We all know why collagen is so important when it comes to skin care. The cells of your skin depend on collagen. It’s an essential ingredient it can’t go without. But does this mean you should just slather collagen on your face? Before you do, you will want to read what I’m about to say…

Collagen Sources
You see, products which use this ingredient often derive it from animal sources, such as cows and pigs. Now I don’t mean to scare anyone, but things like mad cow disease and others have the potential to be passed on if you use these.

Before the invention of Restylane, doctors use to inject this animal sourced collagen as a filler. They would use it to plump lips and other areas. Not only did it last a relatively short period of time (perhaps 3 months) it was also extremely dangerous. Because it was a foreign substance in your body, people were much more likely to experience allergic reaction. At the same time, they were also being exposed to potential diseases from the animals.

Now of course this is concern for anyone, but why is it a concern for me personally? Well, my partner’s aunt died under suspicious circumstances in the 90’s relating to her collagen lip injections. I don’t want to get to deep into this, but long story short it appears as the injection passed along a virus from the cow to her. She was relatively young and no medical conditions either, which makes it even more scary.

The Alternative
So after reading that, you realize how dangerous collagen skin care can be. Fortunately – just the last few years – there are now great alternatives. You can now use marine-sourced instead – it comes from plants. But my favorite is hyaluronic acid. You see this is another critical component of your skin, and it actually stimulates the natural production collagen in your skin. But the great news is that it can be produced synthetically so no animal sources are used. Therefore, the odds of an allergic reaction are extremely rare since it’s virtually identical to what’s already in your skin.

What products use this collagen-like substance? Well as far as wrinkle fillers go, Restylane is the most popular procedure. This is a treatment that is performed by doctors. There are also topical creams which use this groundbreaking substance. In fact, you can now buy pure hyaluronic acid to apply to your skin for an incredibly reasonable price!