SKIN CARE advice for those with accelerated aging effects from AI and Lupron?

LifeInBloom100
LifeInBloom100 Member Posts: 57 Member
in Breast Cancer #1

Please forgive me in advance if this seems trivial, considering these drugs are intended for one purpose - to significantly reduce the risk of a metastatic recurrence. I am trying so hard to be grateful for a chance to not deal with cancer again — I'm struggling in so many areas of my life and was already at rock bottom and facing aa life rebuild when diagnosed:

I wanted to share that I have been on Lupron to suppress my ovaries (as I was not even in perimenopause when diagnosed with stage-2 breast ER/PR positive/ HER2-Neg cancer last Fall), and Anastrozole for the past 4 months. I tested positive for one (the sentinel) lymph node sadly, but the 3 additional ones removed were clear. I had a double mastectomy and multi-node dissection, 5 weeks of radiation, and reconstruction in 11 months. I am now NED (no evidence of disease), thank goodness, but I am aware I will be always looking over my shoulder because of the lymph system was the tiniest bit invaded by the time I had surgery last October.
I will take Anastrozole AND LUPRON for at least five years. The reason I cannot go off Lupron (unless I have ovaries removed) is because there is no way to gauge whether I am in full menopause or medically induced menopause during the time I'm on Anastrozole. They could take me off Anastrozole and put me on Tamoxifen for a few months to see if my period comes back, but there are health risks correlative to Tamoxifen due to family history of gyno-related cancers (everyone is different - don't panic if you are on Tamoxifen), and I cannot be on Anastrozole without knowing for sure my ovaries are not producing estrogen, as it could make Anastrozole trigger the opposite response - surplus ovulation. SO, I'm on this drug.

NOW — HERE is what some of you may feel is the more trivial issue. And maybe I need to hear that perspective from some of you, actually, because right now, I'm having a VERY hard time with this:
Anastrozole and Lupron has ESTHETICALLY ACCELERATED AGING in my outward appearance by honestly what seems like a good 7 years — in 10 months! A few months before I was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2023, I looked realistically maybe 8 years younger than my age (I'd just turned 50, and I'd often been told I could pass for late 30s/early 40s). That wasn't a goal - it was just a thing.

SINCE I have been on these drugs, I could start charging people 10cents per under-eye bag if they needed storage! I have deep wrinkes and grooves, my skin's elasticity is all but wiped out completely - I can gently pinch an area and it'll stay pinched there until I smooth it out. I have perpetual dark half-circles under my eyes, sometimes an entire circle spanning inner corner to outer corner, layered crepe wrinkles even in the depression of the eye sockets.

I have NEVER had any of this. Now I know in the decade to come, I'd naturally have aged even without having endured cancer, but this treatment (which will be ongoing for the next 4.5 YEARS minimum) yields effects that cannot be reversed, as far as skin is concerned.

Can ANYONE offer any hormone-positive breast cancer survivors an idea of a SAFE SKIN CORRECTION regimen that a financially depleted person could possibly try to maintain ANY suppleness left in her skin? Or improve upon it?

I know myself, and I see how incredible accelerated the aging effects of these hormone therapies have been. It's very disheartening. I am single (divorced but in a new long-distance relationship I hope comes together soon), and have signficant financial stress on top of everything. The one thing I can and do control is EXERCISE - I am a fiend with it. But I can't seem to do anything to help myself from the neck up. I don't and hae never used botox or fillers, nor can afford to.

Sorry this is so long. And I apologize to seem so vain. I of course and grateful to be alive, as challenging as everything is.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Comments

  • LifeInBloom100
    LifeInBloom100 Member Posts: 57 Member
    #2

    Has anyone any thoughts on, or experience with this?

  • KatyGirl
    KatyGirl Member Posts: 1 *
    #3

    same here! Photos taken the summer before my diagnosis and now I look like I’ve aged 10 or 20 years. Have not found any products yet that help with the skin or hair issues. Thanks for posting this, I will be interested to hopefully see some solutions.

  • sierenjc
    sierenjc Member Posts: 1 *
    #4

    I understand this concern. You could maybe talk to your dermatologist about tretinoin which is a cream that can help with skin texture. There are some online companies that offer a virtual consult so you don’t need a dermatologist visit (ie Musley: anti-aging cream)

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