You’re sleeping less, sweating more, and your skin looks different than it did six months ago. Your jeans fit differently. Your mood has a mind of its own. And somewhere in the background, there’s a nagging sense that something has shifted, even if you can’t quite name it.
If this sounds familiar, you may be in perimenopause.
Perimenopause is the transitional phase leading up to menopause, when your ovaries gradually produce less estrogen and progesterone. It typically begins in the early to mid-40s, though some women notice changes in their late 30s. According to a 2021 review in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, the menopause transition causes symptoms in the majority of women and can last over a decade.
You don’t have to wait it out. At Skin Artisans, our wellness and aesthetic providers have been helping women across the Twin Cities feel like themselves again for more than 30 years.
The Symptoms That Catch You Off Guard
Perimenopause doesn’t arrive with a single announcement. It shows up gradually, in ways that are easy to dismiss or misattribute. The most common perimenopause symptoms include:
- Hot flashes and night sweats: These vasomotor symptoms are the hallmark of hormonal change. They disrupt sleep, drain energy, and can make even a Minnesota winter feel unbearable.
- Irregular periods: Cycles may become shorter, longer, heavier, or lighter before they eventually stop altogether.
- Mood changes and brain fog: Irritability, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and memory lapses are all linked to fluctuating estrogen levels. Many women describe feeling like they’ve lost their edge mentally.
- Sleep disruption: Even without night sweats, hormonal shifts can make it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep.
- Weight gain: Shifting hormones change where your body stores fat, often concentrating it around the midsection. This kind of weight gain can be stubbornly resistant to diet and exercise alone.
- Vaginal dryness and changes in libido: Declining estrogen thins vaginal tissue and reduces natural lubrication, which can affect comfort and intimacy.
- Skin and hair changes: Thinning hair, increased skin dryness, and fine lines that seem to appear overnight. This is where perimenopause gets personal in a way many women don’t expect.
What Perimenopause Does to Your Skin
Estrogen plays a direct role in collagen production, moisture retention, and skin thickness. As levels decline during perimenopause, those processes slow down. A study published in the journal Climacteric found that skin collagen decreases by roughly 30% in the first five years of early menopause, with an additional 2% loss per year after that. The skin becomes thinner, drier, and more prone to fine lines and hyperpigmentation.
What makes this particularly frustrating is that these changes often accelerate before menopause officially begins. The perimenopausal years are actually the most strategically important time to address skin quality, because collagen loss during this period outpaces what topical products can reverse on their own.
How Skin Artisans Treats Perimenopause From the Inside Out
This is where Skin Artisans offers something most med spas don’t. Founded by the board-certified plastic surgeons of Edina Plastic Surgery in 1991, Skin Artisans combines wellness treatments for hormonal balance with advanced aesthetic care for the skin changes perimenopause brings. That means you can address the root cause and the visible effects in one place, with providers who understand how the two are connected.
BioTE® Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
For many perimenopausal women, restoring hormonal balance is the single most impactful thing they can do. BioTE bioidentical hormone replacement therapy uses plant-derived pellets that deliver a steady stream of bioidentical estrogen and/or testosterone, customized to your lab results and health goals. The pellets are placed under the skin through a tiny incision and release hormones consistently over time, avoiding the peaks and valleys that come with pills or patches.
At Skin Artisans, BioTE is managed by our two certified providers: Dr. Allison Heimer and Rachel Snyder, APRN, CNP. They work closely with each patient to monitor labs, adjust dosing, and track progress. Patients commonly report relief from hot flashes, better sleep, improved mood, and renewed energy. Many also notice improvements in skin quality, mental clarity, and libido.
If you’re curious about whether BioTE is right for you, our blog on how BioTE can enhance your health goes deeper into how pellet therapy works and what to expect.
GLP-1 Medical Weight Loss
Perimenopause weight gain isn’t about willpower. When your hormones shift, your metabolism follows. For women who are eating well and exercising regularly but still can’t move the weight settling around their midsection, GLP-1 medical weight loss can be a powerful option. These weekly injections regulate appetite and blood sugar, and many patients lose about a pound per week when paired with lifestyle adjustments.
As our Hormone Optimization and Medical Weight Loss Specialist, Rachel Snyder, APRN, CNP, oversees this program as well. For women dealing with hormonal imbalance alongside stubborn weight, combining GLP-1 with BioTE can produce significantly better results than either treatment alone.
Aesthetic Treatments for Perimenopause Skin Changes
While hormone optimization works from the inside, Skin Artisans’ aesthetic providers can target the visible skin changes that perimenopause accelerates. Our Advanced Practice Estheticians are certified laser safety officers with an average of 10+ years of experience, and our Aesthetic Injection Specialists, who are licensed by the Minnesota Board of Nursing, hold advanced training from the Allergan Medical Institute.
Treatments that our perimenopausal patients frequently benefit from include:
- BBL photorejuvenation and HALO laser: These treatments stimulate collagen production and correct hyperpigmentation, sun damage, and textural changes, all concerns that worsen as estrogen declines.
- SkinPen microneedling: FDA-cleared microneedling creates controlled micro-channels in the skin that trigger your body’s collagen and elastin production. It’s an effective way to improve skin firmness, texture, and tone during a period when your body is producing less collagen on its own.
- Chemical peels: Professional-grade peels address the dullness, uneven tone, and rough texture that often accompany hormonal skin changes.
- Botox: As skin loses elasticity during perimenopause, dynamic wrinkles around the eyes and forehead become more pronounced. Skin Artisans is ranked in the top 1% of Botox providers nationwide, so you’re in experienced hands.
- Sculptra: This FDA-approved injectable helps boost collagen production to restore lost facial volume and smooth wrinkles.
diVa® Laser Vaginal Therapy
For perimenopausal women experiencing vaginal dryness, discomfort during intimacy, or mild urinary incontinence, diVa laser vaginal therapy offers a nonsurgical option that stimulates tissue renewal and collagen production in the vaginal canal. This treatment is exclusively available at our Edina location. Our blog on the vaginal rejuvenation trifecta explores how diVa pairs with BioTE and the O-Shot for more complete intimate wellness results.
Start With a Conversation
Every new aesthetic patient at Skin Artisans begins with a complimentary VISIA skin analysis, which captures multi-dimensional images of your skin to reveal damage beneath the surface. For wellness patients, Dr. Allison or Rachel starts with lab work along with a detailed healthy history and symptom questionnaire to get a clear picture. We create a wellness plan for you based on all of your data as well as your symptoms.
Skin Artisans has earned consecutive Best Med Spa recognition from Edina Magazine, a five-star Google rating with hundreds of reviews, and the trust of over 50,000 patients since 1991. Perimenopause is a chapter, not a verdict. And having the right team in your corner makes it a whole lot more manageable.
Book your appointment today.
Minnetonka: (612) 930-1111
Woodbury: (651) 252-1999
Edina: (952) 767-3163
