A feature in Grazia revisits Jennifer Aniston's 2023 comment to The Wall Street Journal that she relies on weekly peptide injections to keep her skin supple, and that she believed injections were the future of skincare. Two years on, the piece reports that dermatologists it spoke to are steering people toward serums instead.

Peptides are short chains of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, and they now turn up in everything from lip plumpers to hair tonics. The article notes that more than 100 FDA-approved peptide-based drugs already exist, including insulin and GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic. The wellness peptides marketed online for anti-aging and tissue repair are mostly not among them.

Where the approvals stop

That gap is the whole story. Grazia reports that many of the injectable peptides popular on social media lack human safety trials entirely, and that the FDA has warned against their use. The American Medical Association has echoed the concern, saying there is not enough valuable, statistically significant evidence to recommend these injections safely.

The exact peptide Aniston was using in 2023 remains unknown, which is worth sitting with: the single most cited endorsement in this category does not come with a named compound attached. Dr. Amy Traub, a board-certified dermatologist and assistant professor at Northwestern University School of Medicine, told the outlet the medical community has invested serious time in peptide research and sees promising advances ahead, but draws a firm line at injecting anything not FDA-approved.

What topicals are said to do

The dermatologists quoted are considerably warmer on the topical side. Grazia reports they agree that peptide serums and moisturizers can soften fine lines and support collagen over time once wrinkles and collagen loss become noticeable.

The caveat comes from Dr. Rukmini Rednam, a Houston cosmetic surgeon, who says collagen peptides do work to boost collagen production in the skin, which may over time reduce the appearance of wrinkles, but that the result is more subtle and less dramatic than a neurotoxin. A daily nudge, in other words, not a reset.

Bottom line

The piece lands where the regulators are: injectable wellness peptides have not cleared the evidence bar, and the experts quoted are not waiting for them. What remains unsettled is whether any of the gray-market compounds ever get the trials that would change that.