Women who have gone through menopause must often cope with the tensions of decreasing sexual desire. Natural interventions including a healthy lifestyle and a good diet along with vitamin and mineral supplements often help with this problem. New evidence suggests that transdermal testosterone patches may also help. MDNews.com has published an article by HealthDay, "Testosterone Patches Improve Low Sexual Desire Disorder." A review published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine suggests that transdermal testosterone patches may relieve symptoms of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in postmenopausal women.
Susan R. Davis, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and Glenn D. Braunstein, M.D., from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, reviewed the state of current knowledge in regard to the use of transdermal testosterone for the treatment of HSDD as presented in a satellite symposium which was held during the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health annual meeting in 2011. The data were supplemented with relevant articles from peer-reviewed literature.
Evidence from randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies has suggested that transdermal testosterone patches are effective in relieving the symptoms of HSDD in postmenopausal women, whether administered alone or with concomitant estrogen or estrogen/progestin.The primary side effects were hair growth and acne. The available data were not conclusive, however they were reassuring with regard to cardiovascular, breast, and endometrial outcomes.
The authors have written "Testosterone can relieve symptoms of HSDD in postmenopausal women. Well-controlled studies with the transdermal testosterone patches have shown improvements in several sexual outcome measures, including satisfying sexual activity, sexual desire, well-being, and distress following short-term treatment." Ties to pharmaceutical companies, including BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc., which publication of this study and manufactures transdermal testosterone patches, have been disclosed by the researchers.
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