Healthcast 603 - Possible Issues Related to the Insertion of Testosterone Pellets in Women

See all the Healthcasts at https://www.biobalancehealth.com/healthcast-blog/

Most of you know that when I replace Testosterone hormones for my female patients who lose testosterone as they age. I only used Bioidentical Estradiol and Testosterone in the form of long-lasting subcutaneous pellets. I have limited my practice to only use this type of delivery system because pellets deliver a steady supply of Testosterone, without daily variation in blood levels, and have the fewest side effects of any type of testosterone replacement. However, nothing is perfect, and it is important to know what the side effects of any treatment are. There is no medical care that I know of that does not have associated side effects in a small percentage of patients.

There are several problems that can occasionally occur after pellet insertions. We follow a strict sterile procedure protocol and provide a complete instruction sheet to our patients and verbal instructions on how to take care of the insertion site. Despite all precautions, a few patients have complications associated with their pellet insertion. I will dedicate the accompanying blog to the side effects of the pellet insertion procedure. The side effects can be caused by allergy, infection, as well as not following our instructions. The problems that are possible, but rare:

• Expulsion—the pellet comes back out
• Allergy
• Infection
• Seromas: Fluid around the inserted pellets
• Reaction to numbing medicines

Remember that the procedure safety is only as good as the operator and choosing your doctor carefully for experience and attention to safety. The more experienced your doctor is in pellet hormones and the more she concentrates on pellet only therapy, the less risk you will have.

For a full video describing these issues and the treatments, please go to my website biobalancehealth.com watch the Healthcast for #603. This presentation will include the slides and audio explaining the procedure and side effects. You can also go to You Tube to view the short lectures and slides about the side effects of testosterone pellets in women.