What Helps to Boost Your Skin’s Collagen Production?

“Collagen” is a skin-related word you may see come up in skincare settings, but you may be wondering: What exactly iscollage, and how is it beneficial for your skin? To put it simply, collagen is a protein that stops the skin from sagging and gives it a pleasantly plump and youthful appearance. The substance is found naturally in the body and is one of the building blocks of the skin, as well as other parts, such as the bones, hair, and muscles. Collagen has many important benefits, such as providing structure and softening wrinkles—but unfortunately, it disappears as we age, and we need to find ways to replenish it if we want to maintain a youthful look. With this in mind, patients often ask us about the best ways to improve collagen in the skin at our Newton, MA-based practice.

Even though pills and powders that contain collagen and are advertised to reduce wrinkles have become increasingly popular in recent years, there is limited research as to how effective these substances actually are. Consuming these products probably won’t make a significant difference to the appearance of your skin

Happily, there are methods you can use to stimulate collagen growth and improve your skin without ingesting supplements.

Microneedling is a method of encouraging the body to create more collagen. It involves using sterile, tiny needles to create micro-injuries that trigger healing processes and increased production of collagen.

Vitamins C and A in skincare products can promote collagen production.

Biostimulatory injections such as Radiesse^® and Sculptra^® encourage collagen production to add fullness to the face in areas that may have lost volume by stimulating the cells to produce more of the protein.

Keeping the collagen you have in the first place is always a good idea, so avoid harmful habits such as smoking, unprotected sun exposure, excess alcohol, and a poor diet, since these factors can make it difficult for your body to make enough new collagen to replace the collagen lost to time and damage.

Contact our team at Dr. Happe Medical Aesthetics to learn more about counteracting collagen loss in the skin with products and treatments. Call us at (617) 597-2600 or fill out a contact form to request a consultation.