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Long before wrinkles, thinning skin or other signs of damage can be seen, subtle changes may already be taking place beneath the surface, according to new research.
An international team led by researchers at Hiroshima University in Japan has developed a method to detect hidden changes in collagen—the protein that gives skin its strength and structure—before visible damage appears. The findings were published in ACS Nano on July 16.
Dr. Barbara Kubicka, a doctor who was not involved in the study, described the research as “exciting.”
She told Newsweek: “It suggests skin aging may begin long before we can see it and argues the case for preventative measures rather than just treating when it happens.”
Existing imaging techniques can identify obvious signs of deterioration, such as collagen fibers becoming thinner or breaking apart. However, those changes often represent a later stage of damage.
The new study suggests that important structural changes happen much earlier.
Researchers found that collagen can begin losing its internal organization even while the overall amount of collagen and the appearance of the tissue remain largely unchanged.
“One way to think about our findings is that conventional imaging methods can show the ‘bricks’ of a collagen structure, but they may miss subtle changes in how those bricks are arranged,” Ali Haider, first author of the study and a graduate research fellow at Hiroshima University’s International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter (WPI-SKCM²), said in a statement.
“It’s similar to detecting changes in the arrangement of words and sentences in a book before any pages appear damaged or missing.”
Hidden Changes Found Beneath the Surface
To uncover these changes, the researchers combined several advanced imaging techniques, such as chiroptical spectroscopy or correlative multimodal imaging, that allowed them to examine both the presence of collagen and how well its structure was organized within the same tissue sample.
Their analysis revealed what the team described as a separation between collagen quantity and collagen quality.
While tissue samples still contained large amounts of collagen, the underlying structural order of that collagen had already significantly weakened.
According to the researchers, this means tissue may appear healthy when viewed through conventional methods, even though important microscopic changes are already underway.
“The key message of this paper is that collagen should not be viewed only as a visible fiber network but as a hierarchical material whose function depends on organization across multiple length scales,” Katsuya Inoue, a professor at WPI-SKCM² and one of the study’s corresponding authors, said.
“Our study shows that advanced correlative methods can reveal changes in this hidden organization that are not apparent from morphology alone.”
What the Findings Could Mean
The researchers said their long-term goal is to create a framework that links changes at the molecular level with larger-scale tissue structure.
Such an approach could help scientists assess tissue health before visible deterioration occurs.
Kubicka, the founder of Clinicbe, a medical esthetics and skin clinic in London, added that the detection of subtle structural changes earlier may eventually allow more preventative and personalized treatment plans.
She told Newsweek: “While this won’t change clinical practice immediately, it’s an important step toward understanding skin aging at a much deeper level and may help us intervene earlier to preserve healthier, stronger skin for longer.”
The team said the findings may have applications in areas including wound healing research, biomaterial development and future medical interventions, by helping researchers identify weakening tissue before irreversible damage becomes apparent.
Reference
Haider, A., et al. (2026). Correlative Multimodal Framework Reveals Supramolecular Chirality Loss Preceding Fibrillar Rarefaction in Dermal Collagen. ACS Nano. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.6c06602.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Kara Dolman and James Debens
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