Age. If you start menopause hormone therapy at age 60 or older, or it has been more than 10 years since menopause, your risk of serious complications increases. But if you start menopause hormone therapy before age 60 or within 10 years of menopause, the benefits may outweigh the risks.
Average timing for starting HRT
For most women, this means starting HRT somewhere between the ages of 45 and 55 years old.
Please note: Under a Health Service Directive (HSD) issued by the Director-General Queensland Health on 28 January 2025, no new public patients under 18 years can be prescribed Stage 1 (puberty blockers) or Stage 2 (gender-affirming hormones) treatment for gender dysphoria.
The Best Age to Start HRT
While there's no magic number, most women begin treatment during perimenopause (late 30s to early 50s) or once menopause becomes disruptive.
It usually begins in your 40s, however, some women experience perimenopause earlier in their 30s. Risk factors for early perimenopause include having a family history of early perimenopause, having a hysterectomy, cancer treatment and smoking.
Thinning: The skin becomes visibly thinner, making blood vessels more apparent and you might even notice that you bruise more easily. Wrinkles: Fine lines appear more pronounced, especially around the eyes and mouth.. Sagging: Loss of firmness in the jawline and cheeks.
Among those who underwent gonadectomy, rates of regret, as ascertain from retrospective review of documentation in medical charts, were only 0.3% for transgender men and 0.6% for transgender women, with an average time to regret of approximately 11 years.
Trans people are at a slightly higher risk of developing some cancers that are tied to hormone use. The breasts, uterus, ovaries, prostate, lung, colon, or liver can be affected. This depends on the stage of transition. Your routine healthcare should include screenings such as prostate, breast, and pelvic exams.
Common symptoms of the menopause include:
Stage 1 consists of the administration of puberty suppressant hormones, “puberty blockers”. This treatment suppresses the onset of puberty and physical characteristics which may be incompatible with their gender identity. Stage 1 allows children to explore their gender identity before beginning Stage 2.
Specifically, the use of hormone therapy was associated with a reduction of 0.17 years in the discrepancy between phenotypic and chronological age. This suggests that women who used HRT were biologically younger than their non-HRT-using counterparts.
It's your choice whether to take HRT and when to start. You do not need to wait until your symptoms are severe, or until your periods stop completely.
Your personal medical history and risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, blood clots, liver disease and osteoporosis also are factors that can affect the risks of menopause hormone therapy.
Menopause, when it occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, is considered “natural” and is a normal part of aging. Menopause that occurs before the age of 45 is called early menopause. Menopause that occurs at 40 or younger is considered premature menopause.
Possible health risks include: Increased risk of uterine cancer (only if you still have your uterus and aren't taking progestin along with estrogen). Increased risk of heart disease if you begin using HRT 10 years after menopause starts. Increased risk of blood clots and stroke.
There's little evidence that most types of HRT make you put on weight.
After starting HRT, you may notice the following changes:
This survey included the question “Have you ever de-transitioned? In other words, have you ever gone back to living as your sex assigned at birth, at least for a while?” The survey found that 8% of respondents had detransitioned temporarily or permanently at some point and that the majority did so only temporarily.
Cosmetic surgeries and elective operations are among the most common regretted procedures. Understanding risks and outcomes is key before surgery. Certain factors contribute to a patient's likelihood of experiencing regret. Patient education is key to minimizing surgical regret rates.
“Of the 139 participants, 17 (12.2%) were classified as persisters and the remaining 122 (87.8%) were classified as desisters.” CONCLUSION: Most children grow out of their gender dysphoria as they reach adolescence. Social transitions and/or puberty blockers are frequently used to ameliorate symptoms in these children.
(2004) reported that women with the body shape that is found most attractive by males (large breasts and a low waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), e.g. Singh 1993; Henss 2000) have higher oestrogen levels than other categories of body shape.
Estrogen is often considered the “beauty hormone” due to its positive effects on skin. It plays a vital role in: Collagen production: Estrogen helps maintain skin thickness and elasticity by stimulating collagen production, which keeps skin firm and youthful.
Signs of low estrogen include: