What are the risks associated with estrogen use? Should women be concerned?
We need to be clear in what form of estrogen we are talking about. There is a significant difference between what we call systemic estrogen (estrogen that gets into the body either by mouth or by the skin, such as via a patch or topical gel) and topical or local estrogen (applied to the tissues directly into the vagina, also referred to as vaginal estrogen). The two most common concerns for women with respect to systemic estrogen are the increased risk of breast cancer and the increased risk of heart disease. Both of these risks depend on the individual woman, the time since menopause (i.e., how long ago they first reached menopause), and her individual risk profile. She needs to discuss this with her physician. The actual risk increase associated with estrogen use is very small. It’s also important to note that using estrogen around the time of menopause is much less risky than using it in older woman who have already gone through menopause. Vaginal estrogen (such as vaginal tablet, v
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- What are the risks associated with estrogen use? Should women be concerned?
