Belly Hair, Check; Sex Drive, Not So Much

This just in: “Women who spray testosterone on their stomach to raise their sex drive may not see much benefit — unless they also want to grow hair on their belly,” reports The New York Times in today’s Science section.

The short report is based on a new study, “Safety and Efficacy of a Testosterone Metered-Dose Transdermal Spray for Treating Decreased Sexual Satisfaction in Premenopausal Women,” published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The randomized study included 261 women age 35 to 46 years who reported decreased sexual satisfaction and had low testosterone levels. From the Times:

At the start the study, the women reported having four to five sexual encounters a month, with an average of 1.4 described as satisfactory. After 16 weeks, the women in all the groups reported a somewhat better sex life, although the increase was statistically meaningful only for the group that received the middle dose of testosterone. Unwanted hair growth where the spray was placed was fairly common.

The results, the researchers said, justify more research, but they cautioned against the widespread use of testosterone in premenopausal women for now.