Does this sound like you?

When my skin changed, it wasn't only my face. It was my whole body. My legs felt tight after every shower. My hands looked different. Patches of dry skin itched through the day.

When I asked women about their skin, every single one had noticed crinkly, crepey skin on their arms, legs, hands or neck. Not one of them used that word for her face. The face gets all the attention, and all the products. The rest of us gets forgotten.

Some changes are harder to talk about: itching that feels like something crawling under the skin, thinner hair, or dryness in the most intimate places. Women often don't mention these, even to their doctor. So let's say it plainly. These are common, they're connected, and you're not alone.

What's going on

Estrogen doesn't only look after your face. Skin everywhere on your body responds to it, so when it falls, the changes show up everywhere too.

• Arms, legs and body. Body skin has fewer oil glands than your face to begin with. As your own oils decline, it dries faster, especially on the shins, which can become flaky and itchy.
• Neck, chest and hands. This skin is thinner to begin with. As collagen and elastin decline, it shows changes first, and years of sun exposure there add up. That's the crinkled, crepey texture so many women notice.
• Itching. Itching, sometimes with a prickly or crawling feeling, is a common symptom of perimenopause and menopause. It mostly goes hand in hand with drier skin and a weaker barrier.
• Lips. Lips have no oil glands at all, so they feel the loss of moisture quickly. They can look thinner and feel drier.
• Scalp and hair. Hair can become thinner and drier, and the scalp can feel tight or itchy.
• Intimate dryness. The tissue of the vulva and vagina is especially sensitive to estrogen. Dryness, discomfort and irritation are very common after menopause, and often begin in perimenopause.