Your skin’s natural appearance is essential because it significantly contributes to your self-esteem and boosts your confidence. It has a huge impact when it comes to your social relationships. Moreover, your skin is also responsible for the protection of all of your muscles, bones, and internal organs as a whole. External elements and other harmful chemicals are unable to damage your body because the skin acts as an effective protective layer that is capable of repelling unwelcomed threats.
However your skin, like any other thing in this world, is no exception when it comes to the laws of nature since it runs the risk of skin ageing as you age. Your skin slowly loses its supply of vital proteins and nutrients such as collagen and elastin. These nutrients are responsible and crucial for the maintenance of your skin’s elasticity and firmness. Without it, unwanted fine lines, wrinkles, and other skin problems would appear on your skin.
In today’s modern world, you may be experiencing the negative effects of the ageing process. Your skin’s aesthetic appearance plays a major role when it comes to boosting your self-esteem and self-image. However, most people believe that their skin isn’t good enough because of the unwanted skin problems caused by a lack of collagen and elastin.
The appearance of their skin is now the source of their social anxiety. Although these changes in the appearance of their skin are part of the ageing process, they believe that their skin problems should be resolved as soon as possible to regain their confidence and improve their mental state.
In a recent study, it was found that many individuals share a common belief when it comes to the quality of their skin. The respondents believed that their skin’s aesthetic appearance played an important role in their mental health and self-confidence. Furthermore, 58% of those participants said that having bad skin in their past triggered their social anxiety. Even more interestingly, in the days leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 61% of people avoid social activities and events because they care about how others perceive their skin. One of the reasons causes social anxiety
What Are the Factors That Cause Skin Problems?
Although the ageing process is normal, several factors cause a change in your skin’s appearance. These factors include having an unhealthy lifestyle, emotional stress, anxiety, genes, and the sun’s harsh radiation. Unhealthy habits that will cause your skin to ageing faster
Unhealthy Lifestyle
As they say, health is wealth. It is your responsibility and duty to keep your body in the best state it can be. Your way of life significantly contributes to the general welfare of your body. Unfortunately, many people tend to obsess about smoking, drinking alcohol and sweet beverages, or being uninspired to have an active lifestyle. In the long run, these unhealthy habits can cause skin dryness, visible wrinkles, fine lines, dark spots, under-eye circles, and other skin problems that will make you look old.
Inactiveness In Activity
Nevertheless, people who manage to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle cherish having young, vibrant and glowing skin. With proper exercise and eating the right proportions of food and drinking enough water, their skin’s ageing process starts to slow down. It is because the oxygen in their body runs smoothly delivering the nutrients it needs. Therefore the benefits of exercising can keep your skin tight and increase its elasticity improving your skin cells’ metabolism. Moreover, it allows the circulation of more oxygen and nutrients to your skin cells.
Genetic Make-Up
On the other hand, genetic make-up also plays a part in the skin’s ageing process. Some people are born with naturally smooth and supple skin. But, not all people are lucky enough to have this type of skin. That is why ageing people are constantly seeking alternative and effective ways to provide the necessary nutrients needed by their skin to stay healthy and youthful. They may use skin care products that can boost collagen and elastin.
Aside from the fact that your skin plays an important role in your body, did you know that your skin is the largest organ in your body? It is composed of three layers namely epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. The epidermis and dermis of the skin have several key components for maintaining a healthy structure and youthful appearance. These include collagen, elastin, hyaluronic acid, heparan sulfate, and natural moisturising factors.
While collagen and elastin are the major structural elements of your skin, they also have an important role in your body. In addition, they are responsible for the maintenance and protection of your skin. If you want to slow down the signs of ageing then you need to understand how you can boost your skin’s supply of collagen and elastin.
What Are Collagen and Elastin?
One of the key benefits of collagen is that it has abundance in protein and serves as a structural protein for the bones, tendons, ligaments, and skin as well. Specifically, it is formed through a sequence of amino acids that includes hydroxyproline, glycine, and proline. Besides being building blocks for your body, these amino acids also serve as your body’s energy source.
Furthermore, collagen fibres degrade over a long period, which is an important factor to consider. Collagen production gradually declines after the age of 25, by an average of about 1% per year until the age of 65. Skin sagging and other signs of skin ageing are caused by the loss of skin thickness and strength.
Collagen is known to come in 28 different types. There are only five types of collagen which are commonly used in dietary supplements and other preferred fitness meals. To learn more about these collagens, here’s the list of the five types of collagen:
Type I Collagen
Constitutes the highest amount of collagen, consisting of the longest, most tightly packed fibres found in skin, ligaments, teeth, bones, and tendons.
Type II Collagen
Comprises shorter fibres and is found in the cartilage of body parts such as joints, ears, and nose. These are strong, flexible tissues found in those parts of the body.
Type III Collagen
Located in the skin, blood vessels, intestines, and other vital organs; it helps clot the blood and aids in wound healing.
Type IV Collagen
Forms a dense web at the junction between the dermis and the epidermis, collecting peptides and ensuring the basal function of the skin. It only occurs in the basement membranes (BMs) of the skin, compared to the other types of skin, this protein is the most difficult to produce within the skin.
It is a fact that as you age, your skin does not bounce back as well as it used to, and it takes a longer time to do so. As a component of your body, elastin is mostly responsible for providing stretchiness, and in fact, it’s about 1,000 times the ability to provide stretch as collagen. Because of their high elasticity, many tissues in your body can recover their original shape after stretching or contracting, such as your uterus, lungs, arteries, and skin.
Collagen loss: What are the behaviours that will affect your collagen level?
The most important factor that affects your collagen and elastin levels is age. As you get older, your body loses collagen and elastin at a faster rate than it can regenerate. This means that people aged over 40 have higher rates of tissue loss than younger people, and this rate of loss accelerates as you get older.
If you’re trying to increase your collagen or elastin level, it’s best to focus on preventing further suffering from tissue loss rather than treating the symptoms once they’ve already occurred. One way to do this is by eating well-balanced meals (which should include plenty of protein) and getting plenty of sleep each night—both of which have been shown to decrease the rate of tissue loss.
Here are just some of the factors that affect your collagen level:
- Ageing
Natural ageing (or denaturing collagen and elastin) is considered the ultimate enemy of your skin as it causes the skin to lose elasticity. Fine lines and wrinkles become deeper, and large ones appear more conspicuous. The loss of collagen causes sagging of the eyelids, which can result in puffiness (especially around the eyes) and signs of dryness such as fine lines at the corners of one’s mouth.
- Smoking
Smoking can lead to a loss of collagen and elastin in the skin, which causes skin sagging and wrinkles. It also decreases the amount of vitamin C in your body, which is an antioxidant that helps your skin to repair itself. After years of smoking, you may notice that your skin looks saggy or wrinkled.
- Eating too much sugar and refined carbs
Sugar and refined carbs can cause collagen and elastin to be broken down, which can result in the loss of both structural support and elasticity for the skin. As a result, the skin can become wrinkled and saggy. Moreover, sugar and refined carbohydrates are the main culprits for rapid ageing. This includes white rice, flour, pasta, and pieces of bread. Unfortunately, these foods are the foundation of most diets. If you’re looking to reverse the signs of ageing, limit your intake of these substances and include more protein-rich foods such as eggs, fish, and tofu in your meals.
- Exposure to ultraviolet light
Exposure to ultraviolet light causes the loss of collagen and elastin in the skin, which can lead to wrinkles and a loss of skin elasticity. This can be prevented by wearing sunscreen and using broad-spectrum sunscreen blocking both UVB and UVA rays.
- Hormonal adjustments due to the effects of pregnancy, menopause, and fitness conditions
A woman’s body goes through major hormonal changes during pregnancy, menopause, health conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), or even ageing. These changes can cause significant damage to your skin and lead to wrinkles that are difficult to avoid or reverse with regular exercise.
- Sleep
Sleep – or the lack thereof- lowers the production of collagen and elastin. Therefore, it can accelerate ageing by as much as 60%. Both are critical to health and beauty as they are key components in wound healing and skin renewal.
Can You Boost Collagen and Elastin Production?
Yes! You can’t stop the natural drop in collagen production, but there are some day-to-day activities to do to help promote collagen levels in your body!
Things like drinking the right amount of water daily to help your skin to replenish itself as water helps your body absorb nutrients more efficiently to maintain healthy tissues and elastic skin.
Another great way to boost collagen production is by exercising as it increases levels of nitric oxide (A gas that gets oxygen into cells throughout the body). This results in more blood flow through the body that helps with faster healing and restore any damages.
More intake of fruits and vegetables allow the body to increase antioxidants that help to prevent free radical damage from occurring and keep your skin glowing by reducing wrinkles caused by age or exposure to sunlight over time.
Health supplements that contain ingredients to promote collagen production can be implemented into your daily diet. Some examples include fish oil, vitamin D3 (found in sunlight), selenium (found in whole grains), vitamin C (found in citrus fruits), and ginger root powder (found in tea).
Alternative solution: Oral Collagen Supplement VS Injectable Skincare
Beside day-to-day solutions to increase collagen level naturally, some might search for much faster and effective alternatives. Some of the popular ones are oral collagen supplements and injectable skincare. How do you know which one is good for you?
Oral collagen supplement
There are many forms of collagen supplements such as collagen pills, capsules, powders, and drinkable sachets.
Animal collagen supplements have been known to provide several benefits, including improving skin appearance and reducing the appearance of wrinkles. This could be due to the presence of multiple peptides that function as antioxidants, helping keep collagen molecules stable and vibrant.
Collagen supplements are mostly derived from animal sources of collagen, such as cows, fish, or chickens. The main advantage is that it is an affordable source of collagen. These supplements can be purchased in powders, liquids, or capsules.
These days, it is becoming easier to find alternatives for natural collagen because synthetically produced collagen is now more widely available than ever before. The main differences between synthetic and naturally occurring collagen are affordability, consistency, support from clinical studies, and how they are handled in the body. Although there are no known dangers associated with synthetic collagen, your personal preference may be influenced by how it is extracted and what are the sources of the collagen.
As a consumer, you should be aware that not all supplements contain the amount of collagen they claim or not 100% of the protein can be absorbed into the body upon consumption, so they could be ineffective. You may need to double check the labels and research more about the product to have a better understanding of the possible effects and side effects on your body.
Many experts and other health professionals strongly advise that it must not be practised to consume supplements with only a single amino acid. Some types of amino acids such as methionine, cysteine, and histidine have the worst side effect that causes tissue damage when it is taken in excess.
At the end of the day, it is highly recommended for you to consult a licensed health expert or dermatologist to give you the best medical advice on your current situation and challenges regarding the state of your skin.
Skin Booster Treatment
One of the aesthetics and skincare trends in 2022 is injectable skincare: Skin booster treatments.
It is said that skin booster treatments are especially effective for people in their mid 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s who want to maintain their youthful skin or to look younger.
There are plenty of skin booster products available on the market. However, with the constant striving for improvement, a new revolutionary product in the aesthetic industry has started to go viral. This kind of skin booster treatments stimulates the skin to produce collagen and elastin naturally in the extracellular matrix (ECM) using amino acids. Filling fine lines, combating wrinkles and rejuvenating skin has never been so simple!
Moreover, these skin boosters are infused with hyaluronic acid and amino acids. It has a very similar chemical structure to the collagen found in the skin, and hyaluronic acid is a natural substance found in many parts of the body. It helps maintain moisture within the fibres of the skin; this is important because it allows cells to stay plump and hydrated. These specific types of amino acids provide nutrients to the skin and promote the natural production of collagen.
As a person ages, their skin’s moisture naturally decreases over time, causing the skin to become drier, less elastic, and take a longer time to heal from injuries. With the use of this unique skin booster treatment, it would lessen the formation of unwanted fine lines, wrinkles, or sagging skin and it’s capable of penetrating the skin’s deeper layer.
Another benefit a patient can get by using this type of unique skin booster is that it can be injected into sensitive areas of your body such as the skin under your eyes (targeting dark eye circles and bag), the neck, and the forehead because not all treatments are the same. Clinically approved to use in sensitive areas like under the eyes, neck and forehead
A patient may experience results within a short period when this highly enriched treatment that produces elastin and collagen is injected into some of these sensitive areas of their skin.
The only downside to using this type of skin boosters would be its affordability because the nutrients used are done with intensive laboratory tests by medical experts and meet today’s modern medical standards. These measures are necessary for the safety and welfare of the patients who will be using them. More importantly, they’ll experience an efficient way of enhancing the aesthetic appearance of their skin regaining its natural and vibrant look.
Beauty skin maintenance is necessary to combat skin-ageing
You now live in a world where there are plenty of alternative options when it comes to beauty enhancement. Yet, it is still essential for you to fully understand what are the ingredients used in all of these aesthetic-enhancing beauty supplements. At the same time, it is advisable to ask your health advisor before taking any oral collagen supplements because some may contain harmful ingredients that can cause harm.
As for injectable, skin boosters or dermal fillers, the same action should be taken. You must do your research regarding what ingredients and nutrients it contains. What are they made of? Is the brand of skin booster you want accredited by health officials? Are they safe for you? Of course, if you have any doubts about whether or not to use it on your skin, you should consult with a health advisor. You may also ask for their medical advice and recommendations when it comes to choosing the safest brand for skin booster treatments.
Always seek medical consultation first before taking any supplement or doing any injectables skincare.
You can’t stop the ageing process and its undesirable effects on your skin. However, the revolution in the aesthetic industry paved the way for many ageing people to lessen their wrinkles, unwanted visible fine lines, skin sagging, and other skin problems. The development of nutrients in your skin such as enhanced collagen and elastin plays a vital role in the rejuvenation and aesthetic enhancement of the skin. You are more confident than before because you are now well-equipped with innovative beauty products, supplements, and cosmetic treatments that will help you fight and slow down the ageing process!