By Cindy Seifried


What is the difference in appearance between someone in the full bloom of youth and someone who is a mature adult? Often the answer is skin-deep: it's in the collagen.

Exactly what Is Collagen?

Collagen is protein that supports the buoyancy of skin cells. It is a structural element of human skin. In young skin, there is plenty of it, and in older skin, a scarcity. Abundance of collagen makes for taut skin while insufficient collagen makes skin sag and wrinkle.

Skin includes an epidermal and dermal layer. The first is the surface skin while the second is deeper skin. Collagen only forms and breaks in the dermal skin.

How The Dermis Is Analogous To A Bed Mattress

One way to get a better picture of how the skin aging process works is to compare the layers of skin to the layers of a bed. The epidermis or upper layer is like the covering sheet, the dermis is like the mattress below the sheet. Collagen, meanwhile, is like the foam in the mattress.

Over the years, the foam in the mattress tends to breaks down in places, getting flatter or more indented. Similarly, aging skin sags and wrinkles as collagen fragments and diminishes.

The Biology of Collagen Loss

Skin ages in three stages:

First, the reactive oxygen stimulates the manufacture of an enzyme called collagenase.

Second, collagenase will trigger collagen to dissipate or collapse.

Third, fibroblasts, cells responsible for healthy, firm skin, lose their elasticity. As these cells collapse, more collagenase is produced -- and this, of course, increases collagen loss.

Interrupting the Biological Mechanism of Aging

If left to run its course, this aging process will continue relentlessly. By the time a person reaches their 80s, their rate of collagen breakdown has reached an astonishing rate -- it is four-times more than somebody in their 20s. This can be quite noticeable -- the elderly, for example, often bruise more easily. They also experience splitting skin because their skin is thinner.

The way to interrupt the biological mechanism of aging is to create collagen-building interventions.

Antiaging Research on Restoring Collagen.

There are 3 clinically-tested methods to rebuild collagen: one, by getting Restylane injections; two, by using skin care items with Retinol; and, three, using carbon dioxide resurfacing laser treatments.

1. Restylane.

According to a 2007 study done to examine the effects of Restylane, a dermal filler injected into the skin, collagen can be rebuilt. Restylane caused fibroblasts to regain their elasticity, and when this happened, new collagen growth occured. Interestingly enough, Restylane also inhibited collagenase production, which resulted in less collagen breakdown.

2. Retinol.

An additional study done in 2007, examined the anti-aging benefits of retinol, a particular form of Vitamin A that is commonly found in skin lotions. Again, the outcomes showed that it was possible to reconstruct collagen because those who utilized skin care items with retinol showed less wrinkles and smoother skin.

3. Laser Treatments.

Scientific researchers also found some laser treatments like CO2 resurfacing worked in promoting collagen production. The procedure gets rid of aging dermis, leading to 3 weeks of skin regrowth as a result of renewed collagen manufacturing.




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