Remember the saying, “beauty is only skin deep?” Well, changes within a woman’s body, and in particular her hormone balance, can actually show the first signs in that outward beauty. Women who experience hair loss, increased wrinkles, persistently dry skin, or even have outbreaks of acne may have a hormone imbalance.

Dr. Paoletti indicates that in the first year of menopause women loose over 30% of their collagen—that wonderful protein that keeps your skin plump and young looking.
When collagen declines, the texture of the skin changes significantly. The elasticity of your skin decreases causing sagging and increased pore size. Wrinkle lines become more noticeable.

A recent study (Schmidt et al.), investigated whether the topical treatment with estrogen could reverse some of the changes of the aging skin. After 6 months estrogen treatment, skin elasticity and firmness had markedly improved. Similarly, wrinkle depth and pore sizes had decreased by 61-100% in the groups treated with topical estrogen. As an added benefit, those taking estrogen experienced increased skin moisture.

While stress may also be a factor in these symptoms, occasionally hair loss is caused from a loss of estrogen in postmenopausal women. As estrogen decreases in menopause, testosterone becomes the dominant hormone. This imbalance of estrogen to testosterone may lead to the onset of facial hair growth, acne, and or the loss of hair on the scalp. Hair loss however, is also commonly associated with thyroid problems, so you should consult your doctor if you are experiencing any of these symptoms.