GIRLFRIEND -
to - G I R L F R I E N D
REAL TALK ABOUT HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY
We sat down with three women receiving HRT at Allure Medical Spa to talk about what their experiences have been like.
THE HISTORY of hormone
replacement therapy (HRT)
goes back to the 1940s
when the first estrogen
replacement medication—
Premarin, an estrogen
derived from the urine
of pregnant mares—was
prescribed to menopausal
women. By the 1970s, horse-
based estrogen was being
supplemented with synthetic
progestogen. HRT remained
a popular treatment until
2002 when the National
Institutes of Health Women’s
Health Initiative study
found that the combination
of horse-based estrogen
and synthetic progestogen
led to an increased risk
of breast cancer. In the
face of that news, many
women gave up on easing
the often debilitating
symptoms of menopause.
Fortunately, now there’s a
new kind of HRT that has
been proven to be effective
in lessening the symptoms of
menopause and reducing the
likelihood of breast cancer:
testosterone. Although
it’s thought of as a male
hormone, women have
it too. Like estrogen and
progestogen, testosterone
production decreases with
age. Providing testosterone
replacement in the form of
slow-releasing subdermal
pellets safely eliminates
menopausal symptoms like
hot flashes, moodiness,
fatigue, and loss of libido.
The pellets are also
sometimes combined with
natural progestogen tablets
or cream, depending on
the patient’s hormone
levels and needs.
2017 SUMMER
25