title: Skin viscoelasticity during hormone replacement therapy for climacteric ageing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Climacteric ageing refers to the period of women's life centred by the perimenopause. This step of life is responsible for initiating skin atrophic withering and slackness responsible for changes in the viscoelasticity of the dermal connective tissue. Some women benefit from hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for controlling some unpleasant internal climacteric changes (osteoporosis, vasomotor instability, …).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate some corrective effects of HRT on the functional damages in the dermal tensile strength.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was performed on 200 healthy Caucasian women. In vivo skin viscoelasticity was assessed using the suction method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Skin distensibility and hysteresis appeared increased at menopause with or without HRT. By contrast, the biological elasticity significantly decreased out of HRT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Some drugs and cosmetics might attempt at improving such viscoelastic attributes of the skin at menopause.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Skin Bioengineering and Imaging (LABIC), Department of Clinical Sciences, B23, University of Liège, B-4000, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Piérard
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Skin Bioengineering and Imaging (LABIC), Department of Clinical Sciences, B23, University of Liège, B-4000, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hermanns-Lê
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Skin Bioengineering and Imaging (LABIC), Department of Clinical Sciences, B23, University of Liège, B-4000, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Paquet
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Skin Bioengineering and Imaging (LABIC), Department of Clinical Sciences, B23, University of Liège, B-4000, Liège, Belgium.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Piérard-Franchimont
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002979:Climacteric; D004548:Elasticity; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D014783:Viscosity
keywords: climacteric ageing; hormone replacement therapy; menopause; post-menopausal ageing; skin slackness; skin viscoelasticity; tensile strength