Skin naturally changes with age, but menopause can speed things up. As estrogen drops, your skin loses some of its ability to hold onto moisture and produce collagen, which can leave it drier, thinner, and more easily irritated than before. 

The good news is that a few simple changes to your skincare routine, along with evidence-backed ingredients, can help. Learn what connects menopause and skin changes, how to care for your skin at home, and which signs should prompt a visit to a specialist.

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What causes menopausal skin changes?

You’re born with a set number of eggs, which your ovaries release on a monthly basis. Each egg lives in a tiny sac called a follicle, and follicles produce most of your estrogen. As you approach menopause, your egg count starts running low, and the remaining follicles work less reliably. This makes your estrogen levels erratic, spiking and dipping, before eventually settling at a lower baseline.

Estrogen receptors exist all over the body, so these hormonal changes impact your whole system, including your skin. Your face, in particular, has more estrogen receptors than most other areas. When estrogen levels drop, your face changes in two ways.

First, your skin loses some of its support. Skin’s supporting structure is made up of two proteins: collagen and elastin. Collagen keeps skin thick and firm, and elastin lets it stretch and reform without creasing or sagging. Estrogen tells skin cells to make these proteins and slows their breakdown. When estrogen production drops, both proteins decline. Skin loses around 30% of its collagen in the first five years after menopause, then about 2% every year after that. This loss of structure and elasticity contributes to wrinkling and sagging.

Second, your skin holds less water. Naturally produced hyaluronic acid, ceramides, and sebum all work together to keep your skin hydrated. Hyaluronic acid draws water into the skin. Ceramides fill the gaps between the cells of the skin’s outer layer, like mortar between bricks, so water can’t slip out. Sebum, your skin’s natural oil, coats the surface and keeps it from drying out. Estrogen keeps all three in a healthy balance. Menopause throws that balance off, leaving skin drier and less plump.

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Common menopausal skin symptoms

Skin changes with menopause don’t look the same for all women, but they do follow certain patterns, including:

• Dryness: Dehydrated skin can feel tight, rough, or flaky, especially in dry air.
• Itch: Less sebum leads to a weaker skin barrier, letting irritants such as grime and air pollution from outside slip into the skin more easily. Although scratching brings temporary relief, it irritates the skin more, making it itchier.
• Sensitivity: Thinner, drier skin reacts more easily to skincare products, which is why menopause and skin rashes go hand in hand. Personal care items that didn’t bother you before might now cause your skin to sting or redden.
• Easy bruising: Collagen loss leaves skin thinner and more fragile, meaning it bruises and tears more easily.
• Wrinkles: Your facial muscles pull your skin with every expression. With less collagen and elastin, your skin loses its ability to bounce back, so those expressions set into creases.
• Sagging: Gravity pulls your skin down, too. With less collagen to hold it firm, skin starts to droop, especially along the jawline.
• Acne and facial hair: Women’s bodies produce testosterone too, but estrogen normally balances it. Without that counterbalance, testosterone overstimulates oil glands and hair follicles. This results in acne breakouts and thick, dark hairs growing on your chin, jawline, or upper lip.
• Hair loss: Your hair follicles go through a few cycles on a regular basis. The first is growth, also known as anagen. For a single follicle, this stage can last several years. Hair rests for a while, then sheds during the exogen stage. Normally, this keeps your hair at a regular density. But estrogen plays a role. Dropping estrogen levels slow anagen, meaning you’re growing fewer follicles. There aren’t as many hairs to replace the ones you lose. For some women, this shows up as female pattern hair loss, where thinning is concentrated at the scalp. 
• Rosacea: Estrogen variations also affect your brain’s temperature control center in the hypothalamus, provoking hot flashes. These widen blood vessels in your face, which can trigger or worsen rosacea, a condition that causes skin inflammation flare-ups.

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How to care for skin during menopause

A few simple steps and a handful of well-researched ingredients can make a visible difference for many signs of what people call “menopause face.” A board-certified dermatologist can nail down the best treatment for your skin’s concerns and prescribe stronger options if needed. Below are several options to get you started.

Adjust your daily routine

Whatever your skin’s condition, skin care in menopause should begin with the three daily basics recommended by the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD):

• Cleanse gently: Wash with a mild, fragrance-free cleanser that won’t irritate or dry out your face. Bar soap can be too drying for more mature skin.
• Moisturize while skin is damp: Apply moisturizer right after cleansing to lock water into the skin.
• Wear sunscreen every day: Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher on all exposed skin, even in winter, as UV damage can increase signs of aging. In a four-and-a-half-year trial of 903 adults, people who used sunscreen daily showed no detectable increase in skin aging, and they were 24% less likely to show increased skin aging than people who only used it sometimes.
• Think about your daily habits: Your behavior shapes how your skin ages. For instance, in one study, women who smoked were three times as likely as nonsmokers to have moderate to severe facial wrinkles. In another, those who had more than eight drinks a week showed more facial lines, under-eye puffiness, and visible blood vessels.

Look for the right ingredients

Once this routine feels like second nature, you can add ingredients that address collagen loss. A 2024 review of anti-aging skin care ingredients gave its top grade to two: retinoids and vitamin C.

Retinoids like retinal and retinol are vitamin A-based products that speed up cell turnover and prompt skin to make more collagen. Tretinoin is one of the most effective retinoids, but it’s also more likely to cause redness, peeling, and burning. Retinol is gentler, and it still works well, though improvements may be slower. It’s best to use retinoids only at night, as they make the skin more sensitive to the sun. Protect your skin further by wearing at least an SPF 30 sunscreen during the day. 

Your skin also needs vitamin C to make collagen. A 2023 review of seven trials found that, in every trial that measured skin texture, vitamin C left skin smoother and more even. But make sure to choose serums in opaque, airtight packaging, as vitamin C breaks down with exposure to air, heat, and light.

Ask your doctor about medications

Since many of your skin’s changes trace back to estrogen loss, hormonal treatment could help. These three approaches act on your skin’s estrogen receptors, with different degrees of proven success:

• Hormone replacement therapy (HRT): Although doctors don’t prescribe HRT for skin care purposes, your skin might benefit from it. A 2023 analysis of 15 studies found that HRT can improve skin elasticity and thickness.
• Estrogen face creams: In a 2019 review, several studies reported those using estrogen face cream experienced less dryness and better elasticity. However, most studies were small, and researchers still don’t know how much estrogen reaches the rest of the body through the bloodstream when absorbed through the face. Further research is needed to establish its efficacy and unwanted side effects.
• Isoflavones: Isoflavones are plant compounds found in foods like red clover and flaxseed. They have a chemical makeup that’s similar to estrogen. Research on isoflavones shows potential for improving skin health. A 2025 meta-analysis in Menopause pooled 47 randomized trials that reviewed these compounds’ effects. Results showed improvements in skin roughness and wrinkles. The authors concluded by calling for more research on how isoflavones affect the skin. 

When to contact a specialist for skin changes

Skin changes are normal in menopause. But some signs might warrant a visit to a dermatologist or gynecologist:

• New or changing spots: Your risk of skin cancer rises with age. A lifetime of cumulative UV exposure and thinning skin make you more susceptible to sun damage. Skin cancer can look like an age spot, so get any growing, changing, or bleeding spot checked.
• Rashes or itches: See a dermatologist if a rash or an itch doesn’t improve after two weeks of self-care. Itching all over your body, especially without a rash, can point to conditions like thyroid, liver, or kidney disease.
• Vulvar discomfort: Low estrogen can make vulvar skin dry and itchy. But so can lichen sclerosus, a condition that causes patchy, thin, discolored skin and is more common after menopause. Left untreated, lichen sclerosus can cause scarring and raises the risk of squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer. Note that this condition may not cause side effects at all. Talk to your doctor about any new or persistent itching, or white, thin, scarred patches. 

Certain conditions can produce the symptoms above outside of the menopausal transition. For example, an underactive thyroid can cause dry skin and irregular periods. So regular checkups and talks with your doctor are important to determine if menopause or another condition is causing your symptoms.

Maven Clinic Hormone Care helps manage menopause symptoms

Evidence-based skincare, guided by a dermatologist, can help with many menopause-related skin changes. But your skin is just one part of the picture. Menopause can affect everything from sleep to mood to bone health, and those changes are often connected. 

Maven Clinic’s Hormone Care connects you with specialists who look at all of your symptoms as part of a whole. They’ll help you decide whether hormone therapy or another approach makes sense for you. Learn more about Maven Hormone Care.