Estrogen therapy prevents wrinkles

NEW HAVEN, Conn., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A U.S. study finds that women who begin long-term hormone therapy early in menopause are less likely to develop wrinkles and have less rigid skin.

Dr. Hugh Taylor, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine, and his colleagues studied women who had been in menopause for at least five years. They compared 11 women who had not used estrogen therapy to nine who had.

A dermatologist who was not aware which women were in which group evaluated the number and severity of wrinkles and measured skin rigidity.

"We don't believe hormone therapy will make wrinkles melt away once they're already there, but the results of our study shows that hormone therapy can prevent them," Taylor said. "Hormone therapy makes wrinkles less severe and keeps skin more elastic."

Taylor said that while the benefits of healthier skin may be mostly cosmetic the findings of the study could indicate that estrogen also benefits internal organs like the heart.

Estrogen therapy has become less popular in recent years because of findings that it increases the risk of breast cancer, blood clots and strokes and of heart attacks in women with heart disease.