Menopause might have a negative effect on psoriasis progression, study finds

The participants who have undergone menopause, which was defined as not having menstrual blood for at least a year, and have a certified diagnosis of psoriasis were included. Respondents were gathered from Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital in Seoul, South Korea, and outpatient dermatology clinics at the University of California, San Francisco.

The majority of women in the combined cohort stated that menopause either had no effect on their psoriasis (41.7%) or made it worse (33.1%). The majority of women (73.4%) in the combined cohort stated that menopause had no effect on how they treated their psoriasis.

The majority (62.1%) of the 29 women who were on HRT reported no change in their psoriasis. According to multivariate research, drinking alcohol helped prevent psoriasis from getting worse after menopause.

Overall, this study found that few women reported an improvement in their psoriasis during menopause, suggesting that menopause is likely to have a neutral to negative impact on psoriasis. However, the vast majority of women did not require a change in their psoriasis treatment strategy during menopause, even if some women had a worsening of their psoriasis.

Reference:

Chung, B. Y., Johnson, C., Park, J. S., Haran, K., Smith, P., Kranyak, A., Bhutani, T., & Liao, W. (2025). Patient-reported impact of menopause and hormone replacement therapy on psoriasis. Acta Dermato-Venereologica, 105, adv42843. https://doi.org/10.2340/actadv.v105.42843