Summary: With millions of women experiencing menopause, the decline in estrogen affects skin and bone health, leading many to seek surgical and non-surgical facial rejuvenation treatments to address the aging effects of this life stage.
Key Takeaways
- Menopause, affecting millions of women, leads to a decline in estrogen, impacting skin and bone health by causing dryness, sagging, and reduced firmness.
- Many women around menopause are turning to both invasive and non-invasive facial rejuvenation treatments, with facelifts, rhinoplasty, and eyelid surgeries topping the list in 2023.
- Non-surgical treatments like neurotoxins, fillers, and skin treatments are popular for addressing menopause-related changes in skin quality.
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With 6,000 women entering menopause daily in the U.S. and around 50 million post-menopausal, this life stage affects a significant portion of the population. Open conversation and support are crucial, giving women the knowledge and tools to navigate menopause confidently. Understanding symptoms, exploring treatments, and adopting lifestyle changes help women make informed choices and improve their well-being. Menopause can be embraced as a transformative phase.
Physical Effects of Menopause
During menopause, estrogen declines, affecting the skin and bones. Estrogen, vital for skin elasticity and moisture, decreases, leading to dryness, sagging, and reduced firmness.
“The more estrogen you have, the more collagen you have,” says New York board-certified facial plastic surgeon Sherard A. Tatum, MD, president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS). “Collagen is one of the main proteins that gives skin the elastic and supple properties most associated with youth. The dip in estrogen at menopause also accelerates bone loss.”
This hormonal freefall can cause the skin to grow thin, brows to drop, and eyelids to become looser and puffier. What’s more, facial bones can become brittle and jowls form, among other effects on the face. Enter menopause makeovers.
Why More Women Are Opting for Surgery
Today, growing numbers of women in or around menopause are seeking invasive and non-invasive facial rejuvenation treatments to address these concerns. Facelifts, partial facelifts, nose jobs (rhinoplasty), and eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) topped the list of surgical procedures for women in 2023, according to the latest statistics from the AAFPRS.
“We are seeing more and more women aged 40 to 55 who are looking to reverse the effects of menopause on their face, and surgery is a solution to many of these concerns,” adds Tatum.
Patrick Byrne, MD, a Cleveland-based board-certified facial plastic surgeon and president-elect of the AAFPRS, also spoke out about the trend, commenting: “Women do not experience facial aging as a linear process. It is fascinating to me how often women present to me asking for a facelift who are right about—or even exactly—54 years of age. They feel around that time that they have suddenly aged over the prior few years more than previously. Many surgeons associate this with changes that occur during or after menopause.”
According to the annual statistics, the three most common non-surgical procedures among women are neurotoxins, soft tissue fillers, and skin treatments—all help address some of the ways that menopause affects skin quality.
