Hyaluronic acid concentration in postmenopausal facial skin after topical estradiol and genistein treatment: a double-blind, randomized clinical trial of efficacy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to compare the effects of estradiol and genistein treatment on hyaluronic acid (HA) concentration in postmenopausal facial skin. METHODS: In this study, 30 postmenopausal women were evaluated in a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial. The volunteers were postmenopausal women treated in the Gynecology Department of the Federal University of São Paulo. The participants were divided into two groups: group E, treated with 0.01% 17ß-estradiol gel (n = 15), and group G, treated with 4% genistein gel (isoflavones, n = 15). The treatment lasted for 24 consecutive weeks. Preauricular skin biopsies were performed for each participant at baseline (E1 and G1) and after treatment (E2 and G2) to evaluate HA concentration in tissue. The materials were processed using immunohistochemical and biochemical methods. RESULTS: After 24 weeks of treatment, HA concentration increased in both groups, but the effect was greater for estradiol treatment than for genistein treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that both treatments may enhance HA concentration in postmenopausal skin but that estrogen produces results that are greater than those produced by isoflavones.