AIBU to think HRT can help you look younger for longer?

[birdskirt]

I am currently not on HRT but thinking about it. I am late 40's and when I look around at my friends the ones who have been on HRT since their early 40's seem to still be looking much like they were while those of us who can't take it or haven't yet look older I feel. I've been holding off because I had hopped to have another baby (didn't happen) and also because I was waiting for symptoms to occur which they now have. One of my closest friends went on it pre-emptively in her early 40s mostly due to low energy levels and I think she could still pass for early 30s looks wise. I now have some hot flashes and sleep issues as my holistic approach hasn't been helping I am considering HRT. However I am not sure if I feel some regret that I didn't try it a bit sooner because while I don't think it can reverse aging I do think it seems to slow it down quite a bit and preserve what you have on all sort of levels not just skin and beauty.

Am I unreasonable to think that HRT does make you look better as you age?

I don't think it does, it's probably more due to genetics. I didn't use hrt until I was 59, and I would say I definitely aged at 60.

That being said it probably helps prevent dry skin and hair 🤷

I guess it depends. If insomnia is one of your biggest peri issues and HRT helps then I can imagine it helps you look younger because you are getting more sleep. I dunno though been on HRT for 4 years and definitely feel that I have aged a lot recently! I suppose going by your theory I could look a lot worse though!

It does even if its just lessening the awful syptoms that comes with menopause

I think that's kind of my point I suppose that if you start at in your early 40's then you keep more of what you had when you were young, by 59 there will already be a lot of changes, even at 48 there are, I looked very different even 5 years ago aging at this age seems to be happen all at once in your mid 40's. Some friends of mine seem to have side stepped that and the one thing they have in common is an early start on HRT.

I dont think this is true. I don’t see it among my friends. We are all late forties and use of HRT or not doesn’t seem to have affected how we are ageing.

Lifestyle, genetics and how much sunbathing people did in their youth are more the culprits, I’d say.

Lol, well yes thats true! I suppose its kind of impossible to tell unless we could have another control self who did everything else the same but was on or off HRT and that's impossible really. I think your point about sleep issues is very key actually.

It ‘s not the elixir of youth, whatever some may say, and I see no difference between those I know who take it and those who don’t, looks wise. Many say they have more energy, arthritis lessens , less brain fog etc, hot flushes disappear etc, and they are desperate to stay on it until they get to 100 plus!
If your aim is to take it solely for anti ageing purposes, then you may be disappointed. Looking good in later years depends on things like your lifestyle, diet, not smoking etc.

Maybe for a few years but for the older ladies I know who took it/take it, I can't see any difference.

Perhaps, very hard to say I think. I suppose if you do all else well i.e. diet, exercise, not drinking, smoking and not sunbathing and using SPF then HRT from a younger age on top of all of that I think it does something. I think there is research which suggests it does help with skin aging.
The influence of hormone replacement therapy on skin ageing: A pilot study - ScienceDirect

I don’t think it does make you look younger .
Most of those who I know have taken it put on weight so maybe that helps with the wrinkles !
More genetics I’d say .

I have a relative who’s a consultant gynaecologist and she says she can tell in her waiting room who’s on HRT as their hair is thicker!

@Pandorea That is really interesting! I notice my hair is so different now thinner and less glossy while my friends on HRT still have nice hair which looks like mine used to! I think most of us dye our hair so it isn't just the damage from the developer its like their hair is just better and thicker.

Can you ģet prescribed HRT if you're through the menopause and have never had any symptoms?

@Satsuma55 I'm not sure I think it is on the basis of symptoms but you can still ask for it I am sure. I thought for a long time I wanted to avoid it and that it was too risky but I'm doing more research now and I regret not starting a bit sooner.

If it helps with sleep, anxiety and aches and pains it prob can make you look younger

It is an interesting question though and I think it does very much depend on what your peri symptoms are. My friend seems to have aged massively and was not given HRT until well into menopause. Her symptoms knocked her mental health sideways and I sometimes think it is her underlying sense of unhappiness and massive personality change that make her look aged. So I wonder are there miserable people on HRT that still look young and happy people not on HRT that still look haggard?

Lol of course she can't.

There are many reasons for thinning hair.

There are also many different forms of HRT and not all of them help with the problem.

I was just about to say that I think it helps prevent hair thinning at quite the same rate, although not completely

The thing is, not everyone suffers from thinning hair anyway.

And obviously some people are born with thicker/thinner hair than others.

There's no way anyone could look around a waiting room and know who's on HRT based on their hair.

Agree I have naturally ridiculously thick hair. It is thinning because the shower drain gets so clogged up so much these days but I think most people would consider me to still have very thick hair HRT or not.

Well, oestrogen helps maintain collagen, so it makes sense that HRT helps keep one’s skin more youthful. I think it can help with hair too, if you haven’t inherited genetic menopausal hair loss.

Yes, possibly.
However, it can also lead to cancer later in life, apparently (breast, ovaries).
(Experience taken from women who have been on it).

I was looking at that myself as that risk puts me off it but the research especially on the new body identical HRT refutes that view. The advice is still cautious but any increased risk seems to be incredibly low if there is any for those classes of HRT and there is even research suggesting that women who were on HRT and then develop cancer have better outcomes longer term than women who weren't on HRT. Its a really complex picture.

how will you know? if you don't use it you won't know what effect it would have had, and if you do use it, you won't know what would have happened if you hadn't used it.

I doubt it makes people look younger - but if people have symptoms like disrupted sleep then fixing that will make them look better