Male Hormone Deficiency Specialists

What causes low testosterone in men?

Testosterone is the hormone that’s primarily responsible for male sexual characteristics, but it does more than that in the body. In men, it regulates sex drive, fat distribution, bone mass, and muscle mass and strength. It also triggers the production of red blood cells.

Testosterone levels in men peak during adolescence and early adulthood. After that, levels of the hormone naturally decline as you get older and around the age of 30, its levels go down at the rate of about 1% per year.

In addition to the natural decline with age, men can have low testosterone due to hypogonadism, which develops when the testicles can’t produce a normal amount of the hormone.

A few of the potential causes of hypogonadism include:

• Mumps during adolescence
• Excessive iron in the blood
• Injury to the testicles
• Cancer treatment
• Pituitary disorders
• Obesity
• Inflammatory disease
• HIV/AIDS
• Medications (opiate pain medications)

What are the symptoms of low testosterone?

The most common symptoms of low testosterone include:

• Change in sexual function: Fewer spontaneous erections and reduced sexual drive
• Physical changes: Weight gain, loss of muscle mass, reduced muscle strength, fatigue, loss of bone density, decrease in beard and body hair, development of breast tissue
• Emotional changes: Feeling sad or depressed, difficulty concentrating, changes in memory

How is low testosterone treated?

The first step is to get a thorough exam to rule out an underlying health condition. If a problem is discovered, then treatment begins by targeting that issue. Otherwise, the only treatment for low testosterone is hormone replacement. Restoring testosterone to normal levels reverses the issues that arise from low testosterone, including low energy, poor sex drive, and erectile dysfunction.

Dr. Boulware often recommends hormone replacement using testosterone pellet implantation. The pellets, which are smaller than a grain of rice, are implanted in the tissue just beneath your skin. Over the next 5-6 months, the pellets provide a steady supply of hormone as they gradually and continuously release a precise dose of testosterone.

While you can choose a different form of hormone replacement, pellets have several advantages. For starters, they’re convenient — you don’t have to take a pill, mess with patches or cream, or worry about injections. But more importantly, pellets keep hormone levels steady, avoiding fluctuations that can occur with other delivery methods.