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Hi Debbie. Are you saying that you have documentation supporting your contention that stray estrogen contact is of no additional physiologic concern in regard to breast cancer patients as long as they also use it vaginally?
No. I didn't realize that was the question. I thought that we were talking about the circumstance of possibly touching the applicator or suppository when applying vaginal estrogen, and then that finger absorbing estrogen and/or contacting some other body part that might absorb it.
I have no evidence either way. But if you're applying cream or suppository into a closed space lined with mucous membranes (vagina), I know that you are going to get higher systemic absorption from that than would be possible from any small residue left on your finger. Closed space and mucous membrane vs. open-to-air skin (hence prone to washing/rubbing/drying off) would seem no contest. Especially fingertips which seem more impervious (I don't know if that's true but it seems logical). We're talking about bits of residue from if you touched the applicator or the Estring and such, right? Not about taking the cream and intentionally smearing it around somewhere other than vaginally? The articles posted were, as nearly as I saw, not about vaginal estrogen creams anyway. The patches are INTENDED to be absorbed systemically and must have much higher doses than, say, estring, which is stated to provide the lowest dose of systemic absorption. My comment about wrinkles was labeled "tic" (tongue in cheek). I was joking. And I do wash my hands after inserting the Estring and using Estrace cream (tiny dollop).
Although again, I take it back to Susan Love's theory that supplemental estrogen (and she was talking of full-on HRT) made so little difference to risk because it's a drop-in-the-bucket to breast tissue that may be making its own estrogen via richly aromatase-enhanced cells.
And again again - measuring an increase in serum estrogen is not the same as proving that it's harmful. We are far from having good information to document risk OR safety.
Debbie
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