|  | Family Health | Womens Health

Menopause Skin Disorders

During menopause, a woman's hormones shift in balance, leading to undesirable side effects. The most common side effects are weight gain, hot flashes and irritability, but skin side effects are not unusual. Menopause usually causes skin to become dry, and it can also cause breakouts, redness and hair growth.

  1. Dryness

    • Dryness is the most common skin symptom among women in menopause. Dryness can range from mild to extreme, and can cause skin to become flaky, ashen and irritated. Skin dryness is most noticeable around the scalp lining and in the vaginal area.

    Breakouts and Redness

    • Acne breakouts often occur on the face, neck and back during menopause as a result of changing estrogen levels. These breakouts are often accompanied by skin redness, also usually localized around the upper half of the body and particularly on the face and neck. Redness and irritation in the vagina or thigh area during menopause also occurs occasionally. This is indicative of a disorder known as dyaesthetic vulvodynia. Other redness during menopause, not related to breakouts or dyaesthetic vulvodynia around the vaginal region, is often known as flushing and occurs frequently around the chest and face.

    Loose Skin

    • Decreased estrogen levels can cause skin to loosen or skin to become saggy, making wrinkles more noticeable. Saggy skin occurs across the entire body, but it is usually most severe on the breasts, chest, neck and face. When this problem occurs around the vaginal region, it is known as atrophic vulvovaginitis.

    Hair Growth or Hair Loss

    • Moderate hair loss across the entire body is a common side effect of menopause as estrogen levels decrease. However, estrogen levels can occasionally spike during menopause as the body naturally tries to balance itself or as women supplement their estrogen levels with hormone prescriptions. A spike in estrogen levels can result in hair growth that sometimes occurs in undesirable areas, such as the chest and face. This disorder is known as hirsutism.

    Itching

    • When estrogen in the brain drops, the regulatory functions in the brain may send out extra chemicals that cause extreme itching sensations all over the body. This brain mechanism is the same one that causes hot flashes, and the two symptoms often occur simultaneously. If itching occurs with skin thickening, hardening or cracking as well as weight gain, it is most likely a disorder known as keratoderma climacterium.

Womens Health - Related Articles