Female hormone therapy encompasses a range of medicines used for menopausal symptom management, hormonal deficiency replacement, regulation of menstrual disorders, and prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. The central agents are estrogens and progestogens — either used in combination hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or as individual components depending on the patient's clinical situation (particularly whether the uterus is intact). These are prescription-only medicines in the US, UK, and EU, and require individual clinical assessment and ongoing monitoring due to known benefit-risk profiles including cardiovascular and breast cancer considerations.
Hormone replacement therapy remains the most effective treatment for menopausal vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes, night sweats) and genitourinary syndrome of menopause (vaginal atrophy, dryness, dyspareunia). Modern prescribing guidelines from NICE (UK), The Menopause Society (US/formerly NAMS), and the BHFS (British) recognise that for healthy women under 60 and within 10 years of menopause onset, the benefits of HRT generally outweigh the risks — a shift from earlier more cautious prescribing that followed the 2002 Women's Health Initiative publication, which was later found to have studied an older, less representative population.
Women's Hormone Medications at Lucas Clinic
- Premarin (Conjugated Equine Estrogens) — Rx; 0.3/0.45/0.625/0.9/1.25 mg tablets; estrogen from pregnant mare urine; for menopausal vasomotor symptoms, vaginal atrophy, osteoporosis prevention; add progestogen if uterus intact
- Provera (Medroxyprogesterone Acetate) — Rx; 2.5/5/10 mg tablets; synthetic progestin; for secondary amenorrhea, abnormal uterine bleeding, endometrial protection in HRT; also injectable as Depo-Provera
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