Doctors may prescribe hormone treatments for men with the problem of low testosterone levels. Patients can choose from various delivery methods, each with its pluses and minuses, to obtain this hormone crucial to male secondary sexual characteristics.
Ease
If you choose injectable testosterone, you will need to be comfortable injecting yourself once a week or once every two weeks. If you choose pellets, a doctor will implant these doctor under local anesthesia. A person with limited mobility may benefit from using pellets.
Risks
The pellet can work its way out of the body, much like a splinter does. However, self-administered injectables are not without risks. It is possible for a patient to pierce nerves or blood vessels while injecting testosterone. Neither risk is life-threatening. A pellet working its way out may be a nuisance, and hitting a nerve or vein can be painful.
Time
Injectable testosterone requires a weekly or bi-weekly time commitment. Your doctor injects pellets two to three times per year. The less frequent attention required by the pellet may appealing if you have a busy life.
Stability
As with any drug, testosterone levels will fluctuate with therapy. Because the injection is taken weekly, it delivers a less steady level of testosterone than pellets. The pellets dissolve over months and deliver a more steady dose.
Cost
As of 2010, pellets cost between $230 and $600, depending on how many are injected. Pellets may be injected two to three times per year. Injectable testosterone costs from $50 to $150 per 10 ml vial, which will last anywhere from four to five months.