Use of estrogen creams.

Any woman may go to the drug counter today and purchase cosmetic creams and lotions containing estrogenic substances of varying composition and concentration without a prescription. When the agents of the Federal Food and Drug Bureau first approached physicians for some guidance as to policy in this matter, the consensus was, despite warnings that had appeared inThe Journal, 1 that the total amount of estrogenic substances that would be absorbed by inunction in the amount and concentration recommended would not be likely to produce constitutional effects. We were among those who held this view. The fallacy of this belief is illustrated in the following case. REPORT OF A CASE Mrs. F. B., aged 40, had lost both of her ovaries by the age of 29 as a result of two tubal pregnancies. In June, 1943, she was referred to one of us (M. B. G.) for weight reduction and