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Increase Collagen Production For Younger Looking Skin

What Is Collagen?

The fiber beneath the skin that gives it structure and contour, collagen is the key to keeping your skin smooth and youthful looking. Your body is constantly creating new collagen to repair what’s been damaged. But around age 40, collagen production begins to taper off, causing your skin to lose its firmness, resulting in wrinkles, creases, sagging and more.

Fast Facts About Collagen?

Here are some key points about collagen from medicalnewstoday.com.

• Around 30 percent of all the proteins in the human body are collagen.
• Type I collagen fibrils are stronger than steel.
• Collagen is most commonly found within the body in the skin, bones and connective tissues.
• Collagen gives the skin its strength and elasticity and is also responsible for the replacement of dead skin cells.
• Collagen production typically begins to decline after the age of 40.
• Although some skincare ingredients do stimulate collagen production, collagen or hyaluronic acids, themselves, in lotions, serums and creams can’t pass the skin barrier because the molecules are too big, and do not increase collagen levels.
• Controllable factors that damage the production of collagen include sunlight, smoking and high sugar consumption

How Can You Promote Collagen?

• Eat well: What you eat plays a significant role in your skin’s ability to retain and create new collagen. Newbeauty.com shares 11 Collagen Boosting Food tips including adding fruits and vegetables high in antioxidants to your diet. Plus, up your intake of vitamin C with foods like red pepper, tomatoes, oranges and kiwi fruit. And, remember too much sugar can be a beauty disaster depleting collagen, which accelerates aging.

• Exfoliation helps Stimulate Collagen And Elastin Production, giving your skin a more youthful appearance.

Creams and Cosmetic Procedures

• Prescription retinoid creams: From oprah.com to doctoroz.com, the beauty experts laud this vitamin A derivative that speeds up cell turnover and collagen production. Dermatologists love this ingredient for its ability to smooth fine lines and give skin a younger look.

• Ultherapy, sometimes called a “non-surgical facelift,” is a non-invasive procedure that lifts, tightens and tones skin. It requires no special preparation and results typically appear after one treatment according to fiftyshadesofbeautyblog.com. The ultimate lifting will take two to three months as rejuvenated, stronger collagen replaces the existing tired collagen in your skin.  However, improvements with this method should never be expected to give a surgical grade result.

• Radiofrequency is an attractive choice for red carpet regularsbecause it requires little to no time away from the spotlight. The non-surgical treatment delivers radiofrequency energy to the lower layers of the skin to tighten and stimulate new collagen formation resulting in younger looking skin. Check out Forever 21 – Thanks To A Steady Diet Of Lasers, Lights, And Needles, Middle-Aged Celebs Look Younger Than Ever to see what anti-aging procedures are keeping celebs like Sofia Vergara looking marvelously young.

• Fractional CO2 resurfacing is performed with local anesthesia and can improve the appearance of wrinkles and pigment by stimulating collagen production, but it is not a lunchtime procedure, says newbeauty.com.

You have numerous weapons in the battle against aging, but none as precious as collagen. Protect it, preserve it, and remember, there’s no shame in giving it a ‘boost’ if you feel the time is right.