For general education only. This information does not diagnose a condition or replace medical advice. Your provider will determine which evaluation or treatment is appropriate for you.
How to read this table
This table compares categories of options. It does not rank them, declare a winner, or suggest that any option is right for you. Your provider determines suitability after reviewing your health history, current medicines, labs, and goals. Nothing here replaces that evaluation.
Desire, arousal, comfort, and satisfaction are separate concerns. A medicine aimed at one does not automatically address another, and pain or bleeding may need an examination rather than a prescription.
Approval, off label use, and compounding
FDA approval applies to a specific product, formulation, indication, and population. Off label use means an approved medicine is prescribed outside its approved labeling. A compounded preparation is not FDA approved and has not undergone the same premarket review for safety, effectiveness, and quality.
One option here has an approved indication for a specific sexual health concern in premenopausal women. The others are approved for different conditions and used off label in women. An ingredient name alone does not establish approval. Ask for the exact product name, formulation, and current labeling of the medicine offered to you, and whether that use is approved, off label, or compounded.
What a useful conversation covers
Ask which concern the option is meant to address and what evidence exists for that concern in women, not only for the approved use. Ask what a meaningful improvement would look like and how it will be noticed.
Ask about interactions and health conditions that make an option unsafe, and whether counseling, comfort measures, or reviewing an existing medicine would be more appropriate first.
Side by side
Considerations worth bringing to your provider. This is not a ranking, and it does not mean any option is right for you.
Bremelanotide
Product details- What it is
- A medicine that activates melanocortin receptors in the brain that are involved in desire and arousal.
- How it is used
- Used as needed before intimacy by injection, as your provider directs.
- Approval and labeling
- Has an approved indication for a specific desire related concern in premenopausal women, with eligibility criteria.
- What the evidence supports
- Studied for its approved indication with modest average effects; response varies and the concern must match the indication.
- Common considerations
- Nausea, flushing, and headache are common, and a temporary rise in blood pressure can occur.
- Often not appropriate when
- Blood pressure is uncontrolled or there is known heart disease.
- Cost and access
- Pricing is shared after your evaluation. Ask what your plan includes, such as consultations, medication, labs, and follow up, and what happens if your plan changes.
Sildenafil
Product details- What it is
- A medicine that relaxes blood vessels and may increase blood flow to genital tissue.
- How it is used
- Taken by mouth before intimacy, as your provider directs.
- Approval and labeling
- Approved for other conditions. Use for arousal concerns in women is off label.
- What the evidence supports
- Evidence for arousal or desire benefits in women is limited and does not match the strength of its approved uses.
- Common considerations
- Headache, flushing, and nasal congestion may occur. Never combine with nitrates or certain blood pressure medicines.
- Often not appropriate when
- You take nitrates or have the interactions and conditions your provider identifies.
- Cost and access
- Pricing is shared after your evaluation. Ask what your plan includes, such as consultations, medication, labs, and follow up, and what happens if your plan changes.
Tadalafil
Product details- What it is
- A medicine in the same family as sildenafil that may support blood flow over a longer window.
- How it is used
- Taken by mouth as your provider directs, either before intimacy or on a regular schedule.
- Approval and labeling
- Approved for other conditions. Use for arousal concerns in women is off label.
- What the evidence supports
- Evidence in women is limited, with the same caution about generalizing from its approved uses.
- Common considerations
- Headache, flushing, indigestion, or back pain may occur. Never combine with nitrates or certain blood pressure medicines.
- Often not appropriate when
- You take nitrates or have the interactions and conditions your provider identifies.
- Cost and access
- Pricing is shared after your evaluation. Ask what your plan includes, such as consultations, medication, labs, and follow up, and what happens if your plan changes.
Questions to bring
- Which concern is this option meant to address for me?
- What evidence supports this use in women, and what is unknown?
- What interactions or conditions make this unsafe for me?
- Would an examination, counseling, or a comfort measure be more appropriate first?