Skin care formulators could be missing a trick by not being completely in touch with female hormonal changes, says Katerina Steventon
Women of a certain age understand the true meaning of ‘feeling hormonal’ that manifests specifically through the different stages of life. Skin is the largest organ of our body. Acting as a sensor, it not only protects us from the external environment but also reflects inner metabolic changes, in particular those driven by hormones. Skin is also a visible organ; it is extremely important for our emotional expression and social communication.
Sex and stress hormones play a dominant role in influencing skin in a healthy individual. In general, estrogens have a beneficial effect whilst androgens and stress induced glucocorticoids have a detrimental effect, inducing or aggravating skin disorders like acne, eczema and psoriasis. Examples of beneficial effects of estrogens include an increase in skin thickness and collagen production, decreased collagen breakdown, facilitating skin hydration by increasing its water binding capacity and capillary vasodilation, a decrease in cellular immune response and improved wound healing.
We are aware of the impact sex hormones have on our skin during puberty, pregnancy and menopause. This also happens during the menstrual cycle as skin reacts to the monthly hormonal ebb and flow. Research also suggests that skin reacts differently during periods of stress and psychological disorders.
PUBERTY Puberty is often associated with acne, a disorder of the sebaceous glands, which in its mild form can be addressed by adequate skin care. Factors contributing to the onset of acne are increased sebum production, folicullar hyperkeratinisation, increased bacterial growth and inflammation. Clinically, skin in puberty appears oily, with enlarged pores and often orange-like texture, blackheads and inflammation. Skin care technologies employed to mitigate the causal factors or symptoms are numerous, including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and keratolytic ingredients.
MENOPAUSE With ageing demographics and long life expectancy, menopausal ageing is given more and more attention in research, although until recently it has been neglected in the classical ageing concept of intrinsic and photo-ageing. The decline of sex hormones in menopause leads to hormonal deficiencies that alter skin structure and function and accelerate skin ageing, but it is difficult to estimate its distinct impact.
It seems to be the case that increased skin sagging, due to the decline in skin thickness and collagen content that interestingly correlate to time following menopause, is the main symptom of hormonal decline in menopause. The additional changes in postmenopausal skin include thinner epidermis with a slower turnover and altered pigmentation but primarily more dryness, dermal atrophy and loss of elasticity and wrinkles. Technologies employed in formulating skin care for the mature market focus on the numerous anti-ageing strategies but mainly on intense moisturisation.
Marketing concepts that have not been widely explored are to do with more subtle hormonal changes that influence women during their menstrual cycle, in pregnancy as well as during stressful periods of their lives.
During female reproductive years, sex hormones cause skin colour to fluctuate within the menstrual cycle, being the lightest and free of acne near ovulation, signalling high fertility. In pregnancy, most women experience pigmentation changes. Women are more susceptible to skin disorders during specific times of their menstrual cycle and excess androgens or progesterone may be the factor responsible.
STRESS Psychological stress has a great influence on skin condition as the skin is an organ that responds to emotional stimuli. Stress is frequently reported as a trigger, associated with induction or worsening of skin disorders including acne, dermatitis and eczema. The effect of stress on the skin is further highlighted in skin disorders where the aetiology cannot be identified. People often break out without any signs of disease and stress offers an easier way of explaining the unknown mechanism.
Acute psychological stress increases the concentration of endorphins and cortisol in the circulation and modulates the immune function. The effect is often protracted beyond termination of the stress. Increased production of cortisol reduces the integrity of the skin barrier function and epidermal cell proliferation but it is the prolonged exposure that causes skin abnormalities. Interestingly, it is the degree of perceived stress that determines the impact on the barrier and it is the individual’s ability to cope that influences the outcome.
Although skin care cannot significantly alter skin metabolism, its role is to prevent the consequences of inadequate skin function that changes with the hormonal changes in our lives. It is essential for a formulating chemist to understand the physiological mechanisms underlying the skin of the target customer group when formulating a specific skin care product.
References
Matts PJ et al, Color homogeneity and visual perception of age, health and attractiveness of female facial skin, J Am Acad Dermatol 57(6), 977–983 (2007)
Fink B et al, Visual attention to variation in female facial skin color distribution, J Cosmet Dermatol 7, 155–161 (2008)
Steventon K, Expert opinion and review article: The timing of comedone extraction in the treatment of premenstrual acne - a proposed therapeutic approach, Int J Cosmet Sci, Aug, (2010) (ahead of print)
Pierard GE, The quandary of climacteric skin ageing, Dermatology 193, 273–274 (1996)
Muizzuddin N et al, Impact of stress of marital dissolution on skin barrier recovery: tape stripping and measurement of trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL), Skin Res Technol 9, 34–38 (2003)