13 Health • Posted by u/meemah0123 13 hrs ago Collagen vs Hyaluronic Acid: Which Is Best For Anti-Ageing? Putting it simply, “Collagen is associated with firmness and youthfulness, ” Dr Jaafar tells me. “It provides the skin’s structural framework, helping maintain firmness, elasticity and support.” As mentioned above, the concern comes from the fact that collagen depletes by 1 per cent per year from our mid-twenties, and Dr McCarthy says that this accelerates even further during the perimenopause years due to oestrogen deprivation. This results in “sagging, jowling, deepening lines and wrinkles, and loss of facial definition.”Hyaluronic acid is almost synonymous with hydration and plumpness in the skincare space. Dr Jaafar describes it as “a humectant that attracts and holds water, helping skin appear hydrated, smoother and more plump.” Much like collagen, its levels also decline, “and as a result, skin starts to look dull, crepey and appear more lined,” Dr McCarthy reveals. But its effectiveness is very much down to the molecular weight used. She breaks it down: “High molecular weight HA molecules are unable to penetrate the skin barrier, so they sit on the surface and reduce water loss, while low molecular weight HA molecules can penetrate the upper layers of skin and improve hydration.” You will also notice the ubiquity of sodium hyaluronate in skincare, which she adds is “smaller and can therefore penetrates more readily than the low molecular weight HA. The best HA skincare formulations use a combination of molecular sizes for this reason.”