Menopause & Your Skin

We thought we learned how to slay the hormonal dragons of womanhood (puberty, mood swings, PMS, etc.) — then comes MENOPAUSE! Hurling in like a raging furnace, it storms into our lives with ZERO apologies and a load of new challenges. Suddenly, our skin starts changing and we’re forced to reckon with some beauty obstacles, some of which are annoyingly familiar like acne.  So to soothe our skin sorrows, we collected the most up-to-date findings on how to care for skin during menopause.

Menopause and skin changes

As we go through the change, our most drastic skin changes happen. According to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), “Studies show that women's skin loses about 30% of its collagen during the first five years of menopause. After that, the decline is more gradual. Women will lose about 2% of their collagen every year for the next 20 years.” And as we lose collagen, our skin loses its plumpness and starts to deflate.

Although we can’t achieve any facelift-level improvements without injectable enhancements or surgery, we can at least improve the overall tone and quality of the outer epidermal layer with great skin care!

There are five main menopause-related skin concerns we can improve with the right treatments.

Collagen loss

As the key foundation of skin fullness, collagen loss during menopause is a leading cause of sagging and laxity. It’s sort of like trying to make Jello without gelatin—it won’t get that dense jelly texture in the refrigerator. It’ll just be sugar soup.

Collagen is like gelatin; our skin cells need it to bind and thicken, because otherwise “skin tissue weakens, losing its integrity and becomes dry, unable to retain enough moisture,” says Dr. Hend Al-Atif, a dermatological researcher. To promote collagen growth, ingredients like retinol and lactic acid work as resurfacing agents, helping build thicker bouncier skin with fewer wrinkles.

However, we need to remember that these anti-aging ingredients are not limited to fancy serums and night creams. Even a simple facial cleanser, like Nuria’s Defend Gentle Exfoliator, can treat menopausal skin, which can be used a few times a week! This formula encourages fresh collagen from vegan lactic acid and ginkgo to fight free radicals, revealing a lovelier light-reflecting sheen.

Skin dryness

Unlike our pre-menopausal years, skin dryness is no longer something that comes and goes with changes to our lifestyle, habits, and environment—it’s present almost all the time. Thankfully there’s a solution to this desert skin disaster: hyaluronic acid.

“The key molecule involved in skin moisture is hyaluronic acid which has a unique capacity in retaining water,” says Dr. Eleni Papakonstantinou, a professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. That’s why younger faces look more squishable; they’re holding more water!

Although dermal fillers are an option for pumping the skin with hyaluronic acid (HA), this skincare technology has limitations: it usually just targets the deeper skin layers only. But when treating menopausal skin dryness, we also want superficial skin improvements. That’s why we use products containing sodium hyaluronate—a micro version of HA, tiny enough to penetrate our pores.

In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Aesthetic Dermatology, researchers confirmed that topical sodium hyaluronate works as an antioxidant to improve skin quality. That’s why dermatologists love Nuria’s Defend Triple Action Eye Cream! It’s made with sodium hyaluronate to drench the orbital rim with water, while ginseng and cucumber help armor this delicate area against fine lines and photo damage.

Acne breakouts

It can haunt you in your teens and it unfortunately returns for “reverse puberty.” The reason for these midlife breakouts is simple: hormonal changes. As board-certified dermatologist, Dr. Niti Khunger explains, “There is a relative increase of androgens [sex hormones] in the menopausal female that leads to clinical hyperandrogenism manifesting as acne.”

Unlike teen acne, however, during menopause our skin now craves something much more sophisticated than any off-the-shelf spot treatment. Since menopausal skin is more fragile, it needs gentle antimicrobials like mandarin orange. According to a study published in Biomedica, people noticed between 43% and 75% fewer pimples after being treated with mandarin orange for acne.

To treat menopausal acne, look for products that combine the antimicrobial properties of mandarin orange with other antioxidant-rich ingredients like in Nuria’s Rescue Rebalancing Cleanser. It includes rice water to tighten pores, while seaweed, loquat, and rosehip oil perk up our glow.

Skin dullness

Skin dullness happens during menopause for many reasons; let’s explore the top two!

The first culprit is lower estrogen levels — a reaction that decreases sebum and collagen production. As hormone levels plummet, your skin can become dry, slack, and thin. By replenishing our skin’s collagen and oils, we can support our dermal barrier against those oxygen-sucking free radicals, so our skin appears glossier, healthier, and more illuminated.

And that leads to our second reason for a dull complexion: lower oxygen levels in the skin. When skin cells are more oxygenated, our face seems radiant and alive. To turn up that spark, we need to use circulation-boosting products with plenty of vitamins and minerals like Nuria’s Stressed Skin Survival Set to brighten our complexion during menopause.

Skin sensitivity

With dermal defenses down during menopause, our skin is way more vulnerable. Think of what happens to all its healing weapons: there’s less protective coating from sebum, a thinner dermal wall to block free radicals, and limited hyaluronic acid levels to strengthen the skin barrier. All these factors make our skin more sensitive to stressors like foreign microbes, allergens, and harsh environmental conditions.

Shielding our sensitive skin requires a carefully balanced skincare program. It’s all about striking the exact-right harmony between soothing the dermal barrier with calming botanicals, while also building up its strength with mild active ingredients. This compromise is perfected in Nuria’s Hydrate collection—you can build your own “less-is-more” routine packed with fresh aloe and hydrating ceramides for complete hydration.

Share these tips with your friends who are also riding the wave! Together, we can navigate these skin changes, exchange tips, and discover new remedies, empowering each other as we steer this storm in a sunnier direction.

 

About the author, Naomi Furgiuele
Naomi is the founder of Nuria and a self-professed nerd with a love for all things science and skin care. She’s had a hand in product development for some of the biggest global beauty brands in the business, gets some of her best ideas while out on a run, and loves her exfoliator almost as much as her awesome family.