What I’m Actually Spending Money On for Collagen Loss | 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. 0:04my friends, but hello,
5. 0:07it's happening to me, too. And I
6. 0:08definitely 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 inexpensive collagen
13. 0:24powders, creams, peptide 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're
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. 0:43convinced are worth my money. And then
24. 0:45there 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. 0:59home, 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. 1:14are you actually looking at collagen
38. 1:17loss?
39. 1:19Your face is not just collagen. You see,
40. 1:21we blame collagen for almost everything
41. 1:24because it's an easy thing to
42. 1:25understand. Collagen is collagen. But
43. 1:27your face is so much more complicated
44. 1:30than just that. And I like to think
45. 1:31about your face like a couch, like this
46. 1:34bad boy. Your skin is the fabric, it's
47. 1:36the upholstery, I can't say that word.
48. 1:38And underneath it you have the frame,
49. 1:40your bone structure. You have the
50. 1:41cushions, your facial fat. You have
51. 1:44ligaments and muscles and connective
52. 1:45tissue that's holding all of those
53. 1:47fibers together and keeping them in
54. 1:49place. And then you have the beautiful
55. 1:51fabric sitting on top of it all. Now, as
56. 1:55we age in life, every layer is changing
57. 1:57actively. Your bones are remodeling.
58. 2:00Your fat is shrinking and shifting and
59. 2:01redistributing. And your support
60. 2:03structures are changing. And yes, the
61. 2:05skin itself that produces less collagen
62. 2:07becomes less firm, less resilient, a
63. 2:09little bit loosey-goosey. So, when you
64. 2:11look in the mirror, you might look and
65. 2:13say, "My face is sagging. I need more
66. 2:15collagen." And that may be part of the
67. 2:18problem, but it may not be the entire
68. 2:21problem. And that fully matters because
69. 2:23skin care can improve the fabric, but it
70. 2:26cannot rebuild the couch from the inside
71. 2:28out. And I see that in my own face. My
72. 2:30skin doesn't quite bounce back like it
73. 2:32used to, nor as quickly as it used to.
74. 2:35My under eyes do feel a little bit
75. 2:36different. For the first time in my
76. 2:37life, I finally genuinely understand the
77. 2:39value of targeted hydration around the
78. 2:42eyes, which I did not in my 30s. I'm
79. 2:44seeing a little bit more hollowing. My
80. 2:46lips are not as plump and juicy as they
81. 2:48once were. And some of that, yes, is
82. 2:50skin. Some of it is absolutely not. So,
83. 2:53before I treat anything, my first
84. 2:55question is always, "What am I actually
85. 2:59trying to fix?"
86. 3:01So, what am I actually doing at home?
87. 3:03Very honestly, the stuff that's doing
88. 3:04the most heavy lifting is extremely
89. 3:07boring. And that is starting with
90. 3:09sunscreen, my favorites, and I do love
91. 3:11this one by Isdin. And of course, a
92. 3:13retinoid. And my all-time favorite is
93. 3:15one by Shani Darden, but something fun
94. 3:17is coming. Consistent skin care is truly
95. 3:20what's going to make the biggest
96. 3:21difference. And sunscreen has the
97. 3:22ability to protect the collagen that you
98. 3:24already have. And a retinoid is one of
99. 3:26the very few things that actually has
100. 3:28really strong evidence behind it, not
101. 3:31only supporting your collagen
102. 3:32production, but also improving the
103. 3:34quality of aging skin. And I do want to
104. 3:37emphasize something that I have said
105. 3:38forever, so much so that I even
106. 3:40trademarked consistency over intensity.
107. 3:42The strongest retinoid is not
108. 3:44necessarily the best retinoid. If your
109. 3:46tret and prescription tret is destroying
110. 3:49your face, and you're you're it maybe
111. 3:50once or twice a week, but you're
112. 3:51avoiding it for 3 weeks, I would much
113. 3:53rather you use something much gentler
114. 3:56way more consistently so you can get to
115. 3:58the best results because collagen
116. 3:59remodeling happens slowly over time and
117. 4:02not overnight. And I do think that my
118. 4:04philosophy as I've gotten older has
119. 4:06actually become even simpler, that
120. 4:08consistency beats complexity. I do not
121. 4:11need 10 different bottles that all say
122. 4:14collagen on them. That is besides the
123. 4:17point. I want to understand what each
124. 4:19thing in my routine is doing and whether
125. 4:21it has truly earned its place to stay in
126. 4:23my routine. And if you are watching this
127. 4:25video and in your 40s and you're
128. 4:27thinking I didn't even start early
129. 4:28enough, I want you to stop right now.
130. 4:30You have not missed your window. Welcome
131. 4:34to your window and this is where we
132. 4:36begin. The collagen boosters I
133. 4:38personally do not prioritize and this is
134. 4:41where I think marketing gets way ahead
135. 4:43of the science side of us.
136. 4:45A product containing collagen does not
137. 4:48mean that you're putting collagen back
138. 4:50into your face and we have to set that
139. 4:51from the beginning. Plumping can simply
140. 4:54mean hydration. Peptides can be
141. 4:57interesting, but the word peptide by
142. 4:58itself means almost nothing to me.
143. 5:01Growth factors can also be interesting
144. 5:02and so can PDRN, exosomes, NAD. There's
145. 5:06a lot of interesting biology in a lot of
146. 5:08these conversations, but interesting
147. 5:09biology, right? And this is where I
148. 5:11would spend my money are not the same
149. 5:13thing. For me, the fundamentals still
150. 5:17come first and then if I have my basics
151. 5:19covered and I want to play with
152. 5:21something extra fun, no harm, no foul.
153. 5:23But am I going to go spend my whole
154. 5:25paycheck chasing every new ingredient
155. 5:27that comes on the market just because
156. 5:28somebody called it a collagen booster or
157. 5:31a collagen boosting ingredient on a
158. 5:32bottle? Absolutely not. So in full
159. 5:35transparency, I actually tried collagen
160. 5:37supplements and I did take them
161. 5:39consistently every single day for almost
162. 5:416 months and I really, really, really,
163. 5:44really tried to see the results that
164. 5:45people are talking about and I kept the
165. 5:47rest of my routine relatively stable.
166. 5:49And I really wanted to know, am I going
167. 5:51to see more elasticity, more hydration,
168. 5:54more firmness? Am I going to look like a
169. 5:56fetus? But personally, I saw nada,
170. 5:59niente, zip, zilch. And now, that does
171. 6:02not mean that I'm telling you collagen
172. 6:03supplements are definitively useless or
173. 6:06a no. There is some kind of research
174. 6:08there, but I do think we need way better
175. 6:11studies before we can make any sort of
176. 6:13sweeping statement that they are great
177. 6:15or they are useless. And here is the
178. 6:18very important distinction that I think
179. 6:20we're all missing.
180. 6:21Something can have plausible biological
181. 6:24mechanism, but it's not necessarily
182. 6:26creating meaningful enough results for
183. 6:28you and me to see like Cardi B said, and
184. 6:31for me to spend my money on. And after 6
185. 6:33months, it wasn't worth the cost for me.
186. 6:35So, if you take collagen and you love
187. 6:37it, don't come at me, okay? And if you
188. 6:39can afford it and you feel like it's
189. 6:41doing good for you, I'm not going to
190. 6:42come to your house and confiscate it.
191. 6:44You do you. Keep taking it. But
192. 6:46personally, I cannot in good conscience
193. 6:48tell you that that is where I would
194. 6:50personally spend my own money if I had
195. 6:53to pick. And honestly, I would rather
196. 6:55put that money towards a personal
197. 6:56trainer because in my 40s, building
198. 6:58muscles, and one day I will show you
199. 7:00guys, and maintaining bone strength is a
200. 7:02much bigger part of how I am thinking
201. 7:04about aging than adding another
202. 7:06supplement to my cabinet.
203. 7:09And when does skin care stop being the
204. 7:12answer?
205. 7:13I think skin care has two ceilings.
206. 7:15There is the biological ceiling, right?
207. 7:16Where what can skin care physically
208. 7:19change? And then there's your personal
209. 7:21ceiling. What are you willing to accept?
210. 7:25If you're someone, right, who's happy
211. 7:26with your face and you're not spending
212. 7:29mental energy thinking about something,
213. 7:32maybe there's nothing else for you to
214. 7:33do.
215. 7:34But if something is bothering you, I
216. 7:36would say more often than it isn't over
217. 7:38the course of a week, then I think it's
218. 7:40very reasonable to ask, can skin care
219. 7:43actually fix this? Because skin care can
220. 7:46improve the quality of your skin. It can
221. 7:47stimulate collagen. It can help with
222. 7:49pigmentation, fine lines, hydration, and
223. 7:52even texture superficially. But it
224. 7:54cannot replace lost volume. It cannot
225. 7:57rebuild your bone. It cannot reposition
226. 8:00your facial fat. And it cannot solve
227. 8:02every form of laxity. And that is not
228. 8:05skin care failing. That is you
229. 8:07recognizing that you're trying to treat
230. 8:09a different layer of your couch.
231. 8:12So, how do I think about cosmetic
232. 8:14procedures now? And I am a cosmetic
233. 8:16dermatologist. I do not start by asking,
234. 8:18what is the best device? I ask, what am
235. 8:21I trying to fix or change? Where does
236. 8:23the problem actually live? And what is
237. 8:25the least amount that I need to do in
238. 8:27order to address it? And if my problem
239. 8:29is pigment, maybe we're talking about
240. 8:31laser with skin care. If it's texture or
241. 8:33photo damage, maybe some resurfacing
242. 8:35will help. But if we are talking about
243. 8:37deeper laxity, maybe we should be
244. 8:40considering an energy-based treatment
245. 8:42that can help to tighten. But if it's
246. 8:44volume that we're talking about, that's
247. 8:45a different conversation. And I'm very,
248. 8:48very cautious about constantly not
249. 8:50chasing more collagen, because those
250. 8:53procedures do not automatically mean
251. 8:55better treatments. If you are repeatedly
252. 8:57creating inflammation or introducing
253. 9:00heat into your facial tissue when you
254. 9:02don't actually need to, you can
255. 9:05potentially start creating a whole slew
256. 9:07of other problems. And if the real issue
257. 9:10is volume loss, repeatedly tightening
258. 9:12the face is not going to replace that
259. 9:14volume. Your face is just going to
260. 9:15shrink and get smaller. My goal is not
261. 9:17to have the tightest face possible. It
262. 9:19is to have the right balance when it
263. 9:21comes to skin quality, structure, and
264. 9:23volume.
265. 9:25So, what am I personally doing at 42?
266. 9:27For me, it has always been that subtle
267. 9:29is dramatic. I am not trying to embalm
268. 9:32myself and stop the aging process
269. 9:34altogether. I want to age beautifully as
270. 9:36me. And so right now what I do is I
271. 9:39space out my Botox Botox sessions. I
272. 9:40said that weird because I want my muscle
273. 9:43movement to fully come back. So I don't
274. 9:44do it more than twice a year.
275. 9:46I also recently had a fat stem cell
276. 9:48enriched fat transfer because I wanted
277. 9:50to address both the volume and the skin
278. 9:51quality at once. And I am going to give
279. 9:53it a little bit more time before
280. 9:55deciding whether or not I need to get
281. 9:56filler at if at all this year. I am
282. 9:58going to tell you all about this
283. 10:00procedure in an upcoming video next
284. 10:02week. So please make sure that you are
285. 10:04subscribed so you do not miss out on
286. 10:06that. I also like to space out
287. 10:08tightening treatments. I do not do this
288. 10:10more than every year and a half to two
289. 10:12years roughly. It is a very slow and
290. 10:15steady and silent investment. And then
291. 10:16there is one treatment that I used to be
292. 10:18pretty dismissive of in my 20s and 30s
293. 10:21that I have completely reconsidered in
294. 10:22my 40s. And I'm going to do a whole
295. 10:25video on that because there is a lot to
296. 10:28unpack. So again, stay tuned. And yes,
297. 10:31someday I am going to probably have a
298. 10:33facelift if I eventually develop true
299. 10:36excess skin laxity that surgery is
300. 10:39actually designed to correct.
301. 10:41Personally, I would rather do that that
302. 10:44solves the problem right away than spend
303. 10:46years chasing it, trying to tighten my
304. 10:48way around it, and not getting that
305. 10:50satisfaction that I'm looking for. And
306. 10:52that's really how my thinking has
307. 10:53evolved. Do a little bit, do the right
308. 10:55thing, do it at the right time, and make
309. 10:57sure that you keep an open mind to stay
310. 10:59open to how you're feeling so that you
311. 11:01can evolve with yourself over time and
312. 11:04not put the burden of how other people
313. 11:06perceive you into your heart.
314. 11:08So now, if I had 50 bucks, 500 bucks, or
315. 11:11$2,000 to spend, where would I actually
316. 11:13put my money? Starting with 50 bucks,
317. 11:161,000% in sunscreen and retinoids
318. 11:18because protect the collagen that you
319. 11:19have and continue to consistently
320. 11:22stimulate your skin. I personally care
321. 11:24so much more about what you do for the
322. 11:26next 5 years than something promising
323. 11:28new collagen over the next month because
324. 11:31we are aging over time. If I had 500
325. 11:33bucks, assuming that the skin care is
326. 11:35already solid, I would probably stop
327. 11:37buying more collagen serums and start
328. 11:39saving my money towards an in-office
329. 11:40treatment that addresses an actual
330. 11:43concern. And if I have between a
331. 11:44thousand to two thousand bucks, this is
332. 11:46where we start choosing intelligently a
333. 11:48procedure based on a problem. It is
334. 11:51micro needling maybe, maybe we're doing
335. 11:52a little bit of fractional laser for
336. 11:54texture, maybe we're doing a little RF
337. 11:55or ultrasound for tightening in the
338. 11:57right person, but there is no,
339. 11:59unfortunately, universal best collagen
340. 12:01treatment. They all work differently at
341. 12:03different depths and it really depends
342. 12:04on what your issue is. And if money were
343. 12:07unlimited, I still wouldn't do
344. 12:10everything. I would probably invest more
345. 12:12in treatments that address the
346. 12:14underlying structure as I age rather
347. 12:17than endlessly stacking collagen
348. 12:18stimulation on top of itself in the form
349. 12:20of products or even like tightening
350. 12:23because the goal is not to spend more.
351. 12:26The goal is to spend intelligently and
352. 12:29to really look at your life as you're
353. 12:31aging in order to target the problem as
354. 12:33it appears slowly over time and not to
355. 12:36try to do it all at once. I don't think
356. 12:38the goal is to chase every possible way
357. 12:41of building collagen. My goal is to
358. 12:44understand what is actually changing.
359. 12:47Protect what I have, stimulate my own
360. 12:50skin in ways that I personally trust,
361. 12:52and then intervene more when and if I
362. 12:55actually need to intervene because aging
363. 12:58and getting older doesn't mean doing
364. 13:00everything all the time. It means
365. 13:01getting better at deciding what is
366. 13:04actually worth doing for you. Have you
367. 13:07personally tried anything that has
368. 13:08helped your skin's firmness? And if so,
369. 13:11I would love to hear about it. Please
370. 13:12tell us all about it in the comments so
371. 13:15that we can all learn and grow together.
372. 13:17And in the meantime, I hope you all have
373. 13:19a beautiful Saturday.