Topical hormone creams can accumulate in adipose tissue, resulting in erratic or aberrant release into the bloodstream.
"creams can get It can get messy with creams, because they can really um they just kind of glom up in your fat, if you will. And so, you get aberrant release into your bloodstream when you start glomming up and increasing levels in the adipose tissue and it's not necessarily getting into the blood" (said at 0:30:23)
Pharmacokinetic evidence contradicts the claim that topical or transdermal hormone creams accumulate in adipose tissue to cause erratic or aberrant release into the bloodstream. Transdermal administration of steroid hormones (such as estrogens and progestogens) is specifically utilized in clinical medicine because bypassing first-pass hepatic metabolism yields more stable and consistent serum hormone levels compared to oral administration. While lipophilic hormones traverse the stratum corneum and local dermal layers, clinical pharmacokinetic studies show that transdermal delivery provides predictable, steady systemic release rather than erratic dumping from subcutaneous adipose depots.
- context: Caution on the use of saliva measurements to monitor absorption of progesterone from trans… (Maturitas 2002)
"There were small increases in plasma progesterone levels and pregnanediol-3-glucuronide excretion compared to the placebo group and red cell progesterone levels never exceeded plasma levels during progesterone cream use." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - contradicts: Transdermal Hormonal Therapy in Menopause: Current Evidence and Personalized Approaches. (Pharmaceutics 2026)
"By bypassing first-pass hepatic metabolism, this route provides more consistent serum hormone concentrations and may be associated with a lower risk of metabolic and thromboembolic complications compared with oral formulations." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)