Will Collagen Skin Care Products Renew Your Skin?

You may currently be on the lookout for good collagen skin care products to help you improve your skin tone and reduce wrinkles. 

After all, collagen is a vital and essential protein that keeps our skin supple, firm and healthy. A decrease in the production of collagen will show most prominently in increased dry facial skin and wrinkles. Collagen breaks down over time.

Are collagen skin care products the answer? Let’s see… As we age, our body is no longer able to replenish and replace the damaged collagen to the degree that it once did. The skin’s integrity is compromised and the result is wrinkles.

Stress can also damage collagen. During a stressful situation, the levels of Cortisol, the major stress hormone, rise dramatically, leading to inflammation and a breakdown of collagen. Other factors include hormonal changes, smoking, sun damage, and free radicals.

Ideally, collagen skin care products would provide a simple, clear-cut way to reduce the breakdown of collagen and increase its production, thereby preventing wrinkles. Unfortunately, the answer to collagen breakdown and replenishment is not so simple. 

The main problem with collagen skin care products, which have been on the market for many years, is they lack the ability to produce collagen.

The skin creams that comprise most collagen skin care products serve primarily as skin moisturizers that may help to cover wrinkles temporarily. 

For these products to be effective, the new collagen would have to be able to penetrate the surface of the skin and become a part of the dermis, which is the skin’s inner layer. Penetration is impossible, however, because collagen molecules are simply too large. As a result, the collagen remains on the surface of the skin, unable to replenish the damaged collagen inside the skin.

If collagen skin care products do not provide an answer to delivering collagen in an effective manner directly to the dermis, is collagen skin care a lost cause? 

Hardly. Collagen skin care is not out of the question. There are a number of ways to replenish the body’s diminishment of collagen. More research is needed to determine whether transdermal delivery systems for bringing collagen to the dermis are effective. Some companies claim their delivery system can penetrate the skin’s surface and deliver collagen to the right place. However, only small internal studies conducted by the product manufacturers have been reported.

Collagen injections to fill in under wrinkles are another approach being used.

Pain, discomfort, repeat injections every few months, allergic reaction, infection, uneven results - as if the idea of a needle under your eye weren’t enough to dissuade you - are some obvious drawbacks for this method of replenishing collagen and disguising wrinkles. (You might be tempted to reconsider those ineffective collagen skin care products - at least they won’t hurt you (only your bank account).

Bovine collagen, which is the most common and least expensive form of collagen being used today, could cause an allergic reaction, for example. Injected human collagen shares similar properties as its bovine equivalent, but does not require allergy testing, though it is more expensive.

If collagen skin care products are ineffective; if transdermal collagen delivery systems are unproven; if collagen injections pose too many drawbacks… what does the average person concerned with reducing and preventing wrinkles do?

The most effective, proven, safe and logical way to reduce and prevent wrinkles is to stimulate your skin cells to naturally produce more collagen.

In this way, the loss of collagen is reversed and your skin will regain the firm, supple tone and texture you enjoyed even decades ago. 

So how do we stimulate the production of collagen? First of all, practice sound, fundamental, good skin care on a daily basis. Commit yourself to being healthy and disciplined in your exercise, diet, rest and relaxation routines.

Understand that many factors contribute to the production of collagen.

In addition to the daily  good skin care practices we recommend, make sure you get plenty of Vitamin C, which is required for synthesizing collagen.

Collagen synthesis and production are also stimulated by key amino acids and copper peptides.  Molecules known as growth factors and certain hormones transmit signals to skin cells, prompting them to produce more collagen. MMP inhibitors may also be used to inhibit collagen breakdown.

Currently, collagen skin care products have not demonstrated the ability to deliver collagen to the dermis, where it needs to be to reduce and prevent wrinkles. 

The key to reducing wrinkles is to naturally stimulate the production of collagen in your own body. Click here for a very compelling solution to collagen skin care, wrinkles and aging skin!