Connective Tissue Complications Linked to Estrogen Deficiency in Menopause

As if menopause wasn't difficult enough to manage, many women find they are struggling with more than the typical hot flashes, mood swings and impaired cognitive function. As women enter into menopause, there are a variety of other health conditions that may ensure, including those associated with skin and back problems.

Skin complications are a leading cause of complaint among women in menopause, especially those with concern over the appearance of their skin. With deterioration in collagen content, a woman's skin begins to lose sebaceous or oil secretions, begins to lose elasticity and begins to lose water. In fact, this drastic change in a woman's skin can also lead to complication in the wound healing process. The change in skin, at the time of menopause, is linked to nothing other than the change in estrogen levels.

In addition to complications with skin appearance, many menopausal women also begin to notice a change in their spinal column. Change in stature and posture are generally associated with, again, the change in estrogen levels that lead to collagen deficiencies. Because collagen is vital to the intervertebral discs, when collagen is lost, a menopausal woman can experience as much as a 20 percent reduction in height.

In addition to change in collage and height of vertebral discs, women who enter into menopause may also find increasingly greater complications with back pain and healing when back injury occurs. These negative effects of menopause, specifically upon the connective tissue, can only compound a menopausal woman's feelings of self-image and may further complicate any secondary emotional or psychological complications.