Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely seen, heard of, or even tried collagen peptides. The ingredient is popping up in powders and drinks left and right, touted as a way to improve the look and feel of your skin, hair, and nails — the ultimate beauty supplement. But while collagen is nothing new, this exact delivery method is, and there’s lots of confusion and misinformation out there.

So we asked top dermatologists to explain what collagen peptides are, and to weigh in on the skin benefits you can really expect.