Started using Vivelle-Dot 0.05 in March 2008 and in June of 2008 ...

Interesting - I've been using the patches for about 2 years and in June started developing raised red itchy skin under the patches. First I thought I had a bad lot of patches...but unfortunately it continued when I started using a new lot. I'm going to ask my doctor about switching to EstroGel, which you apply to your wrist once a day (dries in 2-5 minutes) as I don't do well on the oral medications.

Re Estrogel: I was on Vivelle but didnt like wearing a patch for different reasons. Switched to Estrogel. I loved the delivery system but I had two problems with it. 1) Even after priming the pump properly, I never seemed to get the same exact amount of gel with each pump. As I came nearer to the end of the can, amounts got really funky- sometimes more, sometimes less. 2) The bigger problem I had was dosage. Since each pump is metered and there are only fixed doses of Estrogel (one pump, two pumps, etc), and it so happened with me that one pump was not enough. and two was too much. So I had to go back to the patch, and my estrogen levels were much more even. Good luck with whatever you choose. It would be nice if they came out with an estrogen cream and a little measuring spoon, so dosage could really be refined.