I Spent Decades Chasing Collagen. Here's What Actually Made My Skin Glow

I’ve battled SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus) my whole life. Unknowingly, of course, because back then lupus was incredibly difficult to diagnose. Eventually, I self-diagnosed my symptoms as something psychosomatic - I have a degree in psychology, and considering that my symptoms seemed to get significantly worse during periods of stress, it made perfect sense. So, instead of seeking help as I progressively got worse, I kept quiet, because it was all in my head 🤷🏻‍♀️

By the time I was officially diagnosed, some ten years ago, I had already outlived my life expectancy by four years.

Lupus had taken its toll in more ways than one. My digestive system was affected, including my ability to absorb nutrients properly, which contributed to me - already small in stature - being extremely thin. In fact, I had what people now call "Ozempic face" some 30 years ago, in my early twenties. Lucky me!
(Medical term is 'facial wasting', and it's what Sculptra was FDA approved for)

On top of that, one of my many comorbidities affected my connective tissue, resulting in significant collagen loss. And then came the prednisone. When I was diagnosed, I was put on high doses, which gave me the lovely combination of moon face and an extra 20 pounds. I loved the way I looked - I was almost normal human size finally! And my face was full and more round, with lovely cheekbones. Except that once I was tapered down to my maintenance dose, the weight disappeared, and I was left with even less facial volume and skin that had already been through quite enough.

I've been trying to do something about my prematurely aged face for as long as I can remember. You name it, I've probably tried it: lasers, chemical peels, fillers, Botox, PRP, biostimulators, if it was out there, I did it (and I’ve traveled abroad for stuff that wasn’t available in the States; I had been doing PRP for about 4 years before ‘vampire facial’ was even mentioned in the US). I've spent decades exploring treatments designed to restore collagen, improve elasticity, bring back volume and generally make my skin look a little more like that of my peers. To (mostly) no avail.

Fast-forward to September, when I spent ten days in South Korea. While there for a conference, I squeezed in several aesthetic treatments, including CoolFase, Olidia and Gouri. I also did what any skincare enthusiast visiting Korea would do: I stocked up on K-Beauty. A LOT of it. And a good portion of what I brought home happened to focus on one thing: skin barrier health and repair.

Because of the procedures, I kept my skincare routine incredibly simple for the first couple of weeks.

AM:

• Warm water rinse
• Aestura AtoBarrier 365 Hydro Essence
• Aestura AtoBarrier 365 Cream
• Sunscreen (Beauty of Joseon for the first week, then and up to today Round Lab Birch Juice)

PM:

• Gentle double cleanse
• Aestura AtoBarrier 365 Hydro Essence
• Illiyoon Ceramide Ato Concentrate Cream

That's it. No elaborate layering, no aggressive actives, no trying to do ten different things at once.

When I returned home, something rather unexpected happened. People started asking me what I'd had done. I was getting comments about how much younger I looked, how great my skin looked, how fresh I looked, and how much I was glowing.

Now, here's the interesting part: it wasn't the procedures.

Those treatments, particularly the collagen-stimulating ones, take time. We're talking months, generally two to three, and even then, results aren't guaranteed. Given my history of connective tissue damage and collagen depletion, I knew there was a possibility that I might not get the results I was hoping for. But I wanted to give them a try.

At the time people started commenting, it was simply too early to attribute the changes to those procedures. And when they comment now, it’s still not the procedures because they were no match to my SLE+comorbidities 🥹

What had changed in those early days, however, was my skin barrier.

And that got me thinking about how much emphasis I had spent years putting on collagen stimulation, volume restoration and correcting individual signs of aging, while not giving enough credit to the actual condition of my skin. And just how aggressively I’ve treated my skin thinking if I could just peel it enough, laser it enough, microneedle it enough, damage it enough, it would come back all nice and smooth. And all it took was a little barrier repair and good hydration.

I've since expanded my routine again. I'm incorporating other serums and treatments, still chasing that elusive collagen and trying to address the various signs of aging. Whether any of those topical treatments will actually make a meaningful difference remains to be seen. Topicals take time, often considerably longer than we'd like, and I'm still very much in the wait-and-see stage.

But here's what I do know: the glow is still there.

And the one thing that hasn't changed is my barrier routine.

I've become quite convinced that, for me, a healthy, well-supported skin barrier has made an enormous difference to my overall appearance. It looks fresher, more hydrated, smoother and just generally healthier. And I look younger.

I've spent decades trying treatments designed to change what's underneath the skin or stimulate it to produce more collagen. And I absolutely haven't given up on that. I don’t think I ever will. But I learned something important along the way.

I have become so focused on stimulating collagen, replacing lost volume and correcting individual signs of aging that I forgot that the quality of the skin itself is what people see first.

And that's what everyone was noticing when they kept asking me what I'd had done.

Sometimes, the most noticeable change doesn't come from another procedure or another expensive treatment. Sometimes, it's simply skin that's finally getting the care and support it needs.

So, if you've been overlooking your barrier routine while chasing the next big thing in skincare, don't. Seriously. Don't sleep on it, get your barrier in order, and the rest will (probably) follow!