Collagen concentration on the facial skin of postmenopausal women after topical treatment with estradiol and genistein: a randomized double-blind controlled trial

AbstractObjective: The objective of this study is to compare the effects of topical estrogen and genistein (a soy isoflavone) on the facial skin collagen of postmenopausal women not undergoing systemic hormonal therapy.Methods: This is a prospective, double blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial. Volunteer women (N = 30) 45–55 year old from the Endocrine Gynecology sector of the Gynecology Department of the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP). The Ethical Committee of the Federal University of Sao Paulo approved the study (report no. 386/2004; registration on ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01553773), were assigned to topical treatment with either estrogen or genistein for 24 weeks. We quantified and compared facial collagen concentration before and after each treatment by performing pre-auricular skin biopsies.Results: Our data showed an increase in the amount of both type I and type III facial collagen by the end of both treatments. However, the outcomes of the estrogen GI (ER) group were superior to ...