Experts say there is a lack of menopausal care, leading to delays in care.
Dr. Stéphanie Fabion, president of the Menopause Society, said medical schools need more training on menopause to prevent misdiagnosis and improve patient care.
Naomi Watts knows about hot flashes and mood swings, and as she goes through perimenopause and menopause, she’s also learned about frozen shoulder and joint pain.
But there was one symptom she ignored for years because she didn’t know it was part of this change. That’s dry eye.
The actress, known as a menopause advocate, is now encouraging women to talk to their doctors and advocate for themselves.
Watts, 57, is the co-founder of Stripes, a menopausal health and beauty brand. She shared personal stories and spoke with doctors and experts in her 2025 book, Dare I Say: Everything You Want to Know About Menopause. She is currently partnering with Johnson & Johnson to raise awareness about the importance of eye health for midlife women.
“All I knew about menopause was what you see on TV and in movies and in books: that women go crazy and have hot flashes and mood swings,” Watts told USA TODAY. “But it’s obviously much deeper and more complex. If you’re educated, it doesn’t all have to be doom and gloom.”
Watts went through menopause shortly after giving birth to her second child.
She understood that lack of estrogen affects the skin, hair, and joints. But she wasn’t thinking about her eyes.
Charissa Lee, an optometrist and director of vision at Johnson & Johnson, says menopause can cause blurred, dry, and tired eyes. Lee points out that menopause is the time when many women realize they need reading glasses.
Women often forget to tell their dentist or eye doctor when they are entering perimenopause or menopause. They don’t understand that menopause can affect every part of the body.
“Getting an eye exam is probably one of the easiest steps in this journey,” says Lee.
Watts says many women are afraid to tell their doctors about their menopausal symptoms because “it makes them doubt you and make you feel like you’re whining.”
Her friends said that when they consulted doctors about menopausal symptoms, they were recommended antidepressants and sleeping pills instead of considering the possibility of hormone replacement therapy.
More than one-third of women going through menopause or perimenopause are prescribed Zoloft, Prozac, Wellbutrin, or other common antidepressants. Its use among women has doubled in the past few years. Now, more women’s health experts say the majority didn’t need them. Antidepressants treat the symptoms, not the cause, and can make things worse.
More than 100 symptoms are associated with perimenopause and menopause, but women are often unaware of the connections between them and are unable to share their symptoms with their doctors.
That can be frustrating and isolating, Watts says.
She recommends bringing a list of symptoms to your appointment.
She wants women to know that they are not alone in experiencing menopause or perimenopause. “I think we’re the only ones going through something like this,” she says. “But there are often very simple solutions to some of these symptoms.”
Laura Trujillo is a national columnist focused on health and wellness. She is the author of “Stepping Back from the Ledge: A Daughter’s Search for Truth and Renewal” and can be reached at ltrujillo@usatoday.com.
