A self-described "wellness buff" who thinks nothing of biking 50 miles at a time, Thomas on one hand regards HRT as a kind of fountain of youth. "I keep track of the gals I went to school with," she says. "The ones who are on the hormones have a younger essence, which I can't exactly explain."

So it seems as though there are still women who do believe in estrogen as a majik youth pill and take it for that reason whether or not they admit it - just like there were in 1977 when the book below was written.....
 

1977
 
 
 
 
 

1977
 
 
 
 
 

1977
 
 
 
 
 

1977
 
 
 
 

1977
 

      Most certainly not, for if it did, the manufacturers and the doctors who make such claims for it would have produced some demonstrable evidence in all these years. There is none - not one study in which women on ERT and off it were independently rated by dermatologists, beauty experts, or even by the crowd at the corner drugstores.

      There are personal testimonials for ERT as a Youth Pill, but that is all. " At 50," according to ERT supporter Dr. Robert Wilson, "women on ERT still look attractive in sleeveless dresses or tennis shorts." True enough, some do. But so do some older women not on ERT. We think the tennis is a more likely factor.

      Nowhere in their official labeling are the manufacturers of these products allowed to say that they promote either the feeling or appearance of youthfulness. ERT is an accepted treatment for "the menopausal syndrome," meaning flashes and related complaints, but is not an aging preventive. We had an interesting chance recently to do an informal survey on the subject of ERT and youthful appearance. We posted a notice at a gym many affluent middle-aged women attend, asking if we could interview them concerning their experience taking or avoiding ERT.. Prior to the interviews, we privately jotted down our guesses of the women's ages. Our estimates were on the low side (by five years or more), particularly for the non-users of ERT . We were low three times as often for that group as for the others.

      The curious thing was that the ERT users imagined they looked young for their ages, but in fact did not. On the other hand, the women who did not rely on ERT but instead were very conscientious about exercise and diet were ( in our opinion) deceptively young looking. We concluded that ERT  sometimes gives women a false sense of security and prevents them from doing commonsense things for themselves.

      According to the beauty editor of a leading women's magazine, many actresses and society women who have face lifts and plastic surgery are reluctant to admit it. When they appear looking somewhat rejuvenated, they are much more apt to hint that they owe their suddenly younger faces to a drug, because this is somehow considered more respectable. On close top-secret interviewing (and this editor knows the real beauty secrets of many), she has found that the women of this "set" don't take ERT at all seriously as a youth preservative. Some of them may take it for hot flashes and other symptoms, but they have no illusions about its ability to improve their looks. These women, unlike the estrogen users at our gym, can't afford to fool themselves, for their livings depend on their looks.

      Included in the acknowledged side effects of ERT are edema, Increase in body weight, and allergic rash. Women who try ERT for appearance's sake may find that it backfires - cruelly. One such Woman, aged 53, developed estrogen blisters on her face, neck, chest, and hands that, although they went away when she stopped ERT ( after eight years of use), left her with permanent scars.

      Novak's Textbook of Gynecology explains sympathetically that many women are afraid they will become obese during the menopause. "Although most women do put on some weight at this time, the gain is usually moderate and easily controllable. To the thin, angular type of female, the menopause may actually be a physical blessing, in that the figure becomes more rounded and attractive." The Youth Pill came back to England only recently, according to Dr. William Inman - that country's equivalent of the FDA commissioner-when an American doctor (whose name Inman forgot) appeared on British television to show off a 65-year-old ERT patient who had "youthful breasts." (The British TV codes are more liberal concerning nudity.)

      This, according to Inman, started a craze for ERT, and now large numbers of British women are taking it, too. By the close of 1975, when the news of endometrial cancer reached England, The Lancet ran an editorial called "Dangers in Eternal Youth," which concluded that women who really believe in the wonders of ERT and won't give it up are advised to have hysterectomies to protect themselves from cancer. Further news in 1976, however, indicated that even those women who have had hysterectomies and taken ERT face an increased risk of breast cancer, 12 or 15 years later. They can't win! 

      Novak's Textbook of Gynecology explains sympathetically that many women are afraid they will become obese during the menopause. "Although most women do put on some weight at this time, the gain is usually moderate and easily controllable. To the thin, angular type of female, the menopause may actually be a physical blessing, in that the figure becomes more rounded and attractive." The Youth Pill came back to England only recently, according to Dr. William Inman-that country's equivalent of the FDA commissioner-when an American doctor ( whose name Inman forgot) appeared on British television to show off a 65-year-old ERT patient who had "youthful breasts." (The British TV codes are more liberal concerning nudity.) This, according to Inman, started a craze for ERT, and now large numbers of British women are taking it, too. By the close of 1975, when the news of endometrial cancer reached England, The Lancet ran an editorial called "Dangers in Eternal Youth," which concluded that women who really believe in the wonders of ERT and won't give it up are advised to have hysterectomies to protect themselves from cancer. Further news in 1976, however, indicated that even those women who have had hysterectomies and taken ERT face an increased risk of breast cancer, 12 or 15 years later. They can't win!