Firm skin, shiny hair: The beauty industry and dermatologists are increasingly relying on estrogens and other hormones. What you should know about them.
Hormones are the origin of our femininity, but the term does not necessarily have good associations. More and more doctors are prescribing hormone therapy not only for menopausal symptoms, but also as a beauty treatment on prescription, and the cosmetics industry is enriching new care products with phytohormones. Dangerous, useful or useless? A critical update:
Hormones are primarily the body’s own communication experts that manage the entire metabolism and have a major influence on the skin, hair, body and psyche. Even a small deficiency or a tiny excess is enough to disrupt the fragile system, which can lead to dry skin, wrinkles, blemishes, cellulite or hair loss, and can even make you sick. Five top agents are at the service of female beauty: estrogens inhibit the breakdown of collagen in the connective tissue and ensure that the skin is well moisturized; they also stimulate hair growth. The corpus luteum hormone progesterone protects against couperose, spider veins and varicose veins thanks to its vascular-strengthening effect .
The counterparts of estrogens are androgens, i.e. male hormones, which also circulate in the female body and have a positive effect on the thickness and firmness of the skin and help against cellulite. The growth hormone HGH, which the body secretes in greater quantities between midnight and two in the morning, acts like a body shaper. “It builds muscle and melts fat,” explains Professor Christoph M. Bamberger, Director of the Medical Prevention Center in Hamburg. Last but not least, the sleep hormone melatonin helps the entire cellular apparatus to regenerate at night. This system works perfectly until around the age of 40, when the level of all beauty hormones drops. They can be replaced – in part – with creams, patches, injections or pills.
According to the law, creams from drugstores or perfumeries are only allowed to work on the surface and prevent so-called extrinsic skin aging, which is caused by sunlight and environmental influences. Hormone cosmetics, on the other hand, are primarily aimed at hormone-related intrinsic skin aging, are prescribed by the doctor “tailor-made” for the respective skin problems and mixed by the pharmacist. The Berlin anti-aging specialist Dr. Michael Schmidt-Kulbe explains:
“I would not prescribe hormones for purely cosmetic purposes that can only have a positive side effect,” says Professor Bamberger. If hot flushes, sweating, mood swings or osteoporosis have a major impact on quality of life, hormones are an option that also counteracts the visual signs of aging. Other doctors are more generous and prescribe an estrogen gel to combat facial wrinkles without any major concerns. Ultimately, every woman has to decide for herself.
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