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Collagen During Menopause: Is It Necessary For Healthy Skin Aging?

Collagen During Menopause: Is It Necessary For Healthy Skin Aging?

If you’re approaching or experiencing menopause, you might be feeling a bit concerned about the changes in your skin. You may have even begun to experience some subtle (or not-so-subtle) shifts in the texture and tone of your skin.\

So what's going on, and what can you expect?

The production of collagen, the protein that keeps your skin firm and hydrated, is closely tied to the levels of hormones like estrogen that decrease with menopause. Luckily, understanding how the collagen in your skin changes with menopause can help you take proactive steps to supplement your body’s collagen production and keep your skin looking and feeling its best.

01

Why is Collagen So Important For Healthy Skin Aging?

CollagenΒ is the most abundant protein in your body, with each of the 28 different types serving various functionalities throughout the body. When it comes to skin health and appearance,Β type I and type III are the most important.[1]

They create fibrous networks that replenish dead skin cells and promote skin strength, elasticity, and firmness. They can also help lock inΒ skin hydrationΒ and prevent dryness by strengthening the skin barrier.[1,2]

Collagen and Skin Aging

Environmental factors, like UV damage, and damage from the natural aging process, like cellular senescence or glycation, break down collagen in the skin. To keep itself firm, specialized cells called fibroblasts are constantly repairing and rebuilding the collagen in your skin.[1]
Collagen decreases progressively from your 20s, at 1–1.5% per year, influenced by factors like sun exposure and skin type. This rate doubles during menopause; by age 70, your skin has around a fourth of the collagen it had in your 20s.[3,4]
02

How Do Perimenopause and Menopause Impact Collagen Levels?

The hormonal changes of perimenopause and menopause bring about profound shifts in skin physiology, particularly affecting collagen levels. Estrogen, a vital hormone, is closely linked to skin structure and health due to its direct role in stimulating collagen production.
Estrogen is a key element of collagen biosynthesis as it binds to fibroblast estrogen receptors, directly activating them to produce collagen. The steep decline in estrogen levels that ultimately contributes to menopausal skin changes yields lower fibroblast activation, and subsequently, lower collagen levels. Around 30% of skin collagen is lost within the first 5 years following menopause. [5]
As collagen levels decrease with menopause, your skin may lose its firmness, feel drier, and be more prone to wrinkles and damage.Β 
03

How Can Post-Menopausal Women Supplement Collagen Production?

While this decline is a normal part of aging, there are ways to support and supplement collagen levels to help maintain skin health and resilience.

Stay Active

Exercise isn't just good for your bodyβ€”it's fantastic for your skin, too. Aerobic exercise and resistance training help increase dermal elasticity and strength by reducing circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines responsible for age-related collagen degradation. Research also suggests resistant training goes further by lowering specific cytokines responsible for suppressing collagen-regulating proteins like Biglycan.[6] This helps cells produce more collagen, increasing dermal thickness and staving off age-related thinning skin.
Who knew your fitness routine could be so good for your skin?

Professional Treatments

Professional dermatological treatments, like laser therapy and microneedling, offer targeted methods to boost collagen production by engaging the skin’s healing mechanisms. Many of these treatments achieve this by creating controlled damage that the skin can easily repair. Microneedling, for example, involves tiny punctures in the skin that signal a repair response, forming new collagen and elastin fibers.[7]
Over time, repeated treatments can increase dermal density, improve elasticity, and restore firmness to areas that have become lax, making them a valuable tool for preserving collagen for pre and post-menopausal women.

Oral Supplementation

Taking collagen supplements as a powder or liquid has become a popular method to support collagen production. A 2019 study found that hydrolyzed collagen could improve skin dryness, elasticity, roughness, and density, all key areas affected by aging.[8]However, ingesting collagen is not the most efficient approach, as it is broken down into amino acids during digestion, and only a limited amount of these reach the skin. Once in the body, these amino acids may be repurposed to produce other proteins, leaving only a fraction available for collagen synthesis in the skin.The good news? Your diet can play a powerful role in supporting natural collagen production. By focusing on nutrient-rich foods, you provide your body with the building blocks it needs to keep collagen levels up, boosting your skin's resilience and radiance:
  • Vitamin C-rich foods: Citrus fruits, leafy greens, and berries are high in vitamin C, a vitamin essential for collagen biosynthesis that helps stabilize collagen molecules.[9]
  • Lean proteins: Foods like fish, chicken, and eggs provide amino acids like proline and lysine, which are fundamental to collagen production and aid in skin structure and strength.[9]
  • Nuts and seeds: These foods are excellent sources of amino acids and minerals like zinc that are precursors to collagen and support collagen integrity and repair.[9]
  • Antioxidant-rich foods: Berries, green tea, dark chocolate, and other foods containing antioxidants help protect existing collagen from oxidative stress that can compromise skin firmness and elasticity.[9]
By including these foods in your diet, you’re giving your body what it needs to naturally support collagen, promoting glowing, healthy skin from within.

Topical Application

Since it can be challenging for your skin to utilize the nutrients in collagen supplements and your diet, dermatologists recommend topical products with ingredients that stimulate collagen production. It’s important to note that collagen is often too large a molecule to properly absorb into the skin, therefore be cautious of products claiming to contain collagen.[10]
Instead, smaller molecules like peptides can penetrate the skin barrier and have the potential to stimulate collagen synthesis. The OS-01 peptide, scientifically demonstrated to penetrate deeply into the skin, stimulates collagen production by activating COL1A1 and HAS2, critical biomarkers for collagen and hyaluronic acid synthesis.[11] This enhanced production from your cells helps increase epidermal thickness and skin barrier function, improving and even reversing the visible signs of skin aging. [11,12,13]

Shown in lab studies on ex vivo human skin samples by measuring key biomarkers via an expression analysis. (Zonari, A., et al. npj Aging, 2023) Note: In npj Aging publication,"Pep 14" = OS-01 peptide
Powered by the OS-01 peptide, OneSkin’s topical supplements OS-01 FACE, OS-01 EYE, and OS-01 BODY have been clinically validated to strengthen the skin barrier, improve skin elasticity, and increase hydration, making them industry-leading choices for menopausal and post-menopausal women looking to give their skin the care it deserves.[13]
Key Takeaways:
  • Menopause accelerates natural collagen loss, increasing skin aging signs like wrinkles and sagging.
  • Types I and III collagen, essential to skin elasticity and hydration, are particularly impacted during menopause.
  • Regular exercise helps reduce inflammatory markers and supports collagen production, improving skin firmness.
  • In-office treatments like laser therapy and microneedling can help boost collagen by stimulating the body’s natural healing response.
  • Taking collagen supplements can help, but its effects are limited as only a fraction of ingested nutrients reach skin cells to support collagen production.
  • Peptide-based products, like those powered by OneSkin’s OS-01 peptide, can stimulate collagen in the skin, restoring firmness and elasticity.
Disclaimers
  • This article was initially published in May 2022 and has been updated.

Last Updated April 20, 2025

Reviewed by

Alessandra Zonari

Alessandra Zonari

PhD, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Co-Founder of OneSkin

Alessandra earned her Master’s degree in stem cell biology, and her PhD in skin regeneration and tissue engineering at the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil in collaboration with the 3B’s Research Group in Portugal. Alessandra did a second post-doctoral at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. She is a co-inventor of three patents and has published 20 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals.