Beauty, honestly.
skincare·October 11, 2026
Dr. Elizabeth Hawkes explains why rubbing collagen on your under-eyes won't replace what you're losing, and names the ingredients that actually prompt your skin to make more.
Dr. Elizabeth Hawkes, a consultant ophthalmic and oculoplastic surgeon, says collagen applied topically in eye creams is too large a molecule to penetrate the skin's outer layer, so it can't meaningfully stimulate collagen production, according to Who What Wear.
She says collagen can still work as a humectant on the surface, drawing in and trapping moisture to make skin feel smoother, but that effect stops short of replacing the collagen lost deeper in the skin.
Instead, Hawkes recommends looking for ingredients that prompt skin to produce its own collagen: peptides, gentle retinoids (vitamin A), and vitamins C and E.
She calls peptides "the gold standard" for eye creams, explaining they work as signaling molecules that tell fibroblasts, the cells that build structural proteins, to synthesize new collagen and elastin. Among more than 300 peptides used in skincare, she points to Matrixyl 3000 as one of the most well-researched.
Vitamin C, she adds, encourages collagen production while also protecting against environmental damage and improving sun-related pigmentation.
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