Longevity is one of the great current issues. Life expectancy in Spain in 1981 was 75.6 years and in 2021 it reached 83.1 years; women reach almost 85 and everything indicates that this trend will continue. In fact, the University of Washington has predicted that in 2040 Spain will be the first country in the world in the ranking of the longest-lived. And it is a global phenomenon, in the last 100 years there has been an explosion of longevity in developed countries. Now, the key is not to live many years, but to live them with well-being and good health.
That is why anti-aging medicine is advancing: the great interest of people with financial capacity to undergo anti-aging treatments means that both pharmaceutical companies and private clinics are always up to date. Upon reaching maturity, andropause and menopause come into play, in which the drop in hormones play a key role. Fatigue, low libido, accumulation of fat in different areas of the body, dry skin, hair loss or vaginal dryness in women can be some of the symptoms that worsen the quality of life.
To combat the effects of aging caused by drops in hormones, there is a treatment based on subcutaneous capsules, also called pellets or even popularly called "hormone chips", due to their effects on libido and sexual function. They have been around for more than a decade, but they are becoming more and more fashionable and are being talked about more.
“They are small capsules that contain hormones that are slowly released under the skin, hormones that are used to treat the deficit that occurs with age, such as testosterone or estrogen. They have been known for more than ten years, but now they are given more publicity due to a double commercial interest: that of the brands that produce them, and also, since it is a therapeutic act that is carried out in consultations, that of the doctors who put them on. ”, explains in RAC1.cat Manuel Castillo, president of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Society of Anti-aging and Longevity Medicine, advisor to the European Society of Anti-aging and Regenerative Medicine, specialist in clinical biopathology and endocrinology and professor of Medical Physiology at the University of Grenade.
The great advantage of the advanced moment in which these pellets are found is that “exactly the chip that the patient needs is manufactured. Based on a thorough analysis of the person (with complete analysis, x-rays or the necessary tests), it is determined which chip is needed, with what amount of each substance, and it is personalized. It is like a piece of candy that slowly breaks down under the skin, and remains inserted for six months”, explains Ivan Mañero, plastic surgeon and CEO of the IM Clinic.
This is a private center that administers these anti-aging subcutaneous capsules, in its Women's Unit, where, for example, the effects of menopause are treated from the gynecological, but also psychological aspects. The chips or pellets have a size that can range from one to four millimeters, depending on the dose that the patient needs. In addition, they can put "up to six or seven", according to Mañero.
The benefits of hormone replacement therapy, whether with pellets, pills or another route of application, are the disappearance of the effects caused by the hormonal imbalance. “Among the hormonal effects suffered by women are hot flashes, loss of libido, sleep disorders, bone decalcification, hair loss problems, dry skin, loss of genital lubrication, redistribution of fat (they start to have less estrogen and, therefore, the fat goes to the bread). They are not things of age, there is simply a lack of hormones! ”, points out Dr. Mañero.
“When you receive the hormones, you mitigate the loss of functionality due to the drop in hormones, and its consequences. You can recover your libido, recover your muscle mass (testosterone is anabolic), the vital energy that the hormone also gives… Testosterone also influences the genitals, erections and sperm production, for example”, says Castillo, who points out that the positive part of the capsules.
Patricia is a patient of Dr. Mañero, at IM Clinic. At the age of 45, she was diagnosed with osteoporosis and she opted for hormone therapy with subcutaneous capsules. "I have noticed it a lot in vitality, daily energy, also in vaginal dryness."
The journalist Laura Fa is also a client. “I've had it for less than a month. I could not find a solution for the symptoms that menopause gives me. They told me about this, the gynecologist explained it to me, and I decided that I wanted to try it. She used to drive me crazy with fatigue and insomnia, and it is true that I have noticed a lot of improvement. Also, I didn't have a low libido, but that activates you. It is very noticeable, physically”, explains Fa, who has not noticed any side effects. The chip will have to be changed every six months, and it is priced from 500 euros.
As explained by IM Clinic, pellet technology has been used for many years in the United States, Brazil, or Argentina. “The brake that the treatment has had in Europe has been, in part, because they thought that if women in the menopause, with a drop in estrogen, were administered hormones, the risk of breast and genital cancer increased. But in the countries where this treatment began to be used, it has been seen that it does not cause problems and there has not been an increase in cancer cases. Europe is very conservative from that point of view”, says Mañero.
“In men, the most characteristic side effect of hormone therapy is prostate hypertrophy or prostate cancer, but this effect is not very clear. What is clear is that if there are tumor cells, testosterone makes them grow, that is, this hormone accelerates the growth of cancer. Now, it is doubtful whether testosterone is decisive for the disease to appear in a person who does not have cancer”, comments the president of the Scientific Committee of the Spanish Society of Anti-Aging and Longevity Medicine. With hormone therapy, according to Dr. Castillo, “problems such as hair growth in women can occur, or changes in the distribution of fat. It also seemed that an increase in testosterone could give cardiovascular risk but it has finally been ruled out”.
For Castillo, the recommendation is not the pellet or chip, but "the administration of the hormone that is necessary, by the means that is considered best accepted for each patient. The administration of hormones is recommended when there is evidence that the patient's hormone levels are low (with an analysis), when the symptoms caused by the drop in hormone levels are limiting for the person.
But the doctor adds a reflection. “It all depends on how much money the person wants to spend, and whether they are willing to take the risk of intolerance to the chip inserted under the skin. It works well to prevent loss of muscle mass and strength, but it must be noted that in terms of anti-aging therapy the effect is not 100% clear. There is no panacea, there is no miracle remedy. Paper and marketing allow everything, but the reality is different, and the benefits are exaggerated, which are not always real and those that are expected, nor do they occur in 100% of the population. There are economic interests in the product and in the administration, and it is necessary to assess whether it is the best option in each case”, points out the professor of Medical Physiology
For Mañero, it is a matter of time before this anti-aging therapy spreads among the population. “The woman assumes that her problems must endure them, because she touches him. It is necessary to inform the population. This will explode when there is too much criticism and when people know about it. Because going through the operating room may be taboo, but carrying a chip is not, just as the risk is much lower. There are thousands of people who already wear their anti-aging chips in Spain, and throughout the world. I put my hand to the fire that Brad Pit has a testosterone chip! It is evident, seeing his muscle mass, with his age ”.
This article was originally published on the RAC1 website.
