Menopause gets a lot of attention—and for good reason. It’s a significant life transition often associated with hot flashes, mood changes, and shifts in libido.
But for many women, the symptoms actually begin years earlier.
Perimenopause, the phase leading up to menopause, can start as early as the mid-30s to early 40s. During this time, estrogen and progesterone levels begin to fluctuate—not just decline—which can trigger a wide range of symptoms.
You may notice:
- Changes in mood or increased anxiety
- Disrupted sleep or night sweats
- Unexplained weight gain
- Brain fog or difficulty concentrating
- Decreased energy or libido
These changes are common, but they’re often overlooked or dismissed.
While perimenopause is a natural phase, that doesn’t mean you have to simply endure the symptoms. For some women, hormonal imbalances during this time can be a contributing factor and addressing them may help improve overall quality of life.
At Galt Dermatology & Concierge Medicine, we take a personalized, medically guided approach to hormone health. When appropriate, hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale can be used to help stabilize fluctuations, reduce symptoms, and support long-term well-being.
If you’re noticing changes that don’t feel like “your normal,” it may be time for a deeper evaluation.
Table of Contents
To find the information most relevant to you regarding hormone replacement therapy, use the links below to skip ahead.
- What Is Perimenopause?
- Hormone Replacement Therapy: Restoring Balance
- Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
- Estrogen Replacement Therapy
- Testosterone Replacement Therapy
- Progesterone Replacement Therapy
- The Perimenopausal Process: From Symptoms to Relief
- Hear From Our Patients
Alternatively, you can speak directly to our providers when you call our office and set up a discovery call and consultation.
What Is Perimenopause?
Perimenopause marks the beginning of a decline in hormone production, leading to menopause. Women still have their periods, though they are often irregular and can range from being shorter, longer, heavier, or lighter than usual.
This stage involves fluctuations in hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Unlike menopause, when hormone production simply declines, during perimenopause your hormones are in a state of rise and fall. We offer hormone replacement therapy in Fort Lauderdale to address the following symptoms.
Hot Flashes and Night Sweats
Hot flashes are sudden waves of heat and sweating that can last anywhere from 30 seconds to several minutes. Many women also experience a racing heart, chills, and flushing of the face and neck.
When these episodes occur at night, they are referred to as night sweats. While they happen during sleep, they share the same underlying mechanism as daytime hot flashes and are a common cause of disrupted rest.
These symptoms are closely tied to changes in estrogen levels. Estrogen plays a role in regulating the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls your body’s internal temperature.
As estrogen levels fluctuate, the hypothalamus can become more sensitive to small changes in body temperature. This can trigger heat-dissipation responses, such as sweating and flushing, even when your body doesn’t actually need to cool down—leading to the sudden and often unpredictable nature of hot flashes.
Hot flashes can last from perimenopause to menopause, leading women to explore estrogen replacement for menopause and hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale for relief.
Vaginal Dryness and Painful Intercourse
Estrogen helps maintain vaginal tissue health and lubrication. With declining levels, your vaginal tissues become drier and less elastic. Not only does this cause discomfort during your day-to-day life, but it also causes pain during sex.
Sleep Problems and Mood Changes
Night sweats disrupt sleep, but they aren’t the only cause of sleep problems during perimenopause. Progesterone helps your body relax and promotes good sleep. With declining levels of this hormone, it makes it harder for your body to settle down and doze off.
Poor sleep quality often contributes to mood changes, increased irritability, and reduced emotional resilience. At the same time, hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone play an important role in regulating neurotransmitters in the brain, like serotonin and dopamine, that influence mood, stress response, and overall emotional stability. This is why patients come to Galt for bioidentical hormone replacement therapy in Fort Lauderdale for relief.
Hormone Replacement Therapy: Restoring Balance
Far too often, medical professionals dismiss women’s and men’s experiences with declining sex hormone levels, claiming that it is a normal part of aging. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) replenishes your body with the hormones it needs to function optimally. This includes:
- Estrogen
- Progesterone
- Testosterone
As your body navigates perimenopause, the production of essential hormones, particularly estrogen, gradually declines. This leaves you with symptoms that affect both your physical and mental health.
Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
At Galt, we use bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale. These hormones are chemically identical to those that your body naturally produces. Derived from plant sources like wild yams, cacti, or soy, they are then synthesized and compounded in a laboratory.
This synthesis ensures that the dosages are tailored to your individual needs, aiming to alleviate symptoms like hot flashes, mood swings, and sleep disturbances to restore a sense of balance.
Because their structures match human estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, our bodies recognize them quickly and use them more efficiently than synthetic hormones.
Estrogen Replacement
Estrogen is known as a reproductive hormone, but it’s not always given credit for the other bodily processes it helps regulate. Estrogen contributes to:
- Cholesterol for heart health
- Collagen production for skin health
- Brain function for mental clarity
- Neurotransmitter synthesis for stable moods
- Bone and muscle mass for strength
When your estrogen levels decline, it impacts bone health, skin health, mental health, and even more. HRT includes estrogen replacement to restore a more balanced state.
Often, this can lead to improvements in sleep quality, a reduction of hot flashes, and a renewed sense of well-being. It’s a complex, personalized treatment, always best discussed with a board-certified physician, like any members of our team.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy
Included in hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale is testosterone. While this is the primary male sex hormone, women also rely on it for:
- Sexual health and libido
- Muscle and bone health
- Energy levels and cognitive function
- Sense of vitality
Women require significantly lower amounts of testosterone than men, but even small imbalances can impact energy, mood, muscle mass, and libido.
At Galt Dermatology & Concierge Medicine, hormone therapy is carefully individualized. While lab testing helps guide treatment, dosing is ultimately tailored based on your symptoms, how you feel, and how your body responds over time.
Progesterone Replacement
Progesterone replacement is commonly prescribed in oral form in addition to hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale. and is often taken at night, as it can have a calming effect and support more restful sleep.
Beyond its role in sleep, progesterone contributes to several important functions in the body, including:
- Regulation of the menstrual cycle
- Support for mood and reduction in anxiety symptoms
- Calming effects on the nervous system through its interaction with GABA receptors
- Supportive interactions with other hormonal systems, including thyroid function
The Perimenopause Process: From Symptoms to Relief
Women often seek answers from multiple specialists to try to address every symptom of perimenopause individually. But this approach fragments the care experience. It can also lead to a confusing and overwhelming journey for the individual experiencing these significant hormonal shifts.
At Galt Dermatology & Concierge Medicine, we make your perimenopausal journey simple. You see one provider, Dr. Stella Villacorta, and together, you can identify the best hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale. It all starts with a discovery call.
Alternatively, you can take our online hormone health quiz to start the process.
Step 1: Virtual Discovery (Optional)
For patients who are just beginning to explore their symptoms, we offer a brief 15-minute virtual visit. This allows us to review your concerns, answer initial questions, and determine whether you may be a candidate for hormone therapy.
You can also complete our online assessment prior to your visit to help guide this conversation.
While helpful as a first step, this visit is designed as an introduction—not a full evaluation.
Step 2: In-Office Consultation (Recommended)
For a comprehensive evaluation, we recommend an in-office consultation, where we can take a deeper look at your symptoms, health history, and overall physiology.
During this visit, Dr. Stella Villacorta creates a supportive, unhurried environment where you can fully discuss your experience — without feeling rushed or dismissed.
This evaluation goes beyond a standard medical visit. It includes:
- A detailed review of your symptoms and medical history
- Discussion of your lifestyle, stress levels, sleep, nutrition, and activity
- Consideration of your life stage, including perimenopause or menopause
- A personalized assessment of whether hormone therapy is appropriate for you
Because of this comprehensive approach, many patients who are good candidates are able to begin treatment the same day.
A Personalized, Physician-Guided Approach
Hormone therapy is not one-size-fits-all, and not every patient is a candidate. Our goal is to ensure that treatment is both appropriate and aligned with your long-term health.
For patients seeking ongoing, comprehensive care beyond hormone therapy, we also offer a separate concierge primary care membership, which provides more extensive support, continuity, and preventive care.
Labs
Before prescribing you bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale, Dr. Villacorta performs a range of labs and blood work tests to check:
- Hormone levels: testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone
- Thyroid: TSH, free T4
- Metabolic health: fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1C, and a lipid panel
- Nutrient levels: vitamin D, iron/ferritin, and vitamin B12
- Complete Blood Count: Check your overall health
- Comprehensive Metabolic Panel: Check electrolyte balance as well as kidney and liver function
Once Dr. Villacorta receives the results from your labs and bloodwork, she sits down with you to review them, giving you an understanding of your health. However, this is just one piece of the picture, just a snapshot that provides us with a blueprint to address your concerns.
In-Office Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Injections
At Galt Dermatology & Concierge Medicine, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale is personalized based on your symptoms, lab evaluation, and overall health profile.
Rather than relying on lab values alone, treatment is guided by how you feel and how your body responds over time. The goal is to restore balance in a way that supports energy, mental clarity, sleep, and overall well-being.
Our protocol utilizes weekly injections, allowing for consistent hormone delivery and precise adjustments.
During the first four weeks, you’ll visit our office for weekly injections performed under medical supervision. These visits are an important part of the process, giving us the opportunity to:
- Monitor your response to treatment
- Discuss changes in symptoms such as sleep, mood, and energy
- Make thoughtful adjustments to your dosing as needed
This hands-on, physician-guided approach allows us to fine-tune your therapy with a level of precision that is difficult to achieve with less frequent dosing.
As your treatment stabilizes, your plan evolves, ensuring that your therapy continues to align with your body’s needs and your long-term health goals.
At-Home Injections
During your initial four weeks of in-office visits, we’re not only monitoring your response to treatment—we’re also guiding and teaching you how to confidently administer your injections at home.
This hands-on phase ensures that you feel comfortable, supported, and fully prepared before transitioning to self-administration of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale.
Once your treatment is optimized and you’re comfortable with the process, your medications are provided through our office or shipped directly to you, depending on your prescribed therapy.
From there, care continues through regular follow-up and monitoring, with visits scheduled at appropriate intervals to:
- Assess your symptoms and overall response
- Adjust dosing as needed
- Review labs when clinically appropriate
- Address any new or ongoing health concerns
This approach allows for both convenience and continuity, while maintaining the same level of physician oversight and personalization throughout your treatment.
Evolved Care
Hormone replacement therapy is one part of a comprehensive approach to your health, but it is not the only factor that may be influencing how you feel.
Based on your symptoms, clinical evaluation, and goals, additional therapies may be recommended when appropriate. These may include services such as medical weight loss or targeted lifestyle interventions, which are offered separately and tailored to your individual needs.
As your body responds to treatment, your symptoms improve, and your priorities evolve, your care plan may evolve as well.
For patients seeking a more comprehensive, ongoing approach to their health, Dr. Villacorta also offers a separate concierge primary care membership, which provides expanded support, continuity, and preventive care.
Whether you are pursuing bioidentical hormone replacement therapy in Fort Lauderdale alone or a more comprehensive plan, Dr. Villacorta partners with you to ensure your treatment remains thoughtful, personalized, and aligned with your long-term health goals.
Hear What Our Patients Have to Say
A commitment to offering expert guidance alongside a foundation of unwavering integrity characterizes the services provided by Dr. Villacorta. Our patients’ testimonials are the most powerful way to convey their experiences, and we are pleased to share some of the feedback they have received for Dr. Villacorta.
“I had an exceptional experience with Dr. Stella Kocovic Villacorta, D.O. From the very beginning, she set herself apart by taking the time to thoroughly review my medical history, labs, and overall health, not just the surface concerns. She is very approachable and easy to talk to. What meant the most to me was how she took the time to listen.
‘Having had a baby 11 months ago, I really appreciated how attuned she was to everything women go through postpartum. She understood the physical and emotional shifts, and she approached my care with empathy, patience, and zero judgment. Her recommendations were not only personalized and practical, but they genuinely made a difference in how I felt day to day.
‘For me, Dr. Villacorta provided a positive and grounding presence during a phase that can feel overwhelming, and I’m incredibly grateful for the support she provided. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a physician who truly cares, connects, and goes above and beyond for her patients.” -Lucia G.
“Both doctors here are top notch (and the assistants are very welcoming and helpful, too). Calm, caring, gentle and really passionate about their job. Thank you!” – Lisa M.
“I just had an amazing appointment with Dr. Stella Villacorta! What an experience. Not only is she attentive to my medical needs, she is clearly devoted to preventative medicine. If you want an excellent medical experience and feel taken care of, do not hesitate to schedule an appointment! I highly recommend Dr. Stella Villacorta!” -Dawn M.
Schedule Your Appointment
Restore balance to your life with hormone replacement therapy for perimenopause in Fort Lauderdale. Our team personalizes every treatment journey to your specific needs based on key biomarkers from your labs and blood work.
To get started, you can schedule a discovery call to talk to a member of our team about what estrogen replacement therapy can do for you.
