How to Boost Collagen After 30: Red Light Therapy, Retinoids and More

All of us are losing collagen every single day and this starts to accelerate especially in your 30s. And in this video, we're going to be talking about how to support and build your collagen as we age. We're going to talk about why you lose it, the changes of aging both intrinsically and exttrinsically, and what you should do and can do to stop this. What's up everyone? We're back. I'm Dr. Sha, — Dr. Maxfield, and welcome back to our channel, Dr. Lee, where we talk about all things skincare and dermatology and how to take care of your skin as you age. And in this video, we're going to be deep diving on collagen, how it breaks down as you age, why does it break down? Is it just the sunlight? Are there other factors that play a role? We have some very interesting stuff from studies and why it's actually important to intervene relatively early. And we'll be going over that in this video. And then we're going to be talking about simple interventions that you can take in order to preserve your collagen as you age. So everything building collagen. Here we go. So when we think about collagen, we have to think about where it is in the skin. So at the very top layer of the skin, you have the epidermis. That's where your skin cells are. And then below the epidermis is the dermis. And that's the collagen layer of the skin. And this is what gives our skin volume. And we have to think about the actual cell that creates collagen. And that is the fibiberblast. And so as long as the fiberblast is working properly, you'll continue to produce collagen. But just like any other cell in the body, the fiberblast eventually gets fatigued as we age and it just doesn't function as well. And it actually turns out that this is a self-perpetuating cycle. Meaning that once your collagen starts to get damaged, those fragments actually send signals to the fibiberblast to stop producing collagen. And then when you have less collagen, your fibroblast, because they're not as tightly held anymore, they start to become less efficient. So what you see here is actually a self-perpetuating cycle of collagen loss. Once it starts, it actually starts to get worse because it's perpetuating itself. This is why it's very important to start to intervene earlier to make sure that it actually becomes reversible rather than intervening later. So, when we're talking about this, here are our top five tips to help support your collagen. So, first up, we have to talk about prevention. So, the first thing that I would say is sunscreen. You want to look for a broadspectctrum sunscreen, at least SPF 30. That's going to protect you against UVB rays, but specifically you also want to protect against UVA rays because these are longer wavelength and they actually directly damage your collagen. And so, you want to look for something broadsp spectrum in the United States. Outside of the United States, you'll see something called PA+++++ on your sunscreen. These protect you against UVA. And so that's going to be very important. You want to do that every single day for your skin, which is why people who use tanning beds always look a lot older is because of that direct collagen damage. The second thing you want to look for is an antioxidant in your skincare routine, which is very important in the morning. Something like a vitamin C is going to play a big role here. Scavengering free radicals to prevent damage to your cells. And then finally, diet. So when it comes to diet, one of the most consistent things you'll see is that a high glycemic index diet, which means something like a simple carbohydrate is rapidly converted to free glucose or free sugar in your blood. This is pro-inflammatory, psoriasis, acne, metabolic syndrome, and it causes something called end product glycation where it directly damages cells either in your skin or your whole body. So we know that sugar directly glycates collagen making it stiffer, making it less functional and definitely contribute to aging. Now our next tip is topical treatments for your collagen. This is some of the most common steps that people will take, most common things people incorporate into their routine to try to help the health of their skin. So there's four things that I would essentially look for in this category. Number one would be our goat, which is retinoids. Now these are a lot of different products out there. So you have your retinol, you have your retinaldahhide, you also have your tininoan, adapylene, tazarotene, right? Anything in this retinoid family is going to directly stimulate collagen production. It's also going to speed up skin cell turnover, which is another sign that happens as we age. And so, this is going to be probably the number one ingredient to look for. The next ingredient that I would look for is an alpha hydroxy acid. Alpha hydroxy acid, specifically glycolic acid, can actually send signals into your dermis to stimulate your collagen production. Next, I would look for peptides. And there is array of peptides. So, definitely not a one-sizefits-all here. But one of the ingredients like matrixel, which is a combination of two different peptides that play a role in collagen synthesis, would be something to look for. Now, there are other proprietary ones like ones from Neutrogena that can also have a similar effect on the skin. And then finally, I would say topical estrogen in people that have gone through menopause could play a role, but the data is a bit iffy and the safety as well, right? And that one is perhaps more thoughtfully introduced into each person's routine. Again, very personalized, individualized. I do think that is going to be beneficial for a lot of people. And we do know that estrogen decrease during menopause sharply increases the amount of collagen loss. It accelerates it rapidly. So, I do think that can be helpful for a lot of people and this is definitely something you want to have a discussion with your doctor. You want to make sure first that you're taking the right form and second that you're not risking any issues that can be exacerbated by using topical estrogen. And so, this is something that you want to closely talk to your doctor with. And this is a sort of an advancing and evolving part of the scientific realm of dermatology. So, definitely check back with us as this sort of evolves. And then also grabbing one of our antioxidants that we talked about before, vitamin C. This is also an essential co-actor for collagen synthesis. So, topically it does double duty. The next tip would be using LED therapy. Now there's inoff LED therapy

actually and then there's also these at home options that are available. But how this works is that like we said the fiberblast plays a big role here and we actually have a lot of really good data. We did a video maybe 5 years ago on LED which we can link and talk about all the science behind LED. There's a process called photobiomodulation and this specifically happens with red light, near infrared light where basically it directly stimulates those fibroblast to produce more healthy collagen. And it also has some anti-inflammatory benefits to the skin which is important because once the collagen starts to break down, these inflammatory cascades start to happen that continue to create that collagen breakdown. And so it does two things. One, it increases collagen production through your fibroblast, but it also decreases the inflammation that causes that cascade of collagen breakdown. And so this is where LED plays a big role in aging, — right? And LED is one of those things we've always talked about kind of that complements a complete routine. So make sure you have your sun protection, gold standard topical treatments, and then LED is a great way to add a completely different mechanism to help support your skin. Now, we've talked about multiple different ways to use this in helmet and masks. And this one we're going to highlight today from Current Body, shout out to them for sponsoring this video, is a panel. Now, this panel is very versatile. I've been using this now well for quite some time but consistently I've hit it for the last month in different settings and I particularly love the way you can really just personalize this or use it in different areas to treat not just your face but your whole body. So this is the current body LED panel which is actually pretty cool and you can get it alone with just the panel or you could get it with the dock and essentially be able to set up it on the table, put your face in it and it has this handheld remote which allows it to have more power essentially to it. And so what you have here is this flexibility, right? So you can have it flat so you can treat your chest where a lot of people have that wrinkling that occurs on the decolletage. So you can use it on the chest, you could back, arms, you could use it on the stomach. So it just gives you flexibility. You can also wrap it around your face, use it as a face mask, you can also stand further back from it. So they have a low power mode and the low power mode actually mimics what they have in their mask. So similar sort of power and radiance in that. And so you're able to put your face directly into it or you're able to actually put it in high power mode and stand 6 in away from it. And then that way you can get basically more of a wider treatment area and it can treat other parts of the body. You can stick it on your back with a strap. There's many different ways that you can use this. What's cool about this is it has both the red light, near infrared light, and deep infrared light. And that's really going to be targeted more towards your aging. And then it also has the blue light, which is targeting a bit more of that acnerone skin. So if you wanted to use the blue light setting because you have breakouts on the face or even on the back like I do, you could customize this so that it's treating the different areas and the problem concerns that you have. All right. Now, we're going to talk about the technical specifications of this device. And I particularly love the level of cander they have. I mean, go right to their website. It tells you 136 LEDs with four chipsets. It's 544. Breaks down the wavelengths, breaks down the treatment time, whether it's 10 for low mode, 20 for high level, and then it also breaks down the actual strength per mode and per setting you've got it on. The whole dosage, it's all there that you can just actually look up on your own. And I love how that's quantified. And the other interesting thing that Current Body does in general is that they test each LED light to make sure that it falls within the specifications. And so they actually have a small margin of error to actually the wavelength that you're trying to deliver in the skin. Right? So you'll see that it's 633 nm plus or minus 2 and they touch each individual bulb before they set it into the mask or into the panel. And so that level of precision can give you the confidence that it's going to deliver the light that you need to actually have it work. Some of the ways that I've been using it, I'll kind of cater it towards my face. Again, I like the high mode. So, turn it on. It comes with these goggles, — which are very important. If you're going to use the high setting, this is a very strong light. You want to make sure that you're wearing the goggles to protect your eyes, — right? Instead, you want to be about 6 in away. That's one way to use it. Now, other ways you can use it, and I've used it, too. You can be shirtless and panel for your body. And then also, it comes with these straps. You can attach it to yourself. It's adjustable arms, legs, chest, I mean, abdomen, back. It actually does make it treatable. and reachable to areas you would have a lot of difficulty with otherwise. So ultimately there's a lot of flexibility in how you can use this panel and we'll put a link below for you to check it out. Now whatever type of LED that you're using, the main thing is you have to be consistent to see results. So no matter which one you get, you have to use it at least 3 days a week. I would venture up to 5 days a week to really see the results that you want to see when you're supporting your collagen. The next tip are procedures that specifically target controlled remodeling. So what does that mean? Basically, your body has these injury mechanisms. And it sounds insane, but when you sort of slightly injure yourself, these wound healing mechanisms also stimulate fibroblasts because scars are actually made of collagen. Now, it's generally disorganized collagen. And we don't want you to have scarring, of course. But if you can stimulate controlled remodeling, then you can actually build healthier collagen. And so, this is how actually a lot of the inoff treatments that we do actually work for the skin. So, one way is by micro needling. Micro trauma to your collagen and your skin cells can signal to the fiberblast to produce more collagen in a controlled manner. And so whether you're doing microfusion at home

or whether you're doing micro needling which is actually directly stimulating your collagen this will actually cause that control remodeling and there are other options that we have in the office as well. And in the office we'll start with something that has just a wide degree of variation and that's chemical peels. So these range from very superficial to deep and depending on the depth that will determine the results you get. Now, most peels will probably superficial moderate to moderate peels, but even the strength can have a significant effect at both improving the texture quality towards the surface and signaling for deeper collagen to be stimulated and grow. Yeah. And I would argue that chemical peels are actually underrated. We've gone to this laser boom, which we'll talk about next. But I actually think chemical peels, the result that you get in sort of that glass skin appearance is hard to come by. And I'm going to be committed to doing more chemical peels myself cuz I actually do think the results are quite good. Now, let's talk about lasers cuz this is how a lot of lasers also work in dermatology. So when we talk about fractional lasers or even fully ablative lasers, basically what they do when you're talking about CO2 or fraal or herbium even though it can be a bit more superficial is that they stimulate collagen production by causing this micro trauma to the skin and do it in a very controlled way and you can actually tweak the settings based on skin tones. And so you get a lot of control with lasers. But this is essentially what lasers are going to do. They're going to resurface that top layer of the skin, but they're also going to stimulate that collagen production over time. And lasers give you some of the most dramatic results in terms of texture, wrinkles, and some of the clinical endpoints like the things that we perceive in the mirror. Those are some of the end points of what collagen destruction, collagen change looks like over time. And so lasers give you some of the most stark contrast before and afters. It's a bigger investment, but it really can be great if your skin tone can tolerate it. And the last tip is be cautious of things with the word collagen in it. This is probably the biggest tip that we can give here is that collagen, we've all heard we're losing it. We all feel we need it. So brands will throw the word collagen on a product and then think that you're somehow going to be supporting your collagen. But like we said, none of the tips that we've given so far have anything to do with the word collagen so far, right? The mechanisms are the things that we're really interested in. And so what you'll find is a lot of topical skincare products that say the word, you know, loud and proud collagen on it. And you'll also see oral supplements that have the word collagen on it. And so let's talk about topicals first. Yeah. So topical collagen, this is a large molecule. And because of that, it has difficulty getting into the skin and being significant. So the way I like to think about this is there is like a jellyfish that lives forever. And if you put the jellyfish on your skin, you don't become the jellyfish, you won't live forever. And topical collagen is kind of the same way. Now, there are things you can do to get collagen into the skin, either by changing the structure, increasing the permeability of the skin barrier. And so sometimes it's useful, but mostly it's probably just going to be a hctant that lives on your skin, right? So it's too large to get into the skin. Now, the little challenging thing here is that brands know you're looking for collagen and so they put collagen on loud and proud on the packaging and in fact they have for example a peptide like we talked about earlier that can stimulate collagen production. So this is where it gets a bit tricky between marketing and finding what you actually need for the skin. But the key is to look for ingredients either peptides that can penetrate the skin or retinoids that can stimulate collagen production, alpha hydroxy acids that can send signals deep into the dermis. These are the key ingredients you want to look for to stimulate your collagen production and not the buzzword of collagen. Now, let's talk about oral collagen supplementation because this is where things get a bit tricky because initially we used to say and I still hold this to be true is that if you were to drink collagen, collagen is too large to still even get absorbed into the gut and then somehow end up in your skin. But if you drink collagen peptides, which are hydrayed collagen or breakdown of the protein itself, can those get into the gut and can those fragments be the building blocks that then your fibroblasts use to produce collagen? I still think that the data is up in the air, but there is some stronger data coming out, but who knows which type of collagen to take at this point. And so, I would still be cautious of oral collagen and finding one that actually works, but I think that's an evolving data as well. Yeah, exactly. And we have a softer stance on that. Could it be helpful? Sure. For me, with all supplements, I think that they supplement whatever deficiencies you have in your diet. For me, sometimes I'm needing more supplements cuz I have like a quite a controlled diet and then I'll take something like amino acids. And it also speaks to collagen. you take collagen, it's broken down into the building blocks for your skin like you said. And if you have a good balanced complimentary diet, whether that's meats or whether that's the combination of like legumes and grains, those also give you similar if not the same building blocks for your skin. Absolutely. And then the same thing can be said about oral vitamin C, taking mega doses of vitamin C. Even though we know that vitamin C is a building block for collagen synthesis doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to produce more collagen. I think the data shows that it doesn't. And so just be cautious with any oral supplementation and be cautious of the buzzword collagen before you spend your money on a product that's going to stimulate collagen production. So this is how we preserve our collagen in our 30s and beyond. Hopefully you find this helpful. Be consistent, stay healthy, take care of your collagen. All right, we appreciate you. Thank you for being on this journey. Shout out again to Current Body for this panel, letting us share this highlight with you. Hopefully that's something you enjoy and is helpful for you, too. Thank you so much and we'll see you in the next video. See you next time.