False. Testosterone is the most abundant bioactive hormone in both men and women throughout their entire lives.

• • Quantitatively, testosterone is the most abundant active sex steroid in women throughout the female lifespan, measured in nanograms/dl, which is 10-fold higher than the picograms/ml used for estradiol.

• • It is the source of almost all the estrogen inside each cell in males and females. Serum estrogen is not transported across the cell membrane. Instead, testosterone is transported into our cells and some is converted into estrogen (a process called aromatization) within the cell itself, where it is critical to health and function of our tissues.

• • From a biologic perspective, women and men are very similar, having both functional estrogen receptors (ERs) and functional androgen receptors (ARs). Testosterone, in balance with lower amounts of estradiol (E2), is equally important for health in both sexes.

• • Functional androgen receptors are located in almost all tissues in the female body, including the breast, heart, brain, and bone, confirming its essential role far beyond any single gender association.

• • German Women Primary Care Clinic studies found low testosterone women had the same large increases in deaths from all causes as did low testosterone men.

• • Testosterone supplementation in deficient men reduces heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths by over 50% compared to untreated men.

• • Studies show testosterone therapy improves cardiac risk factors like fat mass, waist circumference, and insulin resistance.

• • The initial studies suggesting cardiovascular risk were based on severely flawed methodologies and data errors, including the inclusion of women in an “all-male” study population.

• • Decades of research show that testosterone causes most prostate cancer cells to die or regress, and no studies have shown it causes new prostate cancer.

• • The false mythology about prostate cancer and testosterone was started due to a flagrantly poor study published in 1941 looking at one patient.

• • The overwhelming weight of current scientific evidence shows no link between testosterone therapy and an increased risk or growth of prostate cancer.

• • Androgen receptor (AR) signaling exerts a pro-apoptotic (promotes cell death), anti-estrogenic, growth-inhibiting effect in normal and cancerous breast tissue.

• • Testosterone combined with an aromatase inhibitor is being used as a potential therapy for symptoms in breast cancer patients and survivors.

• • Many safety concerns are mistakenly attributed to testosterone but are actually linked to oral synthetic steroids (which are liver-toxic) or to high estrogen levels that short term spikes in testosterone can sometimes create within the body. Modern, non-oral methods like pellets do not carry the same risks as older pill or injection forms.

• • Testosterone therapy by pellet implantation has been proven as the only method to establish a long-lasting steady state supply of this critical hormone to men and women, used in the U.S. since 1940.

• • Safety has been demonstrated even in long-term studies of transgender women to men using much higher doses, showing no increase in serious health problems like cancer or heart disease.

• 1930s: Testosterone pellets were first used in Europe and Australia, and compounded bioidentical hormone pellet therapy was developed to treat women who had undergone hysterectomies and remained in clinical use ever since.


• 1940s: Testosterone pellets were introduced in the United States and gained traction as a more stable alternative to oral hormone replacement therapies, which caused fluctuating hormone levels. Pellets were freely available to health providers.


• 1972: The FDA approved testosterone pellets at the request of a compounding pharmacy seeking a marketing advantage, but they were not consistently marketed in the US until 2008.


• 1970s–1980s: Their popularity declined in the U.S. as pharmaceutical companies introduced patented synthetic oral and topical hormone products.


• 1990s–2000s: Transdermal patches and gels were developed, becoming the preferred delivery methods for a time.

• • The belief that it causes aggression stems from the misuse of high-dose, synthetic anabolic steroids, which is completely different from physiological testosterone replacement.

• • In men and women, testosterone therapy decreased aggression and irritability in over 90% of patients treated for androgen deficiency symptoms.

• • Research suggests that estrogen stimulation from synthetic anabolic steroids plays a leading role in aggressive behavior.

• • At physiological replacement doses, testosterone stimulates femininity. Only very large doses used for gender “transitioning” can cause reversible side effects like increased facial hair or clitoral enlargement from engorgement.

• • The unwanted side effects people worry about, like increased facial hair, are dose-dependent and reversible, and do not happen often. These side effects will fade if the dose is lowered, and many women find the benefits of treatment far outweigh these manageable side effects.

• • Testosterone deficiency is actually listed as a potential cause of hoarseness, consistent with the hormone’s anti-inflammatory properties.

• • Objective studies on women receiving testosterone therapy found no vocal changes attributable to the treatment.

• • The idea that testosterone affects the voice comes from misinterpreted reports involving very high doses of strong synthetic steroids, not standard bio-identical testosterone treatment.

• • Hair loss is complicated and is primarily influenced by genetics, hormones like dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and other factors like thyroid issues or iron deficiency.

• • The belief that testosterone causes balding comes from confusing it with DHT, a different hormone that the body sometimes makes from testosterone.

• • For many individuals, testosterone therapy can improve scalp hair growth. Research has shown that people treated with testosterone often see hair regrowth.

• • Criticisms about inappropriate prescribing doesn’t reflect actual clinical practice or patient charts.

• • The rise in prescriptions coincided with increased awareness of testosterone deficiency and reduced fear of prostate cancer, not pharmaceutical marketing, which is minimal for testosterone products since testosterone is a generic product.

• • It’s illogical not to promote long-acting testosterone pellets for our national population as it is proven to reduce diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive and emotional problems, autoimmune conditions, bone and muscle loss, and more.