Estrogen cream is not just for vaginal problems.

Through the course of their lives, many women suffer from symptoms of an estrogen deficiency.

This can result in itching, burning, dryness, and other vaginal problems. 

However, a steep drop in estrogen also affects your skin.

The solution for both is the same: a topical estrogen cream.

What an Estrogen Deficiency Can Do to You

Normally, women experience the biggest drop in estrogen during menopause and perimenopause. (That refers to the ten years before actual menopause.)

In the first five years of menopause, your skin loses up to 30% of its collagen. Every year afterward, you lose around 2.1% more.

Collagen is your skin's major material. When you lose collagen, your skin grows weaker. It sags, collapsing in on itself just like a wall that's lost half its bricks. 

Your skin loses moisture. Because of losing so much collagen, your skin is no longer able to maintain barrier function. Consequently, it can no longer hold in as much water as it should.

Because your skin is losing too much water, it dries out. Because its barrier function is impaired, foreign materials get in. This irritates and inflames your skin.

Wounds take longer to heal.

Skin antioxidants decline.

Because your skin's enzymes need plenty of water, the decline in moisture impairs your skin's overall total health. The turnover of your skin cells - normally 28 days - slows down.

Is Estrogen Cream Just for Older Women?

Normally, yes.

However, younger women may experience a decline in estrogen too:

1. During perimenopause

2. Postpartum (your estrogen drops when you give birth)

3. While breastfeeding

4. As a side effect of chemo treatment

5. Following surgical removal of ovaries

If you believe you'd benefit from estrogen cream, consult your doctor.

What About Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)?

Many older women benefit from receiving HRT. If that's you, just do what your doctor says. The HRT should improve your skin's health.

However, HRT is not suitable for all women, for various reasons.

If your doctor says you're not a good candidate for HRT, but you can see the effects of estrogen deficiency on your skin, talk to your doctor about estrogen cream.

What is Estrogen

It's a group of three types of hormones: estradiol, estriol, and estrone.

Together, they have a huge impact on our bodies. They help regulate the menstrual cycle. They also affect the urinary tract, skin, breasts, bones, brain, pelvic muscles, and heart and blood vessels.

It's widely known as the hormone that feminizes women. That's imprecise but generally accurate.

(Men both have and need estrogen too, but in smaller amounts than women.)

WARNING: Although men need some estrogen, they should not ingest estrogen. Consequently, men should NOT apply any estrogen cream, gel or patch to their skin. Ever. That could have a feminizing effect on them.

Benefits of Topical Estrogen Cream

1. Increases the amounts of collagen and elastin (another critical component of skin)

2. Improves health of your blood vessels, improving vascularization of your skin. That is, your skin cells receive more oxygen, glucose and other nutrients from your blood.

3. Increases the hyaluronic acid in your skin.

Hyaluronic acid is a natural substance in your body that's gooey and slippery. It's especially good at maintaining moisture in your skin. A quarter teaspoon of hyaluronic acid holds one and a half gallons of water.

HLA reduces wound healing time. It also helps keep your skin flexible.

In one study, participants getting topical estrogen every day for six months demonstrated a 61% to 100% decrease in pore size and wrinkle depth.

Ways of Applying Estrogen Creams

Estrogen can come in the form of a cream, a gel or through a transdermal patch.

Potential Side Effects:

They include:

Redness around the transdermal patch.

Breast tenderness.

Risks of Estrogen

Studies have shown women who take estrogen by mouth have a higher risk of strokes, blood clots in the legs or lungs, dementia, and breast cancer.

When you apply estrogen topically to your skin, the amount you absorb into the remainder of your body is much lower than with taking oral estrogen.

However, when you put one of these creams on your skin, your body is getting some estrogen. 

But the good news is, estrogen from a cream is a low dose. It doesn't carry the extreme risk that older HRT treatments, using much higher doses of estrogen, did.

Let's Be For Real

The skin of many women is dry, sagging, irritated, inflamed, discolored and wrinkled long before they reach the age of menopause.

It's not like our skin looks totally young until estrogen drops. Many women are not waiting for menopause to damage their skin. They damage their skin's health and appearance every day through their unhealthy activities.

Therefore, no matter what age you are now, make sure you lead a skin-healthy lifestyle.

That includes:

1. No tobacco smoking

2. Light or no drinking of alcohol

3. Getting 7-9 hours of sleep every night

4. Eating plenty of antioxidant-rich foods, such as those found in colorful vegetables and fruits

5. Avoid long periods of exposure to direct sunlight. If you get sunburned, you were in the sun too long.

Conclusion

Older women suffer great damage to their skin simply as a side effect of menopause causing a reduction in their estrogen. This has numerous adverse effects on their skin's health and appearance.

You will need a prescription, so discuss it with your doctor. Full HRT may be more appropriate for some women, depending on their situation.

Although some women experience relief in a week or two, you may need to apply the cream for up to three months before seeing results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6CmmS52_lQ

https://www.shiftptwell.com/blog/topicalestrogen

https://www.myalloy.com/blog/the-science-behind-putting-estrogen-on-your-face

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8876303/

https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a605041.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6451761/