Today's topic
Today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, I take a look at four more surprising skin issues that you can experience during perimenopause and menopause.
Our skin is our largest organ if you think about it. So, it's no surprise that changing hormones can impact it quite severely, and it's surprising how many skin conditions you can experience during menopause, and how much the hormonal changes affect your skin.
Common skin problems during perimenopause and menopause
So, the common skin problems that I see regularly are itchy skin, dry skin, and thinning skin. Other skin issues can be the resurgence of teenage acne and skin conditions such as eczema getting worse.
You may suddenly find that you get sunburned more easily or you start to get discoloration on the skin, either you can end up with dark patches or if you have dark skin, you can end up with light patches. You can end up with rashes, itchy lumps, and bumps. Wounds can be slower to heal as well.
Other skin problems you can be more prone to
But there are even more symptoms that I have come across, especially just recently, which is quite strange. So, these are not really menopause symptoms but you can end up being more prone to these issues due to perimenopause and menopause affecting your skin.
So let's take a look at 4 more skin problems and why you can be more prone to them at this time:
1. Warts and verruca
I've had quite a few queries about this recently, which has never happened before, so I thought, "Oh, I must look into this one." So, the reason that this can happen is your skin is getting thinner, so more things can attack it and get into the skin.
Secondly, your immune system can weaken generally as you get older and as the hormones start to change during perimenopause and menopause.
Warts and verruca are caused by a virus so thinner skin, weaker skin, and weaker immune function can mean that it's much easier for that virus to get a hold when spread from other people or surfaces.
What can help?
So, what to do here is support your immune system generally. That's going to help with just about everything, especially if winter's coming along and you're more prone to colds and flu anyway.
So, you could look at vitamins such as vitamin C and minerals such as zinc, which are both helpful in strengthening your immune system.
There is also an oil called Ravensara, which seems to work very well for warts, and also the homeopathic remedy Thuja can be used.
2. Moles
This, again, can be due to thinner skin, which can cause your skin to be less protected from the sun. So, there is a compound in the skin called melatonin that protects us from sunburn. And there does seem to be some link between lower oestrogen and less production of melanin, so moles can become more prevalent as we get older.
If you suddenly find you're getting more moles or your moles change shape, get them checked regularly because moles can develop into skin cancer, or they can be a precursor for skin cancer. So, it's really important here that any strange moles that suddenly appear, strange-shaped ones, just please double-check with your doctor.
And in the meantime, when you're out in the sun, just make sure you're well-protected. But remember too that we need sunshine on plain skin to help to produce vitamin D, which is much needed during menopause. So, you have to be really sensible between getting a decent amount of sunshine for your vitamin D, and then applying sunscreen to protect your skin from further damage.
3. Spider veins
I get a lot of queries about these. They either appear on the legs, very often the lower legs, so it can be the calf area or down in front of the shin, but they can also appear on the face.
Again, there are two reasons for these. One is that as your skin gets thinner, your veins become more apparent. So, your skin becomes a bit more see-through, and you can start to see things that you couldn't see before.
The second reason is that the blood vessels themselves, as you age, can get weaker. They can break. They can burst, and that can be part of the problem.
What can help?
So, for this particular one, you can look at vitamin C. Vitamin C is so important for the integrity of your veins to keep them nice and strong. So just make sure you're getting loads of vitamin C through diet, or a vitamin C supplement.
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You can also use the herb horse chestnut, either internally (a tablet) or if they're just surface veins on the leg, you can put a horse chestnut gel on and that can very often help. However, the gel won't help for veins on your face because it's a little bit too acidic here. So, again, if it's facial veins, just make sure that you're getting loads of vitamin C in your diet.
4. Dry cracked skin
This is a really horrible one. It can be at the corners of your mouth. It can be at the side of your nails (also known as hangnails). It can be your hands in general. You might find that the tips of your fingers start to get cracked and sore. And it can also be your heels too.
This is caused by increased dryness of the skin during perimenopause and menopause, as well as dehydration.
What can help?
You could look at a zinc supplement to help your skin health, and Sea Buckthorn Oil to help ease dryness. If you're getting lots of dry skin or other dry problems such as dry mouth, eye, or vaginal dryness, then Sea Buckthorn Oil is a good supplement to try.
I use our Comfrey Cream to help keep my nails and cuticles nice and strong. I apply it every night to my hands and use it on my heels as well to make sure that especially during the summer, my heels are nice and presentable if I'm wearing sandals.
What else can help your skin during perimenopause and menopause?
So, for general support of your skin, it's the usual ones. Loads of water, water, water, water. Sensible skin protection but try and make sure you get it organic without any of the nasty chemicals.
Avoid hot baths and showers. And please don't soak in your bath until you get all wrinkly because that will mean your skin is really, really dehydrated.
It's really important as oestrogen can change the strength and the resilience of your skin to also moisturise well. I do it every day after I have a shower. The important thing here, again, is when you're moisturising, give yourself a little bit of a massage because that helps to improve the circulation to the skin, which is very good for bringing nutrients to the skin to keep it healthy. But also make sure that what you're putting on your skin is organic and that there are no nasties in it.
A lot of over-the-counter creams contain chemicals that are oestrogenic that can have quite a detrimental effect on your hormonal balance. If you are not sure about what's in the creams that you are using, there is a fantastic website called the Environmental Working Group, www.ewg.org, that will have all the information that you need on how safe the products that you're using on your skin are and what they contain.
I hope you found this one helpful. If any of you have any more tips about what has helped your skin condition, please share them with us.
Until next week, take care.
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