What is collagen? Well it’s a protein, and its main function is to provide structure, strength and support in your body.  Now as we age, we lose collagen, particularly post menopause, so restoring collagen to our face can help us to look more youthful. And any medical professional will tell you that the way to do this simply and inexpensively is to use a retinol. And what any medical professional will also tell you is that ingesting collagen will not make the slightest bit of difference to your skin. Studies have shown that it is perfectly safe to ingest collagen but it will make not a jot of difference to any wrinkles that you may have on your skin. So don’t waste your money on collagen tablets or drinks – they won’t make any difference to your skin.

Micro current devices such as Foreo sell themselves on the basis that they can tighten the face stimulate the muscles and neck and produce collagen and elastin. Now as we’ve just seen, this is nonsense. You cannot produce collagen by massaging the face, which is basically what this machine does. And you cannot tighten the muscles of the face by massaging it. The only way to tighten muscles is to use Botox. And Botox is an in-clinic procedure and not something but we can do at home to lesson I wrinkles. Having said that. It might feel lovely to have your face massage. I used to have really bad sinus problems, and I would go to my friend who was an osteopath. She would press on the pressure points on my face particularly around my forehead on my nose and relieve the pressure build up that was causing me face pain, and that was absolutely fantastic and it really made a difference. But that is the only thing that a micro current might be able to do for your face – it is not going to rid you of any wrinkles, particularly when you’re over 60!

Here is another example of a load of nonsense. You can see why this might have come into being, cause we are always told as older women that we must lift weights build muscle in our bodies to keep ourselves healthy and support our bones because as we age we lose bone density and we lose muscle as well an in order to keep fit and healthy and to be able to sit and stand and do all the things we want to do in our lives and keep as youthful as possible we need to make sure we have good strong bones and good strong muscles. However, as we’ve seen above, exercising our face is going to increase not decrease our static lines. And static lines are impossible to get rid of unless we use Botox. Not sure I need to say anymore about face yoga, accept that I do get quite cross when I see articles in the press exposing the amazing results that women have seen doing 20 to 30 minutes of face yoga day. Now I’m going to let you into a little secret. I tried face yoga about 20 years ago when I notice that my chin was starting to develop two little pouches either side. I have to tell you is the most boring 20 minutes I’d ever spent. And of course I never saw any results although to be fair I didn’t carry on for all that long. But I’m glad I didn’t because now I know better I can see that I wasted my time. So face yoga or facial exercises are not going to help you’re faced stay youthful they’re not going to rid you of your fine lines and wrinkles and in fact they might increase them.

A Gua Sha, or a jade roller, according to one website that sells these tools, will increases elasticity in the skin, improves blood circulation, smooth and tone the skin, improves dark circles and under-eye bags, promotes radiant and even complexion, relax the jaw muscles, facilitate the absorption of skincare products, firm the oval of the face.

Now let’s just focus on that last claim: firm the oval of the face! How on earth is a jade roller or a gua sha, which is just a different shaped jade piece, going to firm the oval of my face at 68? Or at anybody’s face actually. it’s simply a massage tool that feels nice and cool on the skin.  It might help relieve sinus pain, it might feel cooling, relaxing, relieving of stress but it is not going to get rid of any wrinkles it’s not going to produce collagen, it’s not going to improve dark circles and under eye bags –  in fact I would keep it well away from any bags under your eyes as the skin under your eyes is incredibly sensitive and it is not going to promote a radiant and even complexion unless you are applying some kind of cooling gel on your skin first and then massaging it in with the roller. And in fact, there are some people who should definitely not be using them, as research has shown that if you’ve got rosacea or you’re on blood thinners like aspirin which is what I take daily you should steer clear of them. Medical research articles suggest gua sha should only be used on bodies by specialist practitioners, usually in Chinese medicine.

Oh I really wanted this to work! I’ve seen so many videos extolling the benefits of LED red light therapy masks particularly in women over 50 on YouTube. Even though the masks look hilarious, the idea of sitting for just a few minutes with lights penetrating your skin sounded so relaxing, and many is the time that my hand has hovered over the buy now button on an LED mask online shop. But I’m so glad I didn’t. Because LED treatment or light therapy treatment at home is expensive – usually around £300 per device.

So what is LED light therapy:

LED (light-emitting diode) light therapy is a non-invasive treatment that enters the skin’s layers to improve the skin.In the 1990s, NASA began studying LED’s effects in promoting wound healing in astronauts by helping cells and tissues grow. Today, dermatologists and estheticians commonly use LED light therapy to treat a range of skin issues. Skin specialists often use LED light therapy together with other treatments, such as creams, ointments and facials, to give you the best results.

Now, research shows that it does appear to be a safe treatment for conditions such as acne skin wounds and other problems. But it is not going to lessen your wrinkles, particularly if you are over 60. Now a caveat, one of my favourite YouTube derms, Doctorly, do believe in the efficacy of these masks. On their channel, they have said research showed a mild improvement in wrinkles after a 12 week trial. But that trial was conducted in a clinic, not using an at home device – and the doctors in Doctorly in their late 30s or early 40s, not in their 60s.

So let’s say the jury’s out on whether LED at home treatments work on over 60 skin.  Now I’ll let you into a little secret – I’m about to try a treatment when I go on a spa break next month. Mind, it’s £90 for a half hour session, which is very expensive, and I’m not expecting a massive change, but it will be interesting to see what effects, if any, I feel and see, and whether I decide to continue with further treatments.