Collagen is a complex structural protein produced by the body. Inside each collagen molecule are three polypeptide chains that form a mesh. This mesh holds your body's tissue -- including skin -- together. Your body produces collagen in healthy quantities up until the age of about 35, according to the website SmartSkinCare.com. Then, production falls off and the inevitable skin changes of aging take place. Certain lifestyle choices can exacerbate the process. The challenge then becomes to replace lost collagen or to help your body to manufacture more.
Types
SmartSkinCare.com indicates that the body produces 12 different types of collagen. The most important of these to your skin is Type I, also found in tendons and bones. Children produce more Type III collagen, which is found in growing tissue and also in scar tissue.
Damage
By the time your body begins easing up on collagen production, you have probably exposed your skin to any number of things that have damaged your existing collagen. These include sunlight, the free radicals in air pollution, chlorinated water and smoking. Another complication is an enzyme -- matrix metalloproteinases or MMP-s -- also produced by your body for the express purpose of reducing collagen into small pieces so it can be recycled. This is fine when you are young, but if you are older and your body is no longer producing a lot of collagen, and other factors have damaged what you do have, this process results in uneven pockets of collagen and wrinkles.
Stimulating Production
There are methods of stimulating your body's production of collagen, but before you do so, it is a good idea to get rid of damaged collagen first via peels or laser therapy, according to SmartSkinCare.com. Extracting your skin's fibroblasts -- the cells that make collagen -- via aspiration, then growing them in a laboratory to a greater number and re-injecting them, will stimulate production because the cells will then begin producing collagen on their own.
Food Sources
Vitamin C helps your body synthesize collagen, according to The Smart Skin Care Site. Copper is also essential for collagen production. Too much of it can be toxic, but multivitamins contain the accepted RDA of 2mg, so if you are not already taking multivitamins, doing so might slightly replenish collagen and forestall signs of aging. According to "The Independent" newspaper, Japanese manufacturers began distributing collagen supplements as of 2010, and restaurants in the country offer reportedly collagen-rich entrees such as pigs' feet, chicken skin and shark fin.
Other Applications
Topical collagen creams do not work to replace collagen in the skin because the molecules are too large to pass through to the dermis. But human and bovine collagen injected into the dermis by a dermatologist offer some results, according to The Patient's Guide. This can be a complex procedure, however, and can result in complications. The good news is that injected collagen can push up against the inside of a wrinkle, essentially erasing it. The bad news is that your body will inevitably attack collagen from animal sources because it is a foreign protein. Nor can this injected collagen integrate with the collagen your body already possesses, so eventually the substance will break down and wrinkles will return.
SmartSkinCare.com indicates that as of 2010, research is under way to find a way of inhibiting the ability of MMP-s to destroy existing collagen in the skin. Topical applications of retinols seem to suppress the body's original synthesis of MMP-s, however.
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