Hormone Patches May Be Ineffective

4.07.2010 | By: T. P.

Many women buy expensive hormone patches in the hope of having a better sexual life during the menopause, but they may not work.

You should consult an expert who will help you to decide for the right hormone patch. (Photoxpress)

Procter & Gamble’s Intrinsa testosterone patch

Hormone patches are mostly used to treat HSDD, which is a set of syndromes describing the loss of sexual desire in women after the menopause or removal of their ovaries. According to the results of a study funded by Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, HSDD presents a “serious and clinically relevant problem!” The same pharmaceutical company has already found the solution to this problem, which is available in Europe, while some obstacles have been encountered in the USA. Namely, supervisors found that there isn’t sufficient evidence to confirm the long-term effect of such patches. “The published evidence so far is based on highly selected women and only shows small improvements in sexual parameters and large placebo responses,” said Ike Iheanacho, editor of the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, which published the review of the studies. “Also the long term safety of the treatment is unknown. Unwanted side effects are common and not always reversible. For all these reasons, we cannot recommend Intrinsa for use in women with sexual dysfunction.”

How are hormone patches supposed to work?

In natural or surgical menopause, the female body fails to produce hormones to the same extent as before the menopause. One of the many consequences of this fact is a lack of sex; namely, the female body reduces sexual functions to the minimum if a woman is infertile and unable to reproduce. As sex life is considered a part of everyday life in our society even in advanced years, and as there are differences between men and women, it often happens that women also have a desire for sex after their menopause. Because such a loss of sexual desire has an adverse effect on a woman’s life, doctors have started treating the natural state of the body with hormone replacement therapy, and in the case of Intrisa, this is testosterone because it may be connected with sexual desire. The syndrome of lacking sexual desire is termed HSDD, or hypoactive sexual desire disorder, and it represents a combination of psychological and physical factors. These aren’t women who are unable to have sex. They simply don’t feel any desire and the lack of desire is treated with a dose of hormones. Iheanacho and his colleagues examined the studies including approximately 4000 women. The majority of the studies lasted less than 6 months, which is too little time to asses the safety of the therapy. In the most important studies, including women who had the so-called artificial menopause, researchers tried to eliminate all the possible influences that could affect their sexual desire. They found that side effects were common and a part of the control group noticed improvement, although those women didn’t wear hormone patches. The advantage of hormone patches is therefore the placebo effect or simply the result of time.

Effectiveness of hormone patches

The drug Intrinsa was more effective than the placebo. The analysis of joint results showed that women who used Intrinsa for four weeks had, on average, 1.07 times more satisfactory sex than women who used the placebo. The common unwanted side effects of Intrinsa (noticed in 1 to 10 patients) are hirsutism (excess hair growth, particularly the chin and above the upper lip) and reactions on the skin where the patch is placed (redness and itching). The whole list of unwanted side effects is longer, of course. Given that testosterone is the male sex hormone, women who use Intrinsa should be monitored in order to detect any “androgenic” unwanted side effects (male characteristics), such as facial hair growth, a low-pitched voice or hair loss. Women who notice any of these side effects have to see their doctor immediately.