As a result, women’s options are limited. You can use a gel that’s formulated for men, giving yourself a tenth of the male daily dose by using your best judgment to ration a single tube over 10 days. You can get a dose formulated for women from a compounding pharmacy — but the concentration of compounded products is often less consistent. Or you can try to import a women’s testosterone gel from Australia, the only country that has approved the drug for women.
None of these options, which cost $10 or more per month, are covered by insurance.
What are the risks?
When taken at doses that raise your testosterone levels no higher than what’s typically seen in premenopausal women, side effects are rare, said Dr. James Simon, a menopause and sexual medicine specialist in Washington D.C. and clinical professor at The George Washington University School of Medicine. Your health care provider will likely want to test your levels a few weeks after starting the drug to make sure they’re not getting too high.
If your testosterone levels are too high for too long, however, you may experience side effects — some reversible, some not. These can include thinning of hair on your head, growth of hair on your face and chest, a deepening of your voice, acne, an enlarged clitoris, irritability and aggression.
High testosterone levels can also lead to a thickening of the uterine lining and vaginal bleeding, and increase your risk for endometrial cancer, since the body converts excess testosterone into estrogen.
Steer clear of pellets
For all of these reasons, experts discourage patients from receiving testosterone through “pellets,” or compounded hormone capsules inserted under the skin at medical spas, anti-aging clinics and medical offices. They typically contain much higher doses than gels.
While the treatment can make women feel great in the short term, it can also cause testosterone levels to skyrocket — and once pellets are inserted, they can’t be removed. Patients have to wait out their side effects, or in some cases, live with them permanently.
