Testosterone Creams do not Increase Female Sex Drive

Female sex drive can drop severely following chemotherapy in cases of cancer.
Some researches have revealed a link between testosterone therapy (androgen therapy) and higher sex drive in women with the right estrogen level.

A new clinical trial showed that higher testosterone levels for female cancer survivors through creams had not a greater impact on their sex drive more than a placebo. The survey made by a team led by Dr. Debra Barton at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was made on 150 postmenopausal cancer survivors. The female subjects were randomly assigned to two groups: one received a testosterone cream and one a placebo for a four weeks daily treatment and then they were changed to the other treatment group for another four weeks.

The women were assessed with a questionnaire before starting the treatment, at four and eight weeks. The researchers detected no statistically significant variance in sex drive between the testosterone and placebo subjects, both in the first or second 4-week treatment period, but both groups displayed higher sex drive compared to before treatment; thus a placebo effect occurred.

The negative results for testosterone were blamed on the low estrogen levels of the subjects.

"If providing supplemental estrogen to women who are postmenopausal is required to obtain a benefit from androgen therapy, then it does not appear that androgen supplementation would be a viable option for women who must avoid [estrogen] replacement," added the researchers.

Dr. Patricia Ganz and Dr. Gail Greendale of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the School of Public Health and David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, believe the sex drive in women is much more complex than hormones, due to the high levels of sexual dysfunction among women in general.

"Although ovarian hormones play an important role in the maintenance of sexual health in women, a large body of evolving information about sexual functioning (and dysfunction) suggests that these hormones may be necessary but not sufficient to overcome disorders of desire and arousal in women," they wrote.