Menopause may be having a moment in the wellness world, but when it comes to how it affects your skin, many of us are still in the dark. Dryness, breakouts, dullness, thinning skin, it’s not your imagination. According to celebrity dermatologist and NewBeauty Top Doctor Doris Day, MD, menopause is when the skin’s aging process suddenly hits fast-forward.
“Somewhere in their 40s, women will come in and say, ‘One day my face just fell apart,’” Dr. Day shared on The Beauty Authority. “That’s when you have accelerated collagen breakdown from estrogen depletion.” So what actually works? Here’s what Dr. Day recommends.
1. Gentle, targeted products are your new essentials.
“This isn’t the time to attack your skin with the strongest active you can find,” says Dr. Day. “Start with a gentle cleanser. If you want to add in a glycolic acid cleanser, that’s fine too, but maybe not every day, depending on how dry or oily your skin is.”
She also recommends vitamin C in the morning to help guard against UV and pollution damage. And don’t overlook the importance of a proper sunscreen.
2. Yes, you can still use retinol.
“Absolutely,” says Dr. Day. “But if your fibroblasts, the collagen-making cells, are exhausted and the mitochondria that produce energy for them are also exhausted, they can’t build collagen and you can end up with irritation and thinning of the skin.”
She prefers dialing back the prescription strength. “Once a woman hits perimenopause and menopause, I tend to switch more to the over-the-counter retinols and retinoids that are precursors of the active form. Those also have added antioxidants and hydrators that are supportive of skin barrier repair and even wrinkle repair and redness reduction.”
3. Don’t skimp on sunscreen.
“You want to up your sunscreen game,” she says. “If you have a moisturizer that has SPF, yes, that is an SPF, but you’re not going to use enough to get that true protection. Use a separate sunscreen that’s not necessarily a moisturizer combination so you get enough layering, and reapply more often.”
4. What’s happening to your hair is real too.
“Hair does naturally age. So even if you don’t have a genetic pattern of hair loss, you can just have natural hair aging. That means each strand becomes finer and overall density can be less,” she says. “The temples are called temples because they’re the first place to show time. Everyone gets a little bit of thinning in the temples, and it offends everybody.”
She recommends minoxidil 5 percent once a day, which “seems to help even for hair aging because it improves blood flow to the scalp and may help hair stay in the growing phase longer.” For supplements, she likes Nutrafol: “It has good data. Some people don’t like that it’s four pills, so I tell them take two. Taking anything is better than nothing.”
5. Start now to stay ahead.
“The younger you start hormone therapy, the better. The younger you start topical estrogen, the better. Because it’s easier to prevent a problem than it is to fix it after the fact,” Dr. Day says. “If you start before you have that collagen breakdown, you’re not having to build back as much. You’re just slowing down the breakdown.”
She adds that the skin is both a mirror and a driver of health. “We now know that your skin isn’t just reflecting your overall health, it also affects it. Keeping your skin healthy helps your other organ systems as well.”
