If ever there was a beauty, skincare, and wellness buzzword that stands the test of time, ‘collagen’ would be it. You’ll be hard pressed to research anything related to skin health or aging without coming across the term. When it comes to plump, youthful skin, we know collagen is good and a lack of collagen is not. What’s often left out of conversations about collagen, however, is a deeper exploration of exactly what it is, how it’s produced, and the effect it has on skin quality.
Simply put, collagen gives the skin its structure and natural collagen levels start dropping pretty early in life (think: mid-twenties). But all is not lost. There are steps that can be taken to slow the declines and even stimulate new collagen production. Intrigued? Here, top dermatologists and nutritionists break down everything we need to know about the beautifying protein.
What Is Collagen?
Collagen is a protein that is naturally found in the human body. “It is a protein produced by the body that makes up something we call connective tissues,” says Angela Lamb, MD, a board certified dermatologist in New York City. “You can also consume collagen through external sources.” Aside from water and fat, the body is mainly made up of proteins – and collagen is the most ubiquitous of them.
There are different types of collagen, but type I makes up roughly 90 percent of the collagen in the human body. It is a vital component in bones, muscles, cartilage, and, yes, skin. “Collagen is a structural protein that provides rigidity and firmness to the skin,” says Brendan Camp, MD, a NYC-based board certified dermatologist.
Basically, collagen is an essential building block of healthy skin. “Collagen is the main component of the skin – in fact, 80 percent of our skin is formed from collagen,” explains Jennifer Hanway, a board certified holistic nutritionist. “It is found in the extracellular matrix of the skin, so it plays a pivotal role in the skin's structure and rigidity.” Said another way: “It really is the framework that keeps our skin supple, firm, and lifted,” she adds.
What’s the Relationship Between Collagen & Skin?
“The main role of collagen in the skin is to give it elasticity, bounce, and stretch,” Dr. Lamb says. That’s a lot of responsibility, which is why we’re sorry to say that, once you reach your mid- to late-twenties, natural collagen levels start declining at the rate of about one percent a year. “From the age of around 25, both the types of collagen and the amount of collagen in the skin begins to decrease, leading to dryer, thinning skin,” Hanways shares. Hormonal changes (think: menopause) and external forces (i.e. sun exposure, smoking, poor diet, etc.) can speed up the degredation process. “Poor diet, environmental factors, and stress can all negatively affect the quality and integrity of collagen in the skin,” she says.
Changes in the quality and quantity of collagen correlate to changes in the skin. “With the loss of collagen, the skin sags and develops the fine lines and wrinkles we associate with age,” Dr. Camp notes. The reason? “Collagen constitutes a large portion of the dermis, one of the layers of skin,” he explains. “Think of it like scaffolding off which other skin structures are supported.” The webbing of collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid found in the dermis that makes the skin supple, sculpted, and supported in our younger years, breaks down as we get older and aging fibroblasts (the makers of collagen and elastin) can’t produce enough to offset the loss.
