When the doctor prescribes hormone therapy, there are several options:
- Patch to stick on the skin
- Gel to apply to the skin,
- Injections
- Tablets
- Implants – small cylinders of pure testosterone implanted in the abdominal wall.
Testosterone implants and injections for hypogonadism.
Testosterone implants release the active ingredient over a period of four to six months. As the testosterone cylinder slowly uses itself up, the testosterone level steadily decreases, so that by the end of the effective period, the old symptoms may return because the hormone level has fallen below normal.
Testosterone injections are injected into a muscle (usually the large gluteal muscle) at intervals of two to four weeks. The downside: shortly after the injection is administered, testosterone levels rise steeply, but then also fall again at a similarly steep rate toward the end of the effective period.
Capsules and patches with testosterone
Testosterone is also available in capsule form. When the capsules dissolve in the intestinal tract, the testosterone is released into the bloodstream via the lymph. You have to take the drug three times a day because the half-life of testosterone is very short.
Patches containing the testosterone are applied to the body or else to the scrotum itself. The scrotal patch is changed daily and applied in the morning after the morning toilet. After three to six hours, the highest testosterone concentrations are measured in the blood. Throughout the day, the patch then continuously releases 6 mg of the hormone.
The hormone patch is considered a pleasant therapy method, because the rise and fall of the testosterone level achieved in this way corresponds approximately to the natural daily fluctuations of the hormone: in healthy men, the highest testosterone concentration is in the morning, and towards the evening it decreases constantly.
