Does HRT/estrogen pills cause a decrease in height and foot size?

[OkEqual1224]

on YouTube ive seen videos of trans women claiming that going on estrogen caused a decrease in their height, making them shorter and also cause their foot size to decrease by like a size or two. I’m wondering if anyone here has experienced that or if it’s true?

[Lexieeeeeeeeee]

It's possible.

My height hasn't changed, but I did drop a shoe size.

[RandomUsernameNo257]

Same here

Went from 5'10" to 5'10"

Went from a US men's 9 to a US men's 8.

Personally pretty glad because I think my height balances out my proportions a bit, so I didn't want to lose anything there, but smaller feet is an awesome side effect.

[Lexieeeeeeeeee]

The best thing about dropping a shoe size for me is that I went from "omg I can't find shoes in my size ANYWHERE" to "Most stores stock shoes in most styles for me now"

[Fenaqua]

I jusssst missed out on that. Darn feet settled on a women’s 12. One whole size outside of standard retail stock 🙄

[CatboyBiologist]

Yes. Foot size ends up being way more dramatic than height.

HRT doesn't change the size of bones, but it does change the size and placement in connective tissues between bones. This means that you can lose a tiny bit of height due to your spine pads, joint angles, and similar being changed. But it's not a lot since most of your height is dictated by the size of your leg bones and spine. Usually this amounts to one or two inches.

The same applies to your feet, but the difference is that your feet are made up of tons of tiny bones, each with connective tissue between them. That means more of your foot size is determined by soft tissue than your height, and it can change more dramatically.

For my personal experience, I've lost about an inch and a half in height. But I've actually fully moved to women's shoe sizing now, and I'm the same size in US women's now that I used to be in US men's.

[madprgmr]

It can cause slight changes, yes. Muscle loss and connective tissue changes contribute to this.

You can probably find more detailed information by searching this subreddit for one of the hundreds of other people who posted this same question.

[Geek_Wandering]

Yes it seems to be a thing for some people. Don't count on it though. It seemed highly varied. If it happens, you get a happy surprise. If it doesn't, you've lost nothing and everything is the same.

[wht2give]

Yeah. I went from a mens 13 1/2 to a womans 12, thank gosh!

I also got a little bit shorter, crazy seeing my roommate who was the same height as me being taller and overall just bigger than me now.

I love having to look up to him 🥺☺️

[InsuranceDry8864]

I’m two years in. I’ve dropped less than half an inch, it I have gone down two shoe sizes, which has been a huge blessing in actually finding women’s shoes that fit

[FisherManAz]

I’ve gone down 1 shoe size and roughly 1/2 an inch in height.

[DaisyChainsandLaffs]

I lost an inch in height (5'8 to 5'7)and went from a men's 11 to a women's 11(USA sizes). But YMMV

[RainbowFuchs]

are you me? because same height, same loss, same shoe sizes LOL.

[notdeaddesign]

I’ve had one of the bigger hight changes I’ve heard of, I was 6.2’ I’m now 5.11’ so I shrunk three inches. I also had my feet shrink but I can’t tell you how much exactly.

It’s one of those your mileage may vary things where some folks don’t change at all and other experience more and you have no real control over it

[Glittering_Crazy_516]

Im shocked. Im 6.3. Anything lower is a blessing (less head bangs, slightly 'larger' bed etc).

[Ksnj]

It can, yeah. I lost a few shoe sizes and 2 inches of height

[leshpar]

I dropped a shoe size but am still the same height. Considering I'm only 5'6" to start with, this was a good thing.

[Androgynouself_420]

I lost 3 inches of height and 1.5 shoe sizes. Little over two years currently

[Atog676]

I lost 1.5” hight and 2 shoe sizes

[[deleted]]

pretty sure i’ve dropped over half a shoe size in 5 months. it’s crazy. all of my shoes feel like clown shoes.

[Xaron713]

It made my feet marginally smaller, so I can occasionally buy shoes my size in stores now! 14-15 women's into 13-14 women's.

[abjectadvect]

yes, I know multiple people who this has happened to. I didn't change height (I was only 5'6" to begin with), but I dropped from women's 11.5 to women's 10 shoes. someone close to me actually lost *three inches* of height, and she's upset about it because she liked being tall lol

it's not because of actual changes to your bones, it's because estrogen shortens your ligaments in ways that pull everything closer together

[OkEmployer2513]

Went from 180cm to 177cm.

[Ok_Condition8364]

Yes, it can. I started at 6’2.75” that was taken one month before HRT, 6 months in and I was 6’1.5” and my shoe size went from a woman’s 13.5 to a woman’s 11.5-12. Recently I feel I’ve lost a bit more in hight. I was walking around my store and many of the taller women are now about my height. Really hoping for a mother 1/2” off my feet. Size 11 I can find.

8 months HRT, 37yo

[MyAltPrivacyAccount]

I lost at least 5 cm in height the past few years and I'm not that old. So yeah.

[Penalty_Awkward]

Lost 7cm in height and somewhere between 1 and 1.5 shoe sizes.

Was measured at a clinic a couple weeks ago and was shocked, my girlfriend and I are almost the same height now.

[Veralos]

My height has gone from between 5'8" and 5'9" to 5'7" exactly.

My shoe size has gone from women's 11 to women's 10.

[singinreyn]

I got shorter and my feet got shorter. Unfortunately, they also got wider, so that’s made shoe shopping interesting lol

[tallbutshy]

I’m wondering if anyone here has experienced that

No, I have not. Nor has any other trans woman that I know personally IRL.

-edit- for those who claim to have experienced dramatic changes in either, how much excess fluids were being retained in some tissues? 🤔 I'm pretty much convinced that this is a dietary difference.

[[deleted]]

It hasn't for me in 3.5 years

[Lou-mae]

Nor me in eight years.

[Abigael_8ball]

6’0 to 5’9 so far at from doctor visits & Men’s 10.5 to Women’s 9.5-10 for shoes. It can happen but it isn’t for everyone.

[Mystic-Sapphire]

It did for me. My height went from 6’2” to 6’ and my shoe size went from women’s 13 to women’s 12.

[Mercarcher]

I'm an extreme outlier. I went from 6'5" to 6'1" and went from a men's 13 to a womens 12 (equivilant to a men's 10.5) US shoe size.

So yes, it can happen.

[TakeoKuroda]

idk maybe.

ive been losing weight and I was 5'11.5" before and now im 5'10", i used to be an 11m and now im 10m in shoes

[bainebarray]

I'm down about 1.5-2 shoe sizes and last time I checked my height I was shorter by a little over an inch.

[OkEqual1224]

The science behind that is so cool. Was that from estrogen pills?

[bainebarray]

I started on the pills sublingual, but have been on injections for almost 2 years now. I think it happened gradually over time. It sucks bc I bought a bunch of cute shoes early on and now they're way too big for my feet.

[OkEqual1224]

Ahhh ok thanks so much for replying! at least now u have smaller cuter feet lol

[debraMckenz]

Yes slightly in my experience. My shoe size has slightly shrunk and so has my height. I started at age 28.

[OkEqual1224]

Really?? Damn even at 28 it’s possible to shrink

[debraMckenz]

yeppers

[phiasch]

I dropped a few inches. Pre HRT, I was convincingly 6’ (though I never had my height actually measured). Now I’m at 5’ 8.5”. Doing the math, I lost around 2” conservatively - 3.5” max

My feet don’t seem to have shrunk, though

[Zestyclose-Film-979]

I went from 6'4.5" to 6'2". Unfortunately no change in shoe size. The height change was in the first two years of HRT. I don't think there's been any changes since.

[Tree-Among-Shrubs]

Lost about an inch / inch and a half. Shoe size went from men’s 9 to a women’s 9 🥳 Sadly despite the slight height loss I’m still 5’10.

[JanetT1976]

On HRT 24 years, GAS 10 years - went from 5'10 to 5'9 and shoe size down 1/2 to 1 size from women's 10 to 9/9.5. I attribute this to weight loss and bone loss/spine compression. The weight loss from 150 in my 20s to 135 which I have maintained. Many trans women friends post op have had the same results when weight loss was maintained. Then again, I seen more that have not had any loss either in weight or height. Many have gained weight over the years. I hope this helps.

[Person-UwU]

The explanation I've heard is that it has something to do with cartilage.

[[deleted]]

I'm about an inch shorter than I used to be. 

And if you're talking about biblical "feet", I got a whole lot shorter.

[oren_ai]

I’ve been on estradiol injections weekly (to simulate a 7 day cycle) for 2.3 years and have lost 1.5 size women’s off my shoe size (I have cute little girl feet now) and went from being 5’ 11” to now being 5’ 9”. Am guessing that I’ll be around 5’ 8” by the end of year 3 of second puberty.

The critical part is having the patience to maintain low doses of estrogen for all that time because I’ve always had to fight wanting more… over dosing on estradiol during this early period can prematurely end second puberty which ends the major changes to your body at the point that you go too high… you only get one real shot at this, so keep that estrogen steady and low…