Early Signs Of Low Estrogen: 12 Symptoms

Skin Changes

Estrogen deficiency following menopause leads to various skin changes and speeds up skin aging. This is because estrogen plays a critical role in regulating skin physiology and directly impacts its various components, including keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and the sebaceous glands. In addition, low estrogen levels can compromise the skin’s wound-healing abilities. 

Due to the declining production of estrogen, the skin becomes more susceptible to oxidative stress and reduced collagen production. Over time, menopausal women start showing signs of decreased elasticity, increased dryness, and reduced vascularity. Low estrogen levels also compromise the skin’s protective functions, as evidenced by slow wound healing, skin color changes, and increased risk for skin cancer. 

Menopausal women can delay the skin aging process by administering estrogen. This is because the reduction in skin thickness and collagen concentration in postmenopausal women is due to estrogen deficiency as opposed to their chronological age. Menopausal women following oral estrogen administration see improvements, such as an increase in epidermal thickness, increased keratinocyte, and increased collagen content by as much as 2 percent per postmenopausal year. Lastly, postmenopausal women under estrogen replacement have lower wrinkle scores than those who never took estrogen after menopause.