Wies: “Is HRT the key to staying young forever?”

Oestrogen is a superpower hormone. It’s a powerful antioxidant that plays an important role in maintaining a woman's beauty. Oestrogen helps keep your skin supple, your bones strong and provides your arteries with elasticity. It's also essential for keeping your vaginal tissues lubricated and for maintaining vaginal blood flow. In other words, oestrogen keeps your body young, supple and soft. 

It is normal for young girls and women to have high levels of oestrogen. As a woman transitions into menopause, oestrogen production decreases by more than 95 percent. Reduced levels of oestrogen lead to dramatic collagen loss, which accelerates skin ageing. For me, this alone was a reason to start hormone replacement therapy (HRT). I hoped that replenishing the hormones that my body was no longer producing naturally would help reduce the symptoms I was experiencing as well as slow down the process of skin ageing.  

A fresh look

My theory, albeit in part, proved to be true. HRT has been shown to have benefits for the skin, bones, hair and connective tissue. Studies of identical twins reveal that women who had used HRT look younger compared to their twin who had not.  

However, as health-science researcher Dr. Maaike de Vries and gynaecologist Dr. Manon Kerkhof note in their book Ook leuke meisjes worden vijftig (Cute girls turn 50, too), the biological ageing process cannot be halted, no matter how much HRT one does. “The fact that many women who take HRT claim to look better is probably because they sleep better, have fewer symptoms and feel well rested.” What’s more, most of the effects of HRT on the skin are seen while women are taking HRT, and disappear once they stop.  

HRT for anti-ageing

Nevertheless, in some countries, including the US, HRT is being used as a treatment to make women look younger and more beautiful and feel more energetic. This is not possible in Europe. Here, HRT is not prescribed as an anti-ageing treatment for ethical reasons. According to gynaecologists, to maintain these results, HRT must be taken indefinitely and there are risks associated with the long-term use of HRT. 

Well, I have been on HRT for five years now and it has not made me look any younger, that's for sure! So, that’s that theory squashed. As far as I'm concerned, anti-ageing starts with a healthy lifestyle and sunscreen. 

Who is Wies? 

Wies Verbeek (58) is a healthy ageing journalist, founder of website BLOW.nl, and author of ’n Beetje Leuk Ouder Worden, 101 verrassende en bewezen tips (Ageing Happily, 101 surprising tips that work). And... she's going through menopause like the rest of us. 

Tips and advice