• What is the 2002 Woman's Health Initiative Study?
• How Did this Hormone Replacement Therapy Study Help Launch kaplanMD?
• Why Did You Decide to Launch kaplanMD?

In 2002, the Womans Health Initiative released results of a 10-year study that found Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) posed significant health risks for women, including higher rates of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. Until the release of this study, HRT had been used to treat women who were experiencing symptoms associated with decreased estrogen, including hot flashes, mood swings and skin changes. When the findings were released, many doctors stopped prescribing HRT to their patients.

Though there is still some debate over the results of the study, the fact remains that there ARE risks associated with HRT, and many physicians and patients alike do not want to take that chance.

How Did this Hormone Replacement Therapy Study Help Launch kaplanMD?

Before I answer this, I need to first explain how estrogen affects women's skin and why HRT helped "slow" the skins aging process.

Many people believe that menopause begins in women between the ages of 40 and 50. But in fact, women enter the perimenopausal phase of their life in their early to mid 30s, a period which is marked by a significant drop in estrogen production. As estrogen levels fall, your skins collagen, elastin and glycosaminoglycans break down, causing sagging, wrinkling, and a loss of skin tone and elasticity. Loss of estrogen also leads to thinning of the skin, which makes blood vessels and flushing more apparent in the face. It also causes the skins immunity and effectiveness as a protective barrier to decrease, which increases itching and sensitivity to environmental irritants. You may also notice other skin symptoms, such as increased fragility, acne breakouts, skin pigmentation, dryness and itch, or facial hair growth. These can all be attributed to decreased estrogen production.

Hormone Replacement Therapy masked all these skin symptoms by maintaining the level of estrogen in the body. When the results of the HRT study were released, and women were advised to stop taking their Hormone Replacement Therapy, the effect on their skin was dramatic. I began to notice significant deterioration in the texture and appearance of the skin of my patients who were only in their late 30s and early 40s. These were changes that I usually saw in much older patients. And as a dermatologist in Beverly Hills, my patients would not let me take this lightly!

Why Did You Decide to Launch kaplanMD?

As more of my patients over the age of 30 complained about their skin symptoms and wanted to know how to prevent them, I frustratingly realized that there were no skincare products I could recommend to them. The skincare market was divided into only two targeted areas: anti-aging and environmental protection. NO PRODUCT ADDRESSED THE 12 SKIN SYMPTOMS SPECIFICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH ESTROGEN LOSS.

At the urging of my patients, I began researching a new advancement to treat the symptoms that used to be treated by Hormone Replacement Therapy. That exciting new area of research was plant-based estrogens. Now, after three years of collaborations with renowned endocrinologists and chemists, I am excited to launch the first skincare line specifically created to mimic the effects of estrogen on women's skin.