Do collagen creams improve skin quality? Do collagen creams actually work to make skin appear more youthful? Before you start spending thousands on expensive collagen moisturizers, you’ll want to learn the truth about face creams with collagen.

By now, we all know collagen is extremely important for dermal health, but can a cream containing collagen deliver on its promise? With further research, one finds that buying a collagen cream is a big waste of money.

As an example, putting collagen cream on your face is something like putting wet cement on a brick wall. Cement cannot penetrate a wall, and collagen cannot penetrate the dermis. This is what skin care manufacturers don’t want you to know. In short, the collagen molecule is too large to get into the skin. Hence, there is no way for a cream containing collagen to increase the amount of collagen inside the skin or improve skin appearance.

A Closer Look at Collagen Cream and Skin Health

First, collagen is responsible for skin strength and elasticity, and its degradation leads to wrinkles that accompany aging. The body’s natural production of collagen begins to decrease at about age 25. By the time you’ve reached your mid-40’s, your total body collagen levels are much lower than in youth. The result is wrinkles and fine lines, among with other problems in the body.

So, what’s the solution to increasing body collagen? Let’s look at the evolution of the collagen cream.

Related: Collagen vs Collagen Boosters

Types  of Collagen Supplements

Next, we understand as collagen cannot be absorbed through the skin people have turned to collagen supplements. But even with oral supplementation, the traditional sources of collagen (bovine, and porcine) are problematic because they are not considered to be all that well absorbed by the body.

However, there is a truly functional way to improve collagen in the skin, and that is with the emergence of collagen peptides.

Related: Collagen Skin Care Basics

Fish Peptide Collagen

Finally, with the emergence of collagen peptides (especially fish sourced), there is a viable option with desired anti-aging effects. Studies range in demonstration from showing increase absorption after ingestion (1,2), to other positive efficacious markers of absorption such as the synthesis of new collagen fibers (2), and positive effects on the skin as would be expected by an increase in collagen.

Amino Collagen C with Hyaluronic Acid
Amino Collagen C has been shown to help reduce the formation of wrinkles while increasing skin hydration.

Related: I Drank Collagen with Hyaluronic Acid and I Looked Younger

Technically said, the beneficial characteristics of the fish collagen peptide form of collagen are that it can be easily digested and absorbed in our body. Further, it has little or no smell, easily dissolves in water, and has an overall low allergy potential. To be specific, Amino Collagen C consists of small peptide molecules in the range of 3,000 and 5,000 daltons. Its absorption in the small intestine is superior to other collagen products due to its smaller molecule size, which leads to a more efficient collagen synthesis.

Because of these advantages in absorption, fish collagen peptide is becoming the collagen of choice for skin care supplements. For individuals that want to improve skin smoothness, elasticity, moisture, while slowing down the formation of wrinkles and fine lines, Amino Collagen C is the way to go.

In conclusion, put away the collagen creams, and the poorly absorbed supplements and go to fish collagen peptides from Elavonne.

Cites and References

Dent Mater J. 2013;32(1):88-95. Effects of fish collagen peptides on collagen post-translational modifications and mineralization in an osteoblastic cell culture system. Yamada S, Nagaoka H, Terajima M, Tsuda N, Hayashi Y, Yamauchi M.

Mar Drugs. 2018 May; 16(5): 144. Published online 2018 Apr 26. doi: 10.3390/md16050144. Effect of Fish Collagen Hydrolysates on Type I Collagen mRNA Levels of Human Dermal Fibroblast Culture. Ana Sanchez, Maria Blanco, Begoña Correa, Ricardo I. Perez-Martin, and Carmen G. Sotelo

Mar Drugs. 2019 Mar; 17(3): 157. Published online 2019 Mar 7. doi: 10.3390/md17030157. Effect of Oral Ingestion of Low-Molecular Collagen Peptides Derived from Skate (Raja Kenojei) Skin on Body Fat in Overweight Adults: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial Young Jin Tak, Yun Jin Kim, Jeong Gyu Lee, Yu-Hyun Yi, Young Hye Cho, Geun Hee Kang, and Sang Yeoup Lee

Oral Intake of Low-Molecular-Weight Collagen Peptide Improves Hydration, Elasticity, and Wrinkling in Human Skin: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study. Kim DU, Chung HC, Choi J, Sakai Y, Lee BY.Nutrients. 2018 Jun 26; 10(7). Epub 2018 Jun 26.

Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2016; 2016: 4389410. Published online 2016 Jan 19. doi: 10.1155/2016/4389410. Skin Antiageing and Systemic Redox Effects of Supplementation with Marine Collagen Peptides and Plant-Derived Antioxidants: A Single-Blind Case-Control Clinical Study. Chiara De Luca,  Elena V. Mikhal’chik,  Maxim V. Suprun, Michael Papacharalambous,  Arseniy I. Truhanov,  and Liudmila G. Korkina

Collagen-like peptide exhibits a remarkable antiwrinkle effect on the skin when topically applied: in vivo study. Int J Tissue React. 2004;26(3-4):105-11.