something which should not be overlooked.

Collagen: What it is

For something that is invisible to the naked eye, collagen is surprisingly strong: it is a main factor in the strength of our tendons, cartilage, ligaments, bones and teeth.  It is also what makes skin durable and elastic, and a reduction in collagen means the deterioration of your skin.  Collagen exists on the inner layer of the skin, so it is responsible for a lot of the building-block aspects of your skin’s outer beauty and inner health.

Collagen and aging

Because collagen is so important to the skin’s appearance and structure, it stands to reason that collagen would be a contributing factor in wrinkles and age lines.  Wrinkles are a result of a decrease in collagen.  Young children and youths can smile and frown, and their face returns to its normal shape quickly.  This is because they have an abundance of collagen, and their skin is very elastic.  As we age, we lose the ability to quickly recover our collagen, and thus the elasticity of our skin diminishes.  The smile lines are slower to refresh, and ultimately they are a permanent fixture on our faces.

What you can do about collagen

Many regular, over-the-counter products claim to fight wrinkles, but they just won’t do the trick – they are topical and cannot penetrate down to the collagen layer of skin in order to fix the root of all wrinkles.

You can find collagen supplements that are ingestible, and that work to replace the collagen that your body needs.  These will not solve any existing wrinkle problem unfortunately, but they will be effective in preventing future ones.

There is a procedure known as collagen replacement therapy that has been in common use since 1981.  It is approved by the FDA, and is a plastic surgery that is extremely safe.  It replaces the collagen under your skin in order to give it an elastic appearance once more and remove any wrinkles or fine lines you might have.  Your doctor will inject collagen into the affected areas in a quick procedure that takes about twenty minutes.  You will notice the results immediately, and they will last from three to six months