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 have been on HRT for about 5 years, I don’t think it has particularly reduced aging. However, prior to HRT I had a lot of joint pain. I think if I had had to put up with that for 5 years it would have aged me.

I think it is very individual. For example many women find hrt makes them gain weight, which can be very ageing, if it’s tummy and boobs, others may feel a lot better and due to that have a healthier lifestyle, thus making them look better.

i also don’t think anyone necessarily looks younger or older, i think everyine looks within 5 years of their age, it is just how good you look for your age, and for me that’s about how healthy you look. So younger and older are likely the wrong words.

healthy looking hair, healthy glowy skin, a toned body, good clothes thay fit,are well laundered and fresh, are current and are of good quality all give a more youthful appearance,

where as dull hair needing a cut or a colour if coloured,, dull dry skin, a flabby body with a big belly and matronly bust, poor clothing choices, ie Ill fitting, poor quality, not well laundered and fresh looking, dated, can be very ageing when put all together.

so for me, it’s not one thing, its not take hrt and it knocks the years off, or be a healthy weight, it is a much wider set of criteria that dictates how good or less good we look as we age.

I'm 71 and been on HRT for 20 years. I'm in good health, active and reasonably fit but doubt I look any younger than my contemporaries!

I'm hoping HRT is doing something good to my bones, joints and heart so that's all I can reasonably expect

There might well be some correlation between wanting to get on HRT as soon as possible, to deal with issues such as energy levels and lifestyle and ‘cosmetic’ symptoms of peri, and being the sort of person who ‘looks after herself’, with diet, exercise, beauty treatments, etc.

Husband is a GP and his medical mates were discussing this recently. All his female gp mates said it definitely did and advised me to start it early!

But surely as gp;s they know it’s not that simple. Thay diet, weight, alcohol consumption, dress, hair , other health conditions etc all plays a part.

i really despair of the ignorance of some gp’s and this doesn’t help.

I don't really understand why you seem determined that it's one or the other? I think most people have made it pretty clear that they understand it to be one factor alongside many others. And, yes, according to the research, it does seem to have some anti-ageing effect, not that I would advocate taking it solely for that reason.

I don’t understand, did you quote the wrong person, I am clearly saying it’s not one thing or the other I am saying it is multi faceted, I am genuinely unsure how anyone can interpret that as one thing or the other, so assume you’ve quoted the wrong person.

I assume the female GPs have taken lifestyle and general health into account when they opined on whether HRT makes you look younger for longer

Well it wasn’t a very nuanced answer, as no matter how much hrt you take, if your diet is unhealthy and you’re over weight you will not look younger, you will look older. So I am still not seeing it as a single driver.

I feel younger, I feel great actually like I did in my 20s which probably makes me look/act younger. I have so much energy and am often happy and signing or dancing around while cooking. My whole outlook improved after starting hrt and that shows I assume in even how I present myself. Its been magic for me tbh

Actually that’s not strictly true - being overweight can mean your skin is better.

I know plenty of women who have always been slim but by the time they get to 50, they have a face like a roadmap

I agree that being too thin when you’re older can be ageing. Especially if that’s not natural for you. Fat does plump out your face.

It’s not arse or face for me but definitely flat stomach or face. I choose face, I’m not overweight but not as skinny as I was and that’s a specific choice.

I have so much energy and am often happy and signing or dancing around while cooking

Are you taking anything else?😄

YABU to care. Or to consider that serious medical intervention should be taken for cosmetic reasons. Own your age. Live it. Stop trying to pretend to be something you’re not.

I’m talking about people who have been slim all their lives

I think I am too. Even if you’ve been slim all your life then you can’t afford to be super slim when you are 50+

It feels almost like a crawling sensation sometimes.

My arms and scalp have been bad, but the worst is (sorry tmi) my labia. It's not like thrush but it's just so itchy, particularly in the evenings

I've always been pretty slim and I exercise quite a bit. I find now that if I drop much below 21 bmi, my face and skin don't look as good, so I'm conscious of wanting to stay at that or a bit above.

I don't have an issue with being my age but if I take HRT to treat my symptoms and get other more cosmetic benefits (as you put it) then that will be very nice indeed.

Absolutely, we all need to be looking after ourselves in lots of ways eating well, exercising, getting enough, sleep, cutting down on or stopping any bad habits and so on but HRT really can make a positive difference above and beyond what we can do with lifestyle, habits and grooming. I even saw this study which suggest that women who use HRT are literally biologically younger than women who don't Postmenopausal Women Who Have Used Hormone Therapy May Be Biologically Younger Than Those Who Have Not, Study Suggests - El Camino Women’s Medical Group

Also the user you are replying too seems to have some rather unpleasent views on women with her body shaming and comments about "matronly boobs" as if big boobs are a personal failing and I say that as someone who has not been blessed in that department. Seriously how rude! I don't know why some women are so judgemental about women who use HRT as if they think we are all just a bunch of lazy, slatterns who put no effort in and just expect medication to make us all better.

How about if your hair is thick anyway?

And conversely, young women, teenage girls can have very thin hair.

@Goldenbear It wasn't me who posted the comment you are responding to but I suppose there will always be older people with thicker hair without HRT and Younger women with thin hair but overall the general trend is for women's hair to thin as they get older so odds are that if a woman still has thick hair as she gets older and beyond menopause she might have a little help from HRT.

I don't think my hair has thinned get but as I get older my hair texture has really changed to much drier and coarser than it used to be, it just isn't as silky or shiny as it was. My friend (who uses HRT) on the other hand who I would say had hair that was fizzier than mine now has hair that looks much healthier and still has that shine.

But no one looks at your face in isolation, only we do that. Everyone else looks at us overalll the whole image, face, hair, body and a fat belly and a matronly bust which comes with overweight is without a doubt ageing,

I don’t know any slim women whose face looks like a road map when they hit 50, I only see this in underweight women, as both under and overweight is ageing;