I’m Losing Collagen Too. Here’s What I’m Doing About It NOW | Dr. Idriss — Transcript

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1. 0:00I talk about collagen loss all the time,
2. 0:02like it's something happening to the
3. 0:03outside world, my patients, my family,
4. 0:05my friends. But hello,
5. 0:07it's happening to me, too. And I
6. 0:09definitely have started to think very
7. 0:11differently about what I'm willing to do
8. 0:13and spend my money on as I get older and
9. 0:15hopefully wiser because the second
10. 0:18people start to hear collagen loss, they
11. 0:21automatically start getting targeted on
12. 0:22social media with expensive collagen
13. 0:24powders, creams, peptides, serums,
14. 0:26devices, lasers, tightening treatments.
15. 0:28basically every lotion and potion under
16. 0:30the sun that is promising to rebuild
17. 0:33your fountain of youth and what you are
18. 0:34losing. And I do not do all of those
19. 0:36things. There are very few things that I
20. 0:38am extremely consistent and religious
21. 0:40about. There are some very popular
22. 0:42collagen boosters that I'm just not
23. 0:44convinced are worth my money. And then
24. 0:46there is a point where I start to think
25. 0:47that buying another serum stops making
26. 0:50sense in its entirety. Okay? Just
27. 0:53doesn't make sense. So, I want to show
28. 0:55you how I am thinking about collagen in
29. 0:57my own face now at 42, what I do at
30. 1:00home, what I'm willing to do in office,
31. 1:02what I skip, and where I, as a cosmetic
32. 1:04dermatologist, would spend my money if I
33. 1:06had a limited budget. But first, we do
34. 1:08need to clear something up. When you
35. 1:10look at yourself in the mirror and
36. 1:12you're thinking, "I'm losing collagen."
37. 1:15Are you actually looking at collagen
38. 1:18loss? Your face is not just collagen.
39. 1:21You see, we blame collagen for almost
40. 1:23everything because it's an easy thing to
41. 1:25understand. Collagen is collagen. But
42. 1:28your face is so much more complicated
43. 1:30than just that. And I like to think
44. 1:31about your face like a couch, like this
45. 1:34bad boy. Your skin is the fabric. It's a
46. 1:37upholstery. I can't see that word. And
47. 1:39underneath it, you have the frame, your
48. 1:40bone structure. You have the cushions,
49. 1:42your facial fat. You have ligaments and
50. 1:44muscles and connective tissue that's
51. 1:46holding all of those fibers together and
52. 1:49keeping them in place. And then you have
53. 1:51the beautiful fabric sitting on top of
54. 1:53it all. Now, as we age in life, every
55. 1:57layer is changing actively. Your bones
56. 1:58are remodeling. Your fat is shrinking
57. 2:01and shifting and redistributing. And
58. 2:02your support structures are changing.
59. 2:04And yes, the skin itself that produces
60. 2:06less collagen becomes less firm, less
61. 2:09resilient, a little bit loosey goosey.
62. 2:11So, when you look in the mirror, you
63. 2:13might look and say, "My face is sagging.
64. 2:14I need more collagen." And that may be
65. 2:17part of the problem, but it may not be
66. 2:20the entire problem. And that fully
67. 2:22matters because skin care can improve
68. 2:25the fabric, but it cannot rebuild the
69. 2:27couch from the inside out. And I see
70. 2:29that in my own face. My skin doesn't
71. 2:31quite bounce back like it used to, nor
72. 2:33as quickly as it used to. My under eyes
73. 2:35do feel a little bit different. For the
74. 2:37first time in my life, I finally
75. 2:39genuinely understand the value of
76. 2:40targeted hydration around the eyes,
77. 2:42which I did not in my 30s. I'm seeing a
78. 2:45little bit more hollowing. My lips are
79. 2:46not as plump and juicy as they once
80. 2:48were. And some of that, yes, is skin.
81. 2:51Some of it is absolutely not. So, before
82. 2:54I treat anything, my first question is
83. 2:56always, what am I actually trying to
84. 3:00fix? So, what am I actually doing at
85. 3:02home? Very honestly, the stuff that's
86. 3:04doing the most heavy lifting is
87. 3:06extremely boring. And that is starting
88. 3:09with sunscreen. My favorites. And I do
89. 3:11love this one by and of course a
90. 3:13retinoid. And my all-time favorite is
91. 3:15one by Shaunie Darden. But something fun
92. 3:17is coming. Consistent skin care is truly
93. 3:20what's going to make the biggest
94. 3:21difference. And sunscreen has the
95. 3:22ability to protect the collagen that you
96. 3:24already have. And a retinoid is one of
97. 3:26the very few things that actually has
98. 3:28really strong evidence behind it. Not
99. 3:31only supporting your collagen
100. 3:32production, but also improving the
101. 3:34quality of aging skin. And I do want to
102. 3:37emphasize something that I have said
103. 3:38forever. So much so that I even
104. 3:40trademarked consistency over intensity.
105. 3:42The strongest retinoid is not
106. 3:44necessarily the best retinoid. If your t
107. 3:47and prescription tre is destroying your
108. 3:49face and you're using it maybe once or
109. 3:50twice a week, but you're avoiding it for
110. 3:52three weeks, I would much rather you use
111. 3:54something much gentler, way more
112. 3:56consistently so you can get to the best
113. 3:58results because collagen remodeling
114. 4:00happens slowly over time and not
115. 4:03overnight. And I do think that my
116. 4:05philosophy as I've gotten older has
117. 4:06actually become even simpler. That
118. 4:08consistency beats complexity. I do not
119. 4:11need 10 different bottles that all say
120. 4:14collagen on them. That is besides the
121. 4:17point. I want to understand what each
122. 4:19thing in my routine is doing and whether
123. 4:21it has truly earned its place to stay in
124. 4:23my routine. And if you are watching this
125. 4:26video and in your 40s and you're
126. 4:27thinking, I didn't even start early
127. 4:28enough. I want you to stop right now.
128. 4:30You have not missed your window. Welcome
129. 4:34to your window. And this is where we
130. 4:36begin. The collagen boosters. I
131. 4:39personally do not prioritize. And this
132. 4:41is where I think marketing gets way
133. 4:43ahead of the science and of us. A
134. 4:45product containing collagen does not
135. 4:48mean that you are putting collagen back
136. 4:50into your face. And we have to set that
137. 4:52from the beginning. Plumping can simply
138. 4:54mean hydration. Peptides can be
139. 4:57interesting, but the word peptide by
140. 4:59itself means almost nothing to me.
141. 5:01Growth factors can also be interesting
142. 5:02and so can PDRN, exoomes, NAD. There's a
143. 5:06lot of interesting biology in a lot of
144. 5:08these conversations, but interesting
145. 5:09biology, right? And this is where I
146. 5:11would spend my money are not the same
147. 5:13thing. For me, the fundamentals still
148. 5:17come first. And then if I have my basics
149. 5:19covered and I want to play with
150. 5:21something extra, fine. No harm, no foul.
151. 5:23But am I going to go spend my whole
152. 5:25paycheck chasing every new ingredient
153. 5:27that comes on the market just because
154. 5:29somebody called it a collagen booster or
155. 5:31a collagen boosting ingredient on a
156. 5:32bottle? Absolutely not. So, in full
157. 5:35transparency, I actually tried collagen
158. 5:37supplements. And I did take them
159. 5:39consistently every single day for almost
160. 5:426 months. And I really, really, really,
161. 5:44really tried to see the results that
162. 5:45people are talking about. And I kept the
163. 5:47rest of my routine relatively stable.
164. 5:49And I really wanted to know, am I going
165. 5:51to see more elasticity, more hydration,
166. 5:54more firmness? Am I going to look like a
167. 5:56fetus? But personally, I saw nada zip
168. 6:00zilch. And now that does not mean that
169. 6:02I'm telling you collagen supplements are
170. 6:04definitively useless or a no. There is
171. 6:07some kind of research there, but I do
172. 6:10think we need way better studies before
173. 6:12we can make any sort of sweeping
174. 6:14statement that they are great or they
175. 6:15are useless. And here is the very
176. 6:19important distinction that I think we're
177. 6:20all missing. Something can have
178. 6:23plausible biological mechanism, but it's
179. 6:25not necessarily creating meaningful
180. 6:27enough results for you and me to see
181. 6:29like Cardi B said and for me to spend my
182. 6:32money on. And after 6 months, it wasn't
183. 6:34worth the cost for me. So, if you take
184. 6:36collagen and you love it, don't come at
185. 6:38me, okay? And if you can afford it and
186. 6:40you feel like it's doing good for you,
187. 6:42I'm not going to come to your house and
188. 6:43confiscate it. You do you. Keep taking
189. 6:45it. But personally, I cannot in good
190. 6:48conscience tell you that that is where I
191. 6:50would personally spend my own money if I
192. 6:53had to pick. And honestly, I would
193. 6:54rather put that money towards a personal
194. 6:56trainer because in my 40s, building
195. 6:58muscles and one day I will show you
196. 7:00guys. And maintaining bone strength is a
197. 7:02much bigger part of how I am thinking
198. 7:04about aging than adding another
199. 7:06supplement to my cabinet. And when does
200. 7:10skincare stop being the answer? I think
201. 7:13skincare has two ceilings. There is the
202. 7:15biological ceiling, right? Where what
203. 7:17can skincare physically change? And then
204. 7:20there's your personal ceiling. What are
205. 7:22you willing to accept? If you're
206. 7:25someone, right, who's happy with your
207. 7:27face and you're not spending mental
208. 7:29energy thinking about something, maybe
209. 7:32there's nothing else for you to do. But
210. 7:34if something is bothering you, I would
211. 7:37say more often than it isn't over the
212. 7:39course of a week, then I think it's very
213. 7:41reasonable to ask, can skin care
214. 7:43actually fix this? Because skin care can
215. 7:46improve the quality of your skin. It can
216. 7:47stimulate collagen. It can help with
217. 7:49pigmentation, fine lines, hydration, and
218. 7:52even texture superficially. But it
219. 7:54cannot replace lost volume. It cannot
220. 7:57rebuild your bone. It cannot reposition
221. 8:00your facial fat. and it cannot solve
222. 8:02every form of laxity. And that is not
223. 8:05skinincare failing. That is you
224. 8:07recognizing that you're trying to treat
225. 8:09a different layer of your couch. So how
226. 8:13do I think about cosmetic procedures
227. 8:14now? And I am a cosmetic dermatologist.
228. 8:17I do not start by asking what is the
229. 8:19best device. I ask what am I trying to
230. 8:22fix or change? Where does the problem
231. 8:24actually live? And what is the least
232. 8:26amount that I need to do in order to
233. 8:28address it? And if my problem is
234. 8:29pigment, maybe we're talking about laser
235. 8:31with skin care. If it's texture or photo
236. 8:34damage, maybe some resurfacing will
237. 8:36help. But if we are talking about deeper
238. 8:38laxity, maybe we should be considering
239. 8:40an energybased treatment that can help
240. 8:42to tighten. But if it's volume that
241. 8:45we're talking about, that's a different
242. 8:46conversation. And I'm very, very
243. 8:48cautious about constantly not chasing
244. 8:51more collagen because those procedures
245. 8:54do not automatically mean better
246. 8:55treatments. If you are repeatedly
247. 8:58creating inflammation or introducing
248. 9:00heat into your facial tissue when you
249. 9:02don't actually need to, you can
250. 9:05potentially start creating a whole slew
251. 9:07of other problems. And if the real issue
252. 9:10is volume loss, repeatedly tightening
253. 9:13the face is not going to replace that
254. 9:14volume. Your face is just going to
255. 9:15shrink and get smaller. My goal is not
256. 9:17to have the tightest face possible. It
257. 9:19is to have the right balance when it
258. 9:21comes to skin quality, structure, and
259. 9:23volume.
260. 9:25So what am I personally doing at 42? For
261. 9:27me, it has always been that subtle is
262. 9:30dramatic. I am not trying to embalm
263. 9:32myself and stop the aging process
264. 9:34altogether. I want to age beautifully as
265. 9:37me. And so right now what I do is I
266. 9:39space out my Botox Botox sessions. I
267. 9:41said that weird because I want my muscle
268. 9:43movement to fully come back. So I don't
269. 9:44do it more than twice a year. I also
270. 9:47recently had a fat stem cellen-enriched
271. 9:48fat transfer because I wanted to address
272. 9:50both the volume and the skin quality at
273. 9:52once. And I am going to give it a little
274. 9:54bit more time before deciding whether or
275. 9:56not I need to get filler, if at all this
276. 9:57year. I am going to tell you all about
277. 10:00this procedure in an upcoming video next
278. 10:02week. So, please make sure that you are
279. 10:04subscribed so you do not miss out on
280. 10:06that. I also like to space out
281. 10:08tightening treatments. I do not do this
282. 10:10more than every year and a half to two
283. 10:13years roughly. It is a very slow and
284. 10:15steady and silent investment. And then
285. 10:17there is one treatment that I used to be
286. 10:19pretty dismissive of in my 20s and 30s
287. 10:21that I have completely reconsidered in
288. 10:22my 40s. And I'm going to do a whole
289. 10:25video on that because there is a lot to
290. 10:28unpack. So again, stay tuned. And yes,
291. 10:31someday I am going to probably have a
292. 10:34facelift if I eventually develop true
293. 10:36excess skin laxity that surgery is
294. 10:39actually designed to correct.
295. 10:41Personally, I would rather do that that
296. 10:44solves the problem right away than spend
297. 10:46years chasing it, trying to tighten my
298. 10:48way around it and not getting that
299. 10:50satisfaction that I'm looking for. And
300. 10:52that's really how my thinking has
301. 10:53evolved. Do a little bit, do the right
302. 10:55thing, do it at the right time, and make
303. 10:58sure that you keep an open mind to stay
304. 11:00open to how you're feeling so that you
305. 11:02can evolve with yourself over time and
306. 11:04not put the burden of how other people
307. 11:06perceive you into your heart. So now if
308. 11:09I had 50 bucks, 500 bucks or $2,000 to
309. 11:12spend, where would I actually put my
310. 11:14money? Starting with 50 bucks, 1,000% in
311. 11:17sunscreen and retinoids because protect
312. 11:19the collagen that you have and continue
313. 11:21to consistently stimulate your skin. I
314. 11:24personally care so much more about what
315. 11:25you do for the next 5 years than
316. 11:27something promising new collagen over
317. 11:29the next month because we are aging over
318. 11:32time. If I had 500 bucks, assuming that
319. 11:34the skincare is already solid, I would
320. 11:36probably stop buying more collagen
321. 11:38serums and start saving my money towards
322. 11:40an inoff treatment that addresses an
323. 11:42actual concern. And if I have between
324. 11:44a,000 to 2,000 bucks, this is where we
325. 11:47start choosing intelligently a procedure
326. 11:49based on a problem. It is micro
327. 11:51needling, maybe we're doing a little bit
328. 11:53of fractional laser for texture, maybe
329. 11:55we're doing a little RF or ultrasound
330. 11:56for tightening in the right person. But
331. 11:58there is no unfortunately universal best
332. 12:00collagen treatment. They all work
333. 12:02differently at different depths and it
334. 12:04really depends on what your issue is.
335. 12:06And if money were unlimited, I still
336. 12:09wouldn't do everything. I would probably
337. 12:11invest more in treatments that address
338. 12:14the underlying structure as I age rather
339. 12:17than endlessly stacking collagen
340. 12:18stimulation on top of itself in the form
341. 12:20of products or even like tightening.
342. 12:23Because the goal is not to spend more.
343. 12:26The goal is to spend intelligently and
344. 12:29to really look at your life as you're
345. 12:31aging in order to target the problem as
346. 12:33it appears slowly over time and not to
347. 12:36try to do it all at once. I don't think
348. 12:38the goal is to chase every possible way
349. 12:41of building collagen. My goal is to
350. 12:45understand what is actually changing,
351. 12:48protect what I have, stimulate my own
352. 12:50skin in ways that I personally trust and
353. 12:53then intervene more when and if I
354. 12:56actually need to intervene because aging
355. 12:58and getting older doesn't mean doing
356. 13:00everything all the time. It means
357. 13:02getting better at deciding what is
358. 13:04actually worth doing for you. Have you
359. 13:07personally tried anything that has
360. 13:08helped your skin's firmness? And if so,
361. 13:11I would love to hear about it. Please
362. 13:13tell us all about it in the comments so
363. 13:15that we can all learn and grow together.