5 interesting health benefits of hyaluronic acid

We’ve all heard about hyaluronic acid in our skincare, but did you know it’s so much more than just an ingredient for your face?

Hyaluronic acid is a naturally-occurring substance that our body actually makes itself. It’s found primarily in our skin, eyes, joints and connective fibers and its main function is to retain collagen, provide elasticity, and keep our tissue hydrated AF.

Basically, it’s an anti-aging superhero for your entire body both inside and out.

However, (like everything good in our bodies it seems!) as we age and are exposed to everyday pollutants it starts to break down, which can seriously affect our skin, organs, and joints.

Think: Wrinkles, achy joints, and even organ dysfunction. Not ideal.

But don’t worry — there are a number of ways you can incorporate this magical ingredient into your daily regime to keep yourself both looking and feeling great.

Here are 5 ways you can use hyaluronic acid to stay healthy from the inside out!

RELATED: The benefits of hyaluronic acid for anti-aging

RELATED: Everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid

In your skincare

This one’s the most common, but we had to give it a shoutout regardless.

Don’t let the word “acid” scare you. “Hyaluronic acid provides intense yet gentle hydration that’s [good] for even the most sensitive skin. It’s ultra lightweight, which makes it great for oily and problem skin types.” skincare expert, Peter Thomas Roth, told bh’s Jordyn.

Despite the misleading name, HA is an incredible hydrator for your skin. It increases your skin’s ability to retain water, which as a result, improves cell turn over, facilitates protein and amino acid interaction, helps flush pollutants from the pores.

All of this leads to younger, plumper, more supple looking skin.

In your medication

Unlike the hyaluronic acid found in healthy skin and tissue, your body creates smaller polymers of HA to essentially alert your immune system when you are injured. It plays a critical role in regulating inflammation, pain reduction, and wound repair in soft tissue by bringing in nutrients to the site and flushing out waste.

Because of this, using medication with HA for lip and mouth wounds like cold sores, burns, ulcers, and post-surgery sores can help fast-track your healing process. You can also apply HA to open wounds on the skin as it has antibacterial properties, may reduce the size of the wound, and may help with pain.

In your supplements or food

Hyaluronic acid is found in your bones, joints, cartilage, tissue and tendons and ingesting it orally can do amazing things for your internal health.

It is a common ingredient in medications used to treat joint pain and osteoarthritis and taking HA supplements can help with a variety of ailments, including acid reflux, joint pain, and painful bladder syndrome.

There’s also research to suggest that ingesting foods with high HA content, like bone broth, can help manage inflammatory bowel diseases and leaky gut syndrome.

In your injectables

This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but hear us out!

If you’re interested in getting anti-aging injections or fillers, ask your clinician about ones that contain hyaluronic acids. These formulas may provide more intense anti-aging benefits than those without HA and may last longer as well.

It doesn’t stop there. For those with serious joint and tendon pain, you can actually get HA injected directly into the joint. This helps keep the area between the bones well lubricated so it’s less likely to grind together and cause pain.

In your eye drops

It’s no surprise that a substance so hydrating would work wonders for dry eyes.

As we mentioned above, HA is naturally found in your eyes and eye sockets. Using eye drops with HA (between 0.2-0.4%) can be great for retaining moisture for those with dry eyes as a result of aging or contact lenses.

And because of its healing properties, these drops are often prescribed to post-surgery patients or those with eye injuries.

Here are a few hyaluronic acid products bh loves:

Nimue Anti-Ageing Eye Cream, Gernétic Ger-Lift Anti-Wrinkle Cream, Skin Republic Hyaluronic Acid + Collagen Face Mask Sheet, Paula’s Choice Hyaluronic Acid Booster, Swisse Hyaluronic Acid Firming Eye Serum, Bioglan Collagen Bone Broth

Do you use hyaluronic acid?