Danish Study Confirms Transdermal Hormones For Most Effective Application

I am often asked whether skin application is effective for hormones, and of course it’s true as there are a number of hormone products which are absorbed through the skin.

Non have been in use as long as Wellsprings bioidentical hormone creams which have been in use worldwide with great effectiveness for many years.

HRT increased risk from new study

Reported in the British Medical Journal, hormone replacement therapy pills could increase the risk of potentially fatal blood clots by 60 per cent, a major European study has warned.

A nationwide Danish study reaffirms risks of HRT by how it is administered, and it is the oral method of administration that has thrown up an increased risk.

A large case-control study from Denmark has been published in September 2026.

It examines associations between current use of menopausal hormone therapy and the risk of VTE a venous thromboembolism (a blood clot that forms within a vein), ischaemic stroke (when a blockage cuts off the blood supply to part of the brain and accounts for around 85% of all cases) and MI a myocardial infarction (a heart attack).

As with all treatments, HRT carries potential risks, and this study adds further real-world evidence to support making an informed decision about what would work best for you.

Key findings

Using Danish national health registries, researchers followed women aged 50 to 69 with no prior history of thrombotic disease, cancer or related conditions, between 2003 and 2021.

The increased risk is with both oestrogen and synthetic progestins as below.

Oral oestrogen therapy (alone or combined with progestin) was associated with increased rates of VTE, ischaemic stroke, and MI compared with no current use. The numbers associated with harm for one year of oral therapy were 1055 for VTE, 791 for venous thromboembolism, 1642 for ischaemic stroke, and 3846 for MI.

Higher dose oral oestradiol (>1 mg per day) used for more than one year was associated with increased stroke and MI risk, rising with duration of use.

Transdermal therapy was not associated with increased thrombotic risk, with one exception: transdermal HRT combined cyclic therapy was linked to increased MI risk. These are generally accompanied by a synthetic progestin, not progesterone.

What you need to know 

It is always going to be an individual decision as to what you want to use to help you through the many and varied symptoms of Menopause, but concerns have been raised over a number of years about the use of higher doses of oestrogen and synthetic progestogens/progestins.

This is certainly the first time that the benefits of skin application have been so thoroughly researched, although this is the method of administration pioneered by the late Dr John Lee many, many years ago in his work on the benefits of bioidentical hormones over synthetics.

One of the questions I am frequently asked is whether hormones can be successfully absorbed through the skin and of course this is clearly true as a number of HRT preparations use this method now.

However, the long-term use of Wellsprings hormones has been associated with effective reduction of symptoms without the side-effects associated with HRT.

If you are not certain whether you need to supplement with oestrogen, progesterone or both, then this article will be helpful in helping you decide.

https://blog.wellsprings-health.com/which-hormone-or-hormones-might-you-need/