Transdermal hormone replacement therapy and skin in postmenopausal women: A placebo controlled study

It has been shown that skin collagen decreases in the years after menopause and that oral estrogen replacement therapy is effective in preventing the loss of skin collagen content. Skin thickness, measured radiologically, is a cheap, noninvasive measure of skin collagen content. We explored the effect of a transdermal therapeutic system delivering 50 (μg/day of 17β-estradiol plus sequential medroxyprogesterone acetate 10 mg, in comparison with placebo, on skin thickness after chronic administration to postmenopausal women. Forty postmenopausal women were randomly treated with transdermal estrogen or with placebo. Treated patients showed a statistically significant increase in skin thickness after 1 year of study when compared with untreated women. Data confirm the negative effect of menopause on skin and show that transdermal estrogens are as effective as oral estrogens in preventing skin-thickness decrease.