Estrogen

Is estrogen good for the skin? Yes, but rare is the doctor who would prescribe it just for this purpose. In test tube and animal studies, estrogen has been shown to "make the skin better hydrated through the increase of natural hyaluronic acid," said Yale University dermatologist Dr. Lisa Donofrio. It also makes the dermis, the middle layer of skin tissue, "thicker through increased collagen and improves wound healing." In a paper published last year in the journal Fertility and Sterility, Dr. Zoe Draelos, a clinical associate professor of dermatology at Wake Forest University, wrote that there is "no doubt that hormone therapy is effective for improving the appearance of aging skin."

There are 180,000 more women living in Maryland than men, according to the Census Bureau. Women far surpass men in enrollment and graduation from Maryland universities, and they tend to get better grades. Baltimore has its second woman mayor. Women Legislators of Maryland, founded in the 1960s, was the first women's legislative caucus in the country. Nearly one legislator in three in Annapolis is female, the ninth-highest proportion in the country. If Maryland's Barbara Mikulski is re-elected this year, she'll be the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. Senate.

HOW do medical researchers go about testing promising therapies?Generally, they call for volunteers. They give the volunteers a form that lays out the possible advantages and disadvantages of the new treatment. Anyone who agrees to participate signs on the dotted line to signify his or her "informed consent."It's not an empty phrase. Informed consent says that the people participating in the trial are there because they freely choose to be. It says the trial is ethical. So if a consent form misrepresents the risks involved, it calls the entire process into question.

Breast cancer runs in my family. My mother had it first, and I was diagnosed six years ago. Mine was estrogen receptor positive, so I avoid sources of estrogen. Last year, I read that some sunscreens have estrogenic activity. Is this true? I would like to know for my own safety and for my daughters and granddaughters. They will be slathering on sunscreen all summer long. I'd like to know which ingredients could be a problem and which are safe. It comes as a shock to many people that some chemicals in sunscreens can be absorbed into the body (Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, April 2008)

Breast cancer runs in my family. My mother had it first, and I was diagnosed six years ago. Mine was estrogen receptor positive, so I avoid sources of estrogen. Last year, I read that some sunscreens have estrogenic activity. Is this true? I would like to know for my own safety and for my daughters and granddaughters. They will be slathering on sunscreen all summer long. I'd like to know which ingredients could be a problem and which are safe. It comes as a shock to many people that some chemicals in sunscreens can be absorbed into the body (Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, April 2008)

Estrogen therapy not only does not protect women age 65 and older against Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, as scientists once hoped, but it might slightly hasten senility, according to the results of a study of women's health. These results, reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, could end scientists' hopes for estrogen replacement therapy in older women. The treatment, once thought to reduce many of the ravages of age, such as strokes and dementia, seems to enhance those problems.

Estrogen is one of the natural hormones produced by the ovaries. As women age, ovarian function decreases and hormone production slows. As a result, women may experience hot flashes, insomnia and a variety of other changes in their normal physical function.There is a great deal of debate on whether or not estrogen should be replaced as women go through menopause. Dr. Trudy Bush, at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, is an expert in research on hormone replacement. She says some members of the medical community feel estrogen supplements put women at risk of breast and uterine cancer, while others say evidence is weak and the replacements improve the quality of women's lives as they get older.

Research has uncovered a possible reason why women are more susceptible than men to depression and autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis: estrogen, the female hormone.Dr. George Chrousos and scientists at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development find that a gene gives directions to a corticotropin-releasing hormone, or CRH, which is important to the body's response to stress.Estrogen partially controls this gene. "Estrogen itself isn't the cause. It participates in the process," Dr. Chrousos says.

Sometimes the wheels of progress turn faster than expected.Last week, scientists reported that low-dose steroids are effective for treating rheumatoid arthritis -- but other experts warned that long-term use of steroids can cause bone loss.Now, another group of researchers reports that estrogen-replacement therapy can block the bone-damaging effects of steroid treatment.British and French investigators, led by Dr. G. M. Hall of St. Thomas Hospital in London, studied 106 postmenopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis.

I heard on the news the FDA has just approved a new drug for osteoporosis. My doctor wants me on estrogen for my bones and heart, but estrogen scares me because my cousin had breast cancer. Is it true the estrogen substitute causes blood clots and leg cramps? What about headaches?The new medication is Evista (raloxifene). This drug has many of the benefits of estrogen (it builds bone and lowers cholesterol) but does not appear to promote breast or uterine cancer. It may even reduce the likelihood of breast cancer.

Is it true that lavender oil can increase female hormones in men and boys? If so, shouldn't there be a warning on soaps, shampoos and shower gels? A lot of personal-care products have lavender fragrance, whether you notice it or not. Lavender does not increase female hormone levels in the body. Nevertheless, this herbal oil may act like estrogen on its own. The lavender link was brought to public attention in the New England Journal of Medicine (Feb. 1, 2007). Researchers reported that three boys developed enlarged breasts (gynecomastia)

For years, Johnson & Johnson obscured evidence that its popular Ortho Evra birth control patch delivered much more estrogen than standard birth control pills, potentially increasing the risk of blood clots and strokes, according to internal company documents. But because the Food and Drug Administration approved the patch, the company is arguing in court that it cannot be sued by women who claim that they were injured by the product - even though its old label inaccurately described the amount of estrogen it released.

CHICAGO -- Lotions and sunscreens have long contained parabens, or synthetic chemicals used as preservatives, but now that products promoted as "paraben-free" have hit store shelves, concerned consumers are asking: "What, exactly, are parabens, and are they dangerous?" Mainstream products made by Burt's Bees, which never has used parabens, are available everywhere from Whole Foods and Target to Borders, CVS, Walgreens and even Hallmark stores. For years, parabens (methyl, ethyl, propyl and benzyl)

Here's a hot flash for you - or rather, a bunch of them. Rebecca Hulem is a Los Angeles-based nurse practitioner and consultant who is known as "The Menopause Expert." Her 2003 book, Feelin' Hot? A Humorous, Informative and Truthful Look at Menopause, is about ... well, the title is pretty self-explanatory. Hulem decided to write the book and to maintain a Web site (themenopauseexpert.com) after experiencing a particularly rocky Silent Passage. "I was having mood swings, fatigue, difficulty focusing," she says.

Nearly five years after government scientists told women that taking estrogen replacement therapy increased their risk of heart attack and stroke, researchers have concluded that the drugs are beneficial for many after all. Continuing analysis of the original data indicates that the researchers raised a false alarm for most women, and that, if women begin taking the hormones shortly after menopause, the drugs do not raise the risk of heart disease and,...

I am a breast cancer survivor. I play tennis and golf five days a week and smear a high-SPF sunscreen all over my body. I also wear protective clothing to block the sun. I have heard that some sunscreens may have estrogenic activity. I'm supposed to avoid estrogen, so can you tell me more about sunscreens and estrogen? Several common ingredients in sunscreens have been shown to act like estrogen. One test-tube study showed that breast-cancer cells grew faster in the presence of such compounds.

Q: Since my menstrual periods stopped several months ago, I have been greatly troubled by hot flashes. I had one breast removed because of breast cancer two years ago, and my gynecologist will not prescribe estrogen replacement to stop my symptoms because she is afraid it will make the breast cancer recur. Is there any safe treatment for my hot flashes?A: A recent report of a study organized by investigators at the Mayo Clinic has shown that small doses of an alternative to estrogen called megestrol acetate improved the symptoms of hot flashes in postmenopausal women.

The largest study of its kind ever conducted has found that women who take estrogen after menopause run an increased risk of developing breast cancer.But experts said the findings did not mean that post-menopausal women should stop taking estrogen. The benefits of the drug are great, they said, and the increased risk of breast cancer is relatively small.The researchers, led by Dr. Graham A. Colditz of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, also found that a year after women stop taking the female sex hormones, the additional risk subsides.

The widely used herbal remedy black cohosh does nothing to eliminate hot flashes, night sweats and other symptoms of menopause, either alone or in combination with other herbs, federally sponsored researchers reported yesterday. Thousands of women use the supplement, but a controlled trial reported in The Annals of Internal Medicine showed it is no more effective than a placebo. Only estrogen produced a significant reduction in hot flashes. "In the doses we used, and the way we used it, it did not work," said Katherine M. Newton of Group Health, a Seattle health system, who led the study.