How Hormones Affect Your Skin

Hormones are simply chemical messengers that tell organs what to do. Yet they are some of the most powerful forces in your life controlling each moment of your day. From waking to sleeping, the reproductive cycle, how you age, and even your moods and desires.

The endocrine system regulates the hormones in the body and is made up of numerous glands. These include the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal glands and the sex steroid glands (testes in men and ovaries in women). What a lot of people don’t know is that the skin is also an endocrine organ because it has receptors that receive messages from the endocrine, nervous and immune systems. There is a powerful brain- skin connection and we are still discovering that the skin is far more sophisticated than ever imagined.

Hormones, Perimenopause and Menopause

The average age for menopause is around fifty-one. Hormones start to fluctuate up to 10 years before and this known as perimenopause (around menopause). In perimenopause you may experience fluid retention, bloating, swollen ankles, and swollen eyes. You may experience hot flushes and an increase in sensitivity leading to a more reactive skin. Sebum levels can increase or decrease depending on your hormonal fluctuations, dehydration, acne or hormonal breakouts.

When oestrogen levels are high it keeps testosterone in check, but as oestrogen levels decline testosterone levels can increase. Women can experience hair growth in a male facial pattern, and an increase in oil production (resulting in adult acne). Once you have reached menopause, the hormone levels decline. Women experience decreased collagen and elastin, reduced moisture levels, decreased sebaceous gland activity (dryness) and uneven pigmentation.

We now have so many sophisticated ingredients in products to target postmenopausal skin. Peptides and Retinol increase collagen together with Vitamin C, which can also even out skin tone. Oat kernel extract and Bisabolol reduce inflammation, whilst Shea Butter, Jojoba Seed and Evening Primrose replenish barrier lipids.

Treating Menopausal skin at Turn Beautiful

Every woman has a unique menopausal experience, so one treatment does not fit all. We need to analyse your skin on every visit, but also consider you, the person inside the skin. Along with your lifestyle, exercise and nutritional regime.

As Dermalogica Experts we will be prescriptive and offer you treatments for your mind, body and spirit. Consider whether you need calming and cooling versus warming and energising treatments. Whether we incorporate equipment that will add variety and achieve results. Such as; Direct high frequency, Galvanic iontophoresis, Microcurrent or Ultrasound to enhance product penetration amongst many other benefits. You may also want to consider alternative therapies such as; acupressure, aromatherapy and reflexology with the use of essential oils or Ayurveda to rebalance.

As professional therapists we offer flexible timings for your sessions as you may prefer a twenty minute targeted treatment on one visit whilst on another a one-hour skin treatment with additional touch therapies to relax and reduce stress levels. We may also need to incorporate exfoliation (the right level for the skin condition), hydration, and layering of products with masks, active serums and barrier lipids.

A moisturiser with SPF (SPF15 or above) is critical, as exposure to sunlight is known to accelerate ageing. To preserve optimum skin health you will need to aim your skin treatments every four to six weeks, a good home care regime, and an effective exercise and nutrition programme. Menopause is not a disease that needs to be fixed, it is a natural change in life and we are there to help you approach it positively.

There is a saying ‘age is a matter of the mind, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter’ One hundred percent of women have to deal with the effects of their hormones at some point in their life, whether it’s during puberty, pregnancy or menopause.

The skin is not just a sheath or covering of the body, it is an endocrine organ. If we understand the role of hormones and skin, we can take away the confusion, educate you on you life’s journey and as professional skin therapists help you to maintain healthy skin.