Some claim to have unlocked the secret to staying young and have thousands of Australians scrambling wanting to peel the years away.
The treatment works from the inside out, and specialists are witnessing the visible signs of how bioidentical hormones are reversing the ageing process.
Manufactured in labs, bioidentical hormones have the same molecular structure as hormones made by our own body.
More stories from Today TonightDerived from soy and Mexican wild yams, the hormones are prescribed by doctors and compounded according to patients' specific hormonal deficiencies.
The treatment is most commonly taken either of two ways: through the skin via a cream or absorbed through the gums.
The price varies anywhere between $15 and $200.
Youthful Wendy Perkins is 65 years old and uses the treatment.
"When I tell people my age the first thing they say is 'what have you had done, how much did it cost?' And I can say 'the cost of a script'," she said.
"I can go out and face the world because I know I look good for my age."
Wendy started using the hormone therapy 20 years ago when she was prescribed the treatment for acne, which she said, disappeared.
"The hormones have helped me with my skin, my nails my hair and my overall feeling of well being," she said.
Much the way Botox was originally used to treat cerebral palsy and migraines, bioidentical hormones were traditionally used by menopausal women.
But today it is not just women benefiting from the treatment.
Dr Edward Butterworth, 70, treats male patients and has been on the therapy himself for over 10 years.
"They just say to me 'you just don't look your age, you haven't got the lined face that you'd expect somebody to have'."
In the 30 years between 25 and 55, men's testosterone levels drop by up to 70 per cent.
The treatment claims to fill the gap and reduce wrinkles, increase libido, improve memory, increase assertiveness and even defends against balding.
"A lot of men don't even notice, they just accept it is the ageing process," he said.
"It is regarded as the ageing process and it needn't be."
Bioidentical expert Dr Sandra Cabot said they are structurally identical to the body's hormones.
"Your body can't tell the difference between the hormones it makes itself or the hormones you've been prescribed and are taking," she said.
But critic Dr Alistair MacLennan said women and the public should be very careful of the use of the phrase word "natural".
"There's no scientific, clinical meaning. It usually is associated with some kind of scam or con," he said.
"They're unproven and they're just attracting the gullible public to spend big money on hormones that they in fact know nothing about and often doctors know nothing about."
Traditional hormone replacement therapy made worldwide headlines when a study released in 2002 found it increased the risk of breast cancer, heart attacks, and strokes.
Natural therapists stress bioidentical hormone treatment when prescribed accurately is touting itself as the safer alternative.
"It was really never taken up by the drug companies because you can't patent a natural substance so there is no money in it," Dr Cabot said.
"There is no motivation for drug companies to poor into this research billions of dollars."
Related info
Dr Sandra Cabot is from Women's Health Advisory Service. For more information, call 1800 151 052 or visit www.whas.com.au
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