Increasing collagen production

I agree with my colleagues below- Retin-A as part of a good, prescription level skin care program supervised by your Board Certified Plastic Surgeon or Dermatologist is a great start. Avoiding sun-worship and eating healthy/drinking lots of water are requisite to good skin health as well.

Once you've followed these guidelines, further improvement is possible through skin resurfacing techniques. In my practice I use the Mixto SX laser for skin resurfacing (but many good options exist) and have had great (often amazing) success improving the health and appearance of my patients skin, beyond what Retin-A and skin care had done. Over 3-4 months, the laser treatment leads to increased collagen production with improved firmness and tightness of the skin.

Start with the basics- avoid the sun, drink lots of water, and consider a physician guided skin care program. Then, if you want more improvement ask about a laser like the Mixto.

Hello,

While we know that the skin decreases collagen production as we age, we are not sure how items solely increasing collagen production or soft tissue fillers will fare over time. As another doctor mentioned, there are multiple types of collagen present in different tissues. This is not a simple supplementation situation.

I am more of a believer in therapies with which we have experience. Retin A has been around for decades and is now in generic form. It is a good skin conditioner with multiple beneficial effects including an increase in collagen production. Avoiding sun exposure and wearing sun screen is simple and effective.

Keep it simple here.

As you age the following things take place in your skin:

1. The amount of collagen produced is diminished and the type of collagen changes from a more youthful type of collagen to an older type of collagen. The production of collagen never ends.
2. The Elastin in your skin decreases in content as well as production. But it also does not completely stop being produced.
3. The Melanin granules (color/pigment in your skin) in the upper layers of your skin coalesce into pocket, we call them freckles, sunspots or brown spots.
4. The cells of the skin age and more dead layers of skin pile up in the upper layers of the skin.
5. Skin cancer risks go up because of environmental influenced - sun, pollution.

What you can do to correct these problems:

1. Retin-A - increases collagen production, slows the loss of elastin, decreases the production of metalloproteases, cause the dispersion of melanin granules, reduces the rate of topical skin cancers, exfoliates the dead skin layers and improves acne as well. the down side to retin-a is complinace - you have to start at a low concentration and move to the highest concentration as your skin allows.
2. Hydroquinone - Bleaches the sunspots and retards the production of melanin. 
3. Sunblock- Zinc Oxide sunblock is the best. I sell EltaMD in my practice.
4. Alpha Hydroxy acid- does many of the same things as retin-a but not as effective. Can be used as a lunch hour peel at the doctors office - very effective at that dose. Better then microdermabrasion of photo facials.
5. Anti-oxidants - Cellex-C, Prevage or Revale are the best available.

Go see a doctor who will help coordinate this skin care regimen.

My practice is devoted to cosmetic medicine and anti-aging medicine. Part of this involves optimizing one's hormonal status, so that it more nearly resembles the hormone profile of one's 20's or 30's.  This may involve growth hormone or it's secretogogue,  bio-identical estrogens and progesterone, testosterone for men AND women, thyroid medication (sometimes to treat subtle abnormalities), and many others.  This optimization of the hormonal environment never fails to improve skin appearance, tone, texture, and turgor.  Collagen production in the skin depends on many factors, some of which I have outlined here. 

The doctors here have all listed good, standard approaches to skin care and maintenance, and a complete look must involve the inside of you as well!

I agree with Dr. Williams' statement that your body will continue to produce collagen all your life, but as you get older, the amount of collagen produce will decrease. It is true that the older you get, the thinner your skin becomes. No one can really say definitively that collagen production slows at age 25. Rather, I believe that the way a person ages is largely dependent upon genetics. Look at the skin quality of the elder people in your family and you'll have somewhat of an idea of the way you'll age.

However, I believe that it is never too late to improve your skin. 70 % of improvement often is a result of your daily skin care regimen. My practice offers products which have very effective anti-aging treatment ingredients, such as the NIA 24 skin care line. Products in this line are clinically shown to improve skin tone and texture. At the risk of sounding TOO technical, one of the effective ingredients in NIA24's products is the 5% Pro-Niacin, which is a very potent anti-oxidant agent. This ingredient allows for conversion of Nicotinic Acid, which plays a central role in energy metabolism. This process helps repair skin damage and promotes skin cell generation.

Obtaining a great skin care line and a consistent skin care regimen will help your skin remain youthful and healthy. I'd recommend that you visit a board certified physician to develop a skin care plan that incorporate medical grade products.

Thank you for your question!

Collagen is a structural protein and is a principal component in skin, cartilage and connective tissue.  There are several subtypes of collagen and each part of your body can have a different mixture of these collagen subtypes.

Your body will continue to produce collagen throughout your life.  Collagen and other proteins like elastin are components of youthful skin.  There can be decreased collagen content in older skin in comparison to younger skin.  It is not completely clear if that is completely secondary to decreased production or a change in the rate of degradation.

While there are certain treatments that increase collagen production (Dr. Shafer has mentioned Retin A) there is not a global product that will completely restore the balance of structural proteins to the content younger skin had.  In addition, even prescription products may not increase collagen production in the entire thickness of the dermis.

In addition - be cautious - there is a significant amount of marketing around "increased collagen production" - usually non-prescription products cannot effectively achieve this.

I hope this helps!