The Cheapest Antiwrinkle Cream???
If skin care products give you sticker shock, just take a peek at what antiwrinkle cream costs. If you look at the grocery store, a tiny container of eye wrinkle cream is often $40+ and if you look at the fancy stores, is nearing $100 or more. So, is there a secret fountain of youth that is only $30ish for a tube that will last for 6 months? Maybe.
Before I tell you the fountain of youth and why you might want to consider it, I’m going to stress two other things. There is no replacedment for SPF. You absolutely must protect your skin from the sun if you want to not look like leather. A mineral suncreen daily is important for preventing further wrinkles from forming. There is simply no replacement. I would also still recommend everyone use a retinol product like an OTC one or tretinoin by prescription to get good cell turnover.
Ok, ok, I’m getting to the fountain part. What is this antiwrinkle cream? Vaginal estrogen - huh??? Oh yeah, not in your vagina. To be more precise, estrogen cream. You can use estradiol or compounded estriol. Starting in our forties (and occasionally the thirties) with perimenopause, we have less estrogen. While we think of estrogen as a sex hormone, it’s really a complete misnomer as we have estrogen receptors in nearly every tisue in the body and that includes the skin. Many women going through menopause are suprised to see how significant the skin changes are - everything is drier, more itchy and suddenly more wrinkly. By using a minimal (and I do mean minimal - just a pea size is fine) amount of estrogen cream, you can activate these receptors and thus tell your undereyes that you aren’t really 40.
This cream can be used 2-7 times per week to get improvement in skin turgor, collagen production and improved hydration. If using it for this, I’d do one pea sized amount for the face and one for the next. At this rate, a standard tube should last you quite some time. There are now generics available and therefore, the cost has come down and I hear from most people that it’s about $30/tube. A prescription is required to get this product.
Is there anyone to whom the fountain of youth is denied? Unlike the Indiana Jones movie, there are no purity of heart tests here. What we should consider is what would the effects be if you were to absorb large amounts of it into systemic circulation. This would be problematic for anyone with an active GYN malignancy that is hormonally sensitive (read any lady cancer but cervical cancer) or breast cancer. You should also avoid this if you have ever had any problems with melasma. No point in getting all that restarted. Otherwise, we see very limited uptake of topical estrogen creams at this dose. If you were to bathe in it daily, I’d have different recommendations.
If you are struggling with worsenign perimenopause/menopausal wrinkles, then this is a low risk, low input treatment that you might find helpful because as the great Dolly Parton says in Steel Magnolias, “Time marches on and eventually you realize its marching across your face.”