Women who are going through menopause can experience a number of unpleasant side effects, including mood swings, weight gain, hot flashes, and acne. The last one, acne, can strike many women as particularly unfair. The reason for this is that many women struggled with acne throughout puberty and "paid their dues," causing them to feel as though they should never get it again. The problem is that acne during menopause is caused by an imbalance of estrogen, the female hormone, to androgen, the male hormone. When a woman goes through menopause, her estrogen levels plummet and her androgen levels stay steady, causing acne, whereas puberty acne is caused by a buildup of oil. Here are some tips for women who are going through menopause and are suffering from acne but only know how to treat puberty-related acne.
1. Don't Over-Strip Your Skin
One way to treat puberty-related acne was to get rid of all of the oil and essentially strip the skin on a regular basis. This is not going to work with menopause-related acne and is going to speed up the aging process. Don't overuse exfoliants, but use a mild cleanser that doesn't have any beads or anything else abrasive in it. Clean your face twice a day: once in the morning and once at night to take off all of your makeup. If you overuse exfoliants, you are going to inflame the skin and increase the duration of your acne and the chances that more appears.
2. Consider Hormone Replacement Therapy
Since the main reason for menopause-related acne is a difference in estrogen levels to androgen levels, consider getting hormone replacement therapy to replace your estrogen. This has a number of benefits but reducing acne is one of the main ones. Hormone replacement therapy can also help your skin stay more elastic, which will help prevent wrinkles and sagging.
3. Consider Androgen Blockers
You could also go to a dermatologist and request androgen blockers, which are medications that block the amount of androgen your body produces, causing you to even out the difference between estrogen and androgen.
4. Exercise and Drink Water
Stay hydrated to make sure that your skin has the moisture it needs to look full and feel its best. On top of drinking enough water, try exercising to get oxygen throughout your body, including your skin, so that it looks as radiant and healthy as possible.
For more information, talk to a company that specializes in dermatology for women with menopause, such as Heibel Dermatology.
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