Menopause Putting Your Skin on Pause?
In the last edition of The Skin(nie), we talked about how hormones affect your skin around puberty and menstruation cycles. Naturally, menopause will have major impacts on your skin as well. How and why does it affect your skin and what can you do about it? Let’s break it down.
For all of those not yet approaching menopause, you may not even know what it really is other than it’s when you no longer get your period anymore. But you should still read up, it is eventually coming and is a serious milestone in women’s health.
What is menopause?
By definition, menopause is the ceasing of menstruation. It’s diagnosed after a year of no longer menstruating. Menopause is a gradual process and a natural part of aging.
After puberty women's ovaries produce both estrogen and progesterone for reproduction but as your body gears up to no longer be able to reproduce, the level of production of these hormones drops which initiates menopause. The Mayo Clinic states that the average age of a woman hitting menopause is 51 years old, but the length of time leading up to menopause varies for each individual.
What are the skin-related side effects?
Since our bodies are intricately woven together, approaching menopause has many side effects. Menopause is a big topic and there are many signs and symptoms, but as skin experts, we’ll of course limit the topic of this blog to the skin-related effects.
Acne
Surprisingly, acne can be a sign of approaching menopause (and just when you think you should be finally out of the woods!). This happens because of an imbalance of hormones as the levels of production begin to shift.
You’ll remember (as we covered in this blog) that hormones don’t exactly cause acne (you can thank your genetic makeup for that), but one of the functions of our androgen hormones (progesterone and testosterone) is to trigger sebum (oil) production in the pores. And an overproduction of sebum in the pores can unfortunately lead to acne.
Stress and anxiety are also common with menopause and with aging in general. So, if hormone-induced acne wasn’t enough, stress-induced acne can pile on even more breakouts and uncertainty with your skin.
Depleted skin
Estrogen gives our skin life and our glow. That is where the term “pregnancy glow” comes from because the extra estrogen created during pregnancy can really boost your complexion. But as we learned above, estrogen levels deplete during menopause and those depleted levels can lead to depleted skin. Loss of estrogen can lead to your skin feeling thinner, duller, more lax, and more prone to wrinkles and sagging.
This is why treating skin is always best done with a knowledgeable aesthetician. While a doctor may prescribe medication that may indirectly help your skin, you still have to topically treat the skin tissues with active ingredients to better address the problem.
How to treat menopausal skin side effects
Acne during menopause can be tricky because your skin is drier than normal. You need the right exfoliating products to aid in cell turnover and also the right acne-safe hydrating and moisturizing products to keep your barrier strong and healthy. Retinoid products, mandelic acid products, and acne-safe hydrating serums are your menopausal skin’s best friends as well as building a consistent skincare routine and wearing acne-safe makeup. Though you may turn to vitamins and supplements during this time, keep in mind that iodine, biotin, and B12 will trigger more acne – so aim for very low dosages of these vitamins if you are on a multivitamin.
If you are struggling with your skin feeling lax and lifeless as you approach or complete menopause, we are excited to have a “miracle” product for you! Vivant Skincare’s groundbreaking technology in their Biointensive GF Serum is the answer to getting life back into your skin. It is a combination of growth factors, peptides, retinoid, lactic acid, and nourishing ingredients that have made treating aging skin easier. It will also exfoliate, brighten, thicken, and lift the face and neck skin and keep acne away!
We’re always here to help
Remember, aging is happening to all of us – it’s the definition of living after all! You should never be shy to talk about it with your aesthetican because whatever is going on in your life will show on your skin – so making skincare a priority is making yourself a priority.
Take the guesswork out of it and see a professional so you can have healthy skin at every age! Our skin is our largest organ and is with us our whole lives.