It is always easier to prevent the damage than to repair it later. To an important degree, skin aging is inflicted by the accumulation of minor day-to-day damage from abrasions, sun, wind, detergents, acne and so forth. As these small injuries heal, they produce microscopic imperfections, which, eventually, accumulate to become visible signs of aging. While it needs to be further researched, it seems that copper peptides can help minimize the damage from daily wear and tear of the skin. For example, one study shown that copper peptides helped restore skin continuity after exposure to SLS, a common detergent found in many shampoos, cleansers, and dishwashing/laundry solutions.

It remains uncertain whether copper peptides can reverse wrinkles and other symptoms of aging in the healthy skin. Hypothetically, it is possible since copper peptides promote the rupture of abnormally large cross-linked collagen (the one found in scars and, to a minor degree, in wrinkles). They also promote the production of "regular" collagen found in normal skin. In one small study, copper peptides stimulated collagen production in the intact skin. In fact, in that research copper peptides yielded a stronger stimulation of collagen synthesis than tretinoin (Retin A, Renova) or ascorbate (vitamin C).

While controlled use of copper peptides promotes collagen synthesis and has antioxidant effect (by stimulating the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase), exaggerated use of copper peptides extracted from soy proteins can have a negative effect by elevating the levels of free copper. Free copper promotes free radical damage and collagen rupture leading to premature skin aging. These problems do not seem to occur among the majority of copper peptide users. However, there are anecdotal reports indicating that such side-effects might appear with overuse or, rarely, even normal use in sensitive people. Ideally, a sufficiently large research is needed to better quantify these risk.

Finally, copper peptides are a promising skin treatment with a good safety profile. Their capability to improve the healing of various types of skin injuries is well established. It is likely that copper peptides may slow down the development of the signs of skin aging by limiting the effects of daily wear and tear. Also, copper peptides may augment the results of the skin regeneration treatments based on controlled skin injury, such as laser resurfacing, dermabrasion and peels. Also, it seems that certain copper peptide solutions may cause rare but significant skin damage in some cases of over use or high sensitivity.