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I have noticed my face looks more aged and sunken in after getting off of birth control. Is this possible or could it be natural aging/coincidental? I am 27 and was taking ortho tri cyclen since I was 16 until a couple months ago
thanks!
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laurad wrote:I have noticed my face looks more aged and sunken in after getting off of birth control. Is this possible or could it be natural aging/coincidental? I am 27 and was taking ortho tri cyclen since I was 16 until a couple months ago
thanks!
I am not sure if its the pills as didnt take them because they made me nauseous, but on my own personal experience and from observation most people start loosing volume around that age some start earlier.
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I know hormone replacement makes menapausal women look younger, I'm not sure if it works for younger women.
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Thanks girls, I went back on birth control a couple days ago, when I went off I went from 120 lbs to 115 lbs (Im 5'7) so I think thats part of the issue. Im back on ortho tri cyclen. I lost a great deal of cellulite off the pill after only a month!! Im guessing that will be back, but I choose cellulite over a gaunt face.
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Estrogens increase the skin's hyaluronic acid content (a powerful water-binding agent), so the face will be fuller. They are also photoprotective. A lot of people notice dramatic changes for the worse in their skin after menopause. Ovariectomized rats are much more damaged by UV radiation than intact rats. I plan to keep using estrogens for as long as possible. If not oral, then topical, at very least to my face and neck.
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I agree with kos above, estrogen does seem to have an effect on skin - however, there are other safer alternatives at this age if you're only using BC for skin/volume in the face (i'd say the weight drop played a more significant role than being off BC pills). You may know how carcinogenic estrogen's are, so at such a young age you might want to give it serious consideration. IMHO.
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Well, there are alternatives. They may not be as effective, but they will be better than nothing. I think a good approach would be to examine the effects of estrogen in the skin and to attack each one separately with an alternative.
Keratinocytes, Langerhans' cells, melanocytes, sebaceous glands, collagen synthesis, and hyaluronic acid synthesis are all influenced by hormones.
You can optimize keratinocyte function and turnover with prescription retinoids.
You can maintain (or slow down the decline of) Langerhan's cells and melanocyte function with very high UVA protection suncreens.
You can slow down the decline in rate of synthesis of collagen with prescription retinoids, and also some mild peeling agents occasionally.
You might be able to increase production of hyaluronic acid by changing your diet to include more of the sticky root/tuber vegetables and cut back on grains. The highly colored ones are especially beneficial as they also provide some protection against environmental assault. Also topical use of phytoestrogens might be helpful here. Genistein and daidzein might be a good choice, they are included in some formulations but some people use them DIY.
Finally, topical use of mid-weight hyaluronic acid (this is also a good DIY, as it may be very difficult to find molecular weight data from off-the-shelf topicals) will not correlate with increased production of skin hyaluronic acid but it will be small enough to plump up the dermis, at least for a short while.
I don't know what you can do, if anything, to increase sebum production. DHEA maybe.
Your derm can be very helpful here.
Clean from MMH
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I would be very careful about using synthetic hormones, as they have been linked to many diseases. I had been taking birth control pills continuously since high school up until around Thanksgiving 2008, when my doctor took me off of them for my endo surgery last year. During this time, I started to get very interested in the naturopathic school of thought with hormones and had my hormones tested using a cycle-long free salivary hormone panel. I found out I had too much estrogen and not enough progesterone (among other things) and started supplementing with natural bioidentical progesterone cream, estrogen reducing compounds and liver cleansing herbs and feel far better (as does my endo) and my skin looks even better than when taking BCP's. I highly doubt I will ever go back to synthetic hormones, especially at doses that are not 100% customizable.
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barbiegirl wrote:I would be very careful about using synthetic hormones, as they have been linked to many diseases. I had been taking birth control pills continuously since high school up until around Thanksgiving 2008, when my doctor took me off of them for my endo surgery last year. During this time, I started to get very interested in the naturopathic school of thought with hormones and had my hormones tested using a cycle-long free salivary hormone panel. I found out I had too much estrogen and not enough progesterone (among other things) and started supplementing with natural bioidentical progesterone cream, estrogen reducing compounds and liver cleansing herbs and feel far better (as does my endo) and my skin looks even better than when taking BCP's. I highly doubt I will ever go back to synthetic hormones, especially at doses that are not 100% customizable. I am interested in having my levels checked, do you need to go to your Dr to do this check?
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laurad wrote:
I am interested in having my levels checked, do you need to go to your Dr to do this check?
I had this done through my naturopathic doctor. They're not cheap- they run between $300-$1200 (I know), but they are worth it.
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barbiegirl wrote:
I had this done through my naturopathic doctor. They're not cheap- they run between $300-$1200 (I know), but they are worth it.
I guess i should save up, i definetly think my face changes a lot based on hormones (fat wise)
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I saw something on TV recently about men being more attracted to womens faces during ovulation than otherwise.
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mich wrote:I saw something on TV recently about men being more attracted to womens faces during ovulation than otherwise.
Yes- during ovulation women supposedly have fuller lips and glowing skin - and now we can do this with filler and good moisturizer LOL - so we can always look like we are ovulating LOL
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Larazelle wrote:
Yes- during ovulation women supposedly have fuller lips and glowing skin - and now we can do this with filler and good moisturizer LOL - so we can always look like we are ovulating LOL
Hahaha, isn't that the truth!
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