Collagen: why it declines from age 25 and how to boost its production

Collagen is available today in powder, shot, or cream form. However, the real story begins much earlier and in a place that no external product can reach: deep within the skin, where your body produces its own collagen. This production starts to decline in your mid-twenties – quietly, long before you notice anything.

The good news: you can stimulate them again. But not with what most people try first.

What collagen actually is

Collagen is the scaffolding of your skin. It is the most abundant protein in the body and makes up most of the dry weight of the dermis — the fibre network that keeps skin firm, dense, and elastic. Together with elastin and moisture, it determines whether skin looks plump or tired.

This scaffolding is built by cells in the dermis called fibroblasts. As long as they actively work, the structure is maintained. If their work slows down, the scaffolding becomes thinner.

Why collagen decreases from the age of 25

From around age 25, skin loses about one percent of its collagen each year (Shuster et al., 1975). That sounds small, but it adds up year after year.

More than simple loss is at work. With age, fibroblasts make less collagen because they lose mechanical support. In young skin, a taut network keeps fibroblasts anchored and active. As collagen fibres fragment over the years, the network slackens. The cells lose their grip, shrink, and slow down production — thinning the network further. In people over 80, collagen production is about two-thirds lower than in young adults (Varani et al., 2006). It is a self-reinforcing cycle.

What accelerates the breakdown

Natural decline is one thing. It can be accelerated in two ways.

The first driver is the environment, above all the sun. UV radiation and the oxidative stress it triggers damage both collagen fibres and the fibroblasts that build them (Krutmann et al., 2021). Much of visible skin ageing starts here — which means you can influence it.

The second driver is hormonal. During menopause, oestrogen levels drop and collagen falls sharply: by up to 30 percent in the first five years (Brincat et al., 2005). We cover this topic in detail elsewhere.

What you can really do from the outside

Things get honest here. Collagen in a cream sounds logical but fails due to biology: the molecule is too large to penetrate the skin barrier to the depths where it would be needed. Applied collagen remains on the surface. Drunk collagen is also broken down by the body and not specifically delivered to where the skin uses it.

What actually has an effect from the outside are active ingredients that support production – not collagen itself, but the tools for it:

• Vitamin C is a direct cofactor in collagen synthesis; without it, cells cannot form stable collagen fibres (Pullar et al., 2017).
• Retinol stimulates fibroblasts to produce more collagen — measurably increasing procollagen in aged skin (Kafi et al., 2007).

Both deserve a closer look, which we'll come back to. The idea behind it is crucial: it's not about applying collagen, but about stimulating the skin to build its own.

What really stimulates collagen production

Treatments that directly target fibroblasts are the most appealing. We focus on four of these:

• SkinPen® Microneedling works purely mechanically: fine needles apply controlled micro-stimuli, to which the skin responds with new collagen formation. A significant increase in collagen is then observed in skin samples (El-Domyati et al., 2015).
• Vivace® combines microneedling with radiofrequency — deep heat amplifies the stimulus in the connective tissue.
• Volnewmer® uses monopolar radiofrequency to deliver energy deep into the tissue, stimulating volume and new collagen.
• Fillmed NCTF® uses mesotherapy to deliver active ingredients straight into the skin to support collagen production.

Which of these suits you depends on your skin – and whether you want to focus on texture, density, or contour.

Early rather than late

Collagen synthesis takes time: new collagen matures over three to six months. This is precisely why it's worth starting early – not only when the loss is visible, but while the fibroblasts can still be easily activated. Maintenance is easier than rebuilding.

That is the core of pre-ageing: maintaining skin quality before it declines. Our free, no-obligation AURA 3D skin analysis shows where your skin stands today and which path makes sense for you.

Sources & Studies

The statements in this article are based on the following scientific publications:

1. Shuster S et al. (1975). The influence of age and sex on skin thickness, skin collagen and density. Br J Dermatol. PubMed 1220811
2. Varani J et al. (2006). Decreased collagen production in chronologically aged skin: roles of age-dependent alteration in fibroblast function and defective mechanical stimulation. At J Pathol. PubMed 16723701
3. Krutmann J et al. (2021). Environmentally-Induced (Extrinsic) Skin Aging: Exposomal Factors and Underlying Mechanisms. J Invest Dermatol. PubMed 33541724
4. Brincat MP et al. (2005). Estrogens and the skin. Climacteric. PubMed 16096167
5. Pullar JM et al. (2017). The Roles of Vitamin C in Skin Health. Nutrients. PubMed 28805671
6. Kafi R et al. (2007). Improvement of naturally aged skin with vitamin A (retinol). Arch Dermatol. PubMed 17515510
7. El-Domyati M et al. (2015). Multiple microneedling sessions for minimally invasive facial rejuvenation: an objective assessment. Int J Dermatol. PubMed 26096653