Estrogen Cream Does Not Reduce Facial Wrinkles
On Monday, researchers reported that estrogen creams do not help reduce wrinkles, especially wrinkles caused by the sun.
According to a team of researchers at the University of Michigan, estrogen creams aid in helping skin produce more collagen that makes skin appear smoother, but only helps in skin that has been protected from the sun.
"Most of the time you want to get rid of wrinkles on your face, your hands, your neck," said Laurel Rittie, who helped lead the study.
"Generally estrogen is thought to be beneficial for skin. A lot of companies offer products that tell you estrogen can help fight skin aging. This is only partially true," Rittie said.
"It can only be beneficial for skin on areas that are not exposed to sunlight."
Rittie’s team studied 70 men and women with an average age of 75.
They had the participants apply creams containing estradiol, an active form of estrogen, to their hips and forearms three times every other day for 14 days.
The skin on patients’ hips generally produced more collagen, Rittie reported.
"Surprisingly, no significant changes in production were observed in women or men after two-week estradiol treatment of photo-aged forearm or face skin," the team reported in the Archives of Dermatology.
Normal aging causes fine wrinkles, and loose skin, but sun damage can cause skin to appear dry and have uneven pigmentation.
As skin becomes more damaged from the sun, skin cells quit producing collagen. In addition, dead collagen can cause an even more wrinkled appearance.
Procedures such as carbon dioxide laser resurfacing, and creams such as tretinoin can stimulate collagen production in skin.
Rittie and her team were surprised to find that estrogen cream did not help skin that is exposed to the sun.
"We are not going to consider estrogen any more," Rittie said.
The study was paid for in part by Pfizer Inc.
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