“Collagen”: What Does That Even Mean?
In our last post, we talked about the basic science behind collagen induction therapy and gave a brief run-down of its history. We explained how collagen induction micro needling therapy creates a “wound healing cascade” that increases the body’s production of the “juices” that heal and maintain optimum skin health.
But there’s still a very important question that needs to be answered here: What exactly is collagen?
Simply put, collagen is what holds your body together. It’s the most abundant protein in our bodies, and is what’s responsible for making sure we don’t fall apart.
If you think of our bodies as brick and mortar buildings, then collagen would be the mortar.
This incredible stuff (protein, technically) is literally holding us together. It’s found throughout our bodies – from our bones, blood, and muscles to our tendons, cartilage, and skin. Collagen is busy holding us together in all the places that matter most!
But collagen doesn’t just hold us together – it also protects us.
Collagen protects our organs against damage from age, stress, and trauma. It also promotes skin elasticity and reduces joint pain.
Thing is, our bodies reduce natural collagen production levels as we go through the years. By the time we hit our mid-to-late twenties, our bodies are already revving down the production of collagen to the tune of about 1-2% each year.[1]
Quick tidbit: There are 2 main types of collagen – Endogenous and Exogenous.
- Endogenous collagen is what our own bodies make (and what lessens as the years go by).
- Exogenous collagen is synthetically created and comes from an outside source, such as food and supplements.
While physical maturity sees a natural decline in endogenous collagen production, there are certain things that will definitely speed up this decline. Smoking, UV light (think tanning beds and sunbathing), excess sugar, and poor/unhealthy eating habits all speed up the depletion of collagen while slowing down your body’s ability to naturally create more.[2]
The effects of decreased collagen production are pretty easy to spot. Not only does our skin look more tired, dull, and crinkly – our nails weaken and develop ridges, our hair gets more brittle, and our joints start to creak and complain!
Lucky for us, we live in 2018 and have the technology to not only learn about the important role collagen plays in our physical health and aging processes, but to also fix it!
From buying collagen supplements that we can add to our daily meals, (like this great stuff) to collagen containing skin creams that supplement the upper-most layers of your skin (like Pevonia’s Power Repair Marine Collagen Cream)… We have the technology to keep up the collagen for way longer than our bodies would otherwise be able to.
There is also Collagen Induction Microneedling Therapy, which is one of the most immediate and effective ways of increasing the natural production of endogenic collagen.
As we discussed in our previous post, Collagen Induction Therapy activates a wound-healing cascade that involves our skin ramping up the production of fresh collagen fibrils in order to reinforce the microscopic punctures of the Induction Therapy procedure.
When you receive Collagen Induction Therapy treatments at a reputable, certified medi spa (like with us!), you should also receive a serum treatment that further enhances your skin’s restoration and repair processes. There are a plethora of serums available for this, but we’ve done our research (and our fair share of self-experimentation) and found that not all serums are created equal!
Stay tuned for our next post where we discuss the various different serums used in Collagen Induction Therapy treatments and their various effects! Have questions in the meantime, or want to go ahead an take advantage of our October Collagen Induction Microneedling Special? Then get in touch with us! We always love to hear from you!
[1] https://www.renewalliance.com/pages/collagen-facts
[2] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/262881.php