Lasers to help skin after menopause

Hi, I am a 53 year old Half Chinese woman. Until the menopause a couple of years ago my skin was young looking and smooth. However it is now thin and becoming wrinkled rapidly! I would like to try a laser resurfacing treatment but worried that it may make my thin skin worse. Can you advise as to which laser may be best for me - it seems there are so many laser treatments I don't know which to use! Thank you.

Are there lasers to help skin after menopause?

Many women notice some thinning of the skin after menopause and wonder if there are lasers to help with skin after menopause. Thinning skin after menopause is not in our imaginations…….there are also scientific studies that confirm this. Something about estrogen thickens the skin and makes it plumper and less wrinkly. This is especially true for vaginal skin where the thinning problem can cause discomfort during sex and also problems with losing urine when we sneeze or cough.

The vaginal thinning is easy to solve with a little estrogen cream or an estrogen ring which can provide small amounts of estrogen just where needed. The rings generally need to be replaced about every 3 months and can be taken out for sex. These are prescription in the U.S. and I think in the U.K. so ask your doctor for one. For the face, it’s a little harder because, to my knowledge, there are no estrogen creams. Soy has some estrogenic effects and some women find a soy based night cream helpful like the Eminence Blueberry Soy.

Lasers can be helpful. The ones that build the most collagen are the fractionated lasers like the carbon dioxide (CO2) laser or an erbium laser like the Fraxel. Several treatments may be needed but each treatment usually gives a visible improvement. Radiofrequency like Thermage or Ultherapy build collagen also but less so. Lasers like these build collagen and so can’t really thin the skin.

Also retinoids like Renova, Retin A and retinol have also been proven to help build collagen in the skin.