Collagen Treatments

Collagen is the predominant protein in our skin. Injecting it into humans to smooth away wrinkles and acne scars seems to also stimulate the body to manufacture its own new collagen in places where it had stopped. This use of animal collagen was seen as a great breakthrough because before collagen plastic surgeons used silicone to fill in facial depressions (wrinkles). But silicone has several drawbacks. It is a foreign substance, not a protein like collagen. Silicone injections have resulted in some people developing scarring, inflammation and lumps. Also, it has the capacity to move-it can work its way into the body's lymphatic system and/or into the bloodstream and can later be found in some distant organs (the kidneys, liver, and so on).

Collagen, on the other hand, does not move. Its drawbacks seem manageable, at least as far as its short history shows. For example, although some people can develop lumps from collagen at the site of the injection, they do go away with time. Some patients have also developed inflammations as a reaction to collagen; but such an allergy can now be determined by a simple skin test per- formed at least three to four weeks prior to having the substance injected. Collagen only lasts for about eighteen months, after which it has to be reinjected.