Low Sex Drive Treatment: Men vs. Women's Options

By Dr. Debra Durst, MD – Founder, RevitalyzeMD

At RevitalyzeMD in Knoxville, one pattern comes up constantly: men who’ve struggled with low sex drive or erectile changes usually know they have options — a pill, an injection, maybe testosterone. Women asking the exact same question are far more likely to have been told there’s simply nothing to offer them. That gap is real, and it’s worth explaining clearly.

Quick Answer: Men currently have several established treatment options for low sex drive and erectile dysfunction, including PDE5 inhibitors (Viagra, Cialis), injectable medications like Trimix, and testosterone replacement. Women have far fewer FDA-approved options — currently only two medications, flibanserin (Addyi) and bremelanotide (Vyleesi) — and testosterone therapy for women remains largely unavailable through traditional medicine despite its relevance to female sexual health.

Traditional medicine offers men a reasonably established set of choices for low sex drive and erectile dysfunction:

• Oral medications — PDE5 inhibitors like Viagra and Cialis (and their generic and compounded equivalents)
• Injectable medications — such as Trimix, often used when oral medications aren’t sufficient
• Testosterone replacement, when appropriate and prescribed
• Vacuum erection devices (penis pumps)
• Penile implants, for more severe or treatment-resistant cases

This isn’t necessarily a comprehensive, individualized approach in every traditional medical setting, but the range of available treatment categories is real and fairly well established.

This is where the gap becomes obvious. For women dealing with low sex drive or difficulty with orgasm, traditional medicine currently offers very little:

• • There are only two FDA-approved medications specifically for low sexual desire in women: flibanserin (Addyi) and bremelanotide (Vyleesi).
  • Addyi has been available longer, but based on our clinical experience, patient feedback on it has generally not been strong. (Editorial note: this reflects our practice’s own clinical observation rather than a systematic review of patient outcomes broadly — worth stating that distinction clearly.)
  • Vyleesi (the FDA-approved form of bremelanotide/PT-141) is only approved for premenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder — not postmenopausal women — and tends to be expensive and limited in pharmacy availability. (Editorial note: specific pricing and pharmacy availability change over time and should be re-verified at the time of publication rather than assumed from a prior check.)
  • There is currently no FDA-approved testosterone product for women in the U.S., despite testosterone playing a meaningful role in female sexual desire and function.
  • For issues specifically related to orgasm quality or strength, traditional medicine offers essentially no dedicated treatment options for women at all.

Interestingly, there are really only two options in this field currently used across both men and women:

• • Testosterone optimization — relevant to both men’s and women’s sexual health, though “Low T” clinics and testosterone treatment access have historically been marketed almost exclusively toward men.
  • Bremelanotide (PT-141) — FDA-approved narrowly for premenopausal women, but used off-label more broadly for both men and women with low sex drive or reduced orgasmic strength, as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. (For more on how PT-141 works and its regulatory status, see our related posts below.)

A few structural reasons help explain why women have historically had so much less available:

• Measuring erectile function objectively (does it work or not) is much simpler than measuring subjective female sexual satisfaction, which makes drug approval trials more straightforward for men’s conditions.
• Historically, less research investment and fewer large clinical trials have focused specifically on female sexual dysfunction.
• Many women are told low sex drive is “just part of aging” without a full hormone evaluation, including testosterone, ever being offered.

This isn’t a reflection of women’s symptoms being less real or less significant — research consistently shows low sexual desire and function can be genuinely distressing, comparable in impact to how these issues affect men, even though it’s addressed far less often in traditional care.

• You’ve been told there’s “nothing that can be done” for low sex drive and want a second, more comprehensive opinion
• You haven’t had a full hormone evaluation, including testosterone, as part of assessing low libido
• You’re a man or woman interested in understanding whether PT-141, hormone optimization, or another approach might fit your situation
• You want a treatment plan built around your specific symptoms rather than a single, one-size-fits-all optio

• Men currently have more established treatment options for low sex drive and erectile dysfunction than women do.
• Women have only two FDA-approved medications for low sexual desire, and no FDA-approved testosterone option at all.
• Testosterone and PT-141 are the two treatments currently used across both men and women in this field.
• The gap reflects historical research and measurement challenges, not a lesser reality of women’s symptoms.
• A comprehensive sexual wellness evaluation can often offer more than traditional medicine currently provides, for both men and women.

If you’re in Knoxville or anywhere across East Tennessee and you’ve felt like your options for low sex drive were limited — or you were told there weren’t any — RevitalyzeMD can offer a more comprehensive evaluation for both men and women.