WHILE IN OUR 50’S…
Firstly for most women, her 50’s mean menopause.
Around age 50, women’s ovaries begin producing decreasing amounts of estrogen and progesterone; the pituitary gland tries to compensate by producing more follicle stimulating hormone (FSH).
While menopause is normal and happens to all women, some of the symptoms can be irritating or even dangerous.
Symptoms might include the following:
- Hot flashes
- Vaginal dryness and atrophy leading to painful intercourse
- Decreased libido
- Insomnia
- Irritability/depression
- Osteoporosis that can increase the likelihood of bone fractures
Anyone at any age can develop skin cancer. In addition to minimizing your risk with healthy sun habits, your health care provider should do a thorough skin check annually to screen for new or changed moles or marks.
Remember the letters ABCDE when looking at skin growths:
- Asymmetry (not round)
- Border (irregular)
- Colour (uneven, different than other moles)
- Diameter (larger than a pencil eraser)
- Evolving (changing in size, shape, or colour)
If anything seems out of the ordinary or alarming, contact your doctor.
Secondly during the first few years of menopause, your skin will lose a significant amount of its collagen and moisture, and as a result, your ‘glow’ will vanish as well.
This is the decade that your skin really starts to lose its elasticity.
What kind of changes are we talking about? Here’s a rundown:
- Wrinkles
- Age spots
- Ultra-dryness and dehydration
- Sensitivity and irritation
- Droopiness
- Large pores
- Inflammation
- Acne
The sun damage you got away with in your earlier years is taking its revenge in the form of age spots and wrinkles. Collagen production is dipping: In the first five years of menopause, your skin produces only 30% of what it did before. This reduces elasticity and brings on wrinkles. Jowls sag and large pores appear as gravity does its thing. Changing hormone and pH levels weaken skin even further, compromising its moisture barrier, especially around the eyes, lips and neck where the skin is thinner. Inflammation makes your skin more sensitive and irritable. And to add insult to injury, acne sometimes makes a return, a by-product of hormonal imbalance.
This is where an age-customized daily skin care routine can make a real difference.
AND 60’S…
Our hormones do strange and wonderful things as we move through menopause. Estrogen, serotonin and progesterone, once mysterious, become all too familiar to us. By the time we reach our 60s, we expect our bodies to “return to normal.”
To sum up:
Hormones in our bodies change almost every decade. As a result we notice more and more changes which require individual approach.
But if you experience alarming hormonal imbalance seek for a doctor advice.
Regards,
A