When considering hormone therapy (HT) there are many benefits that most don’t consider. One is whether you will add testosterone into your regimens. One benefit often overlooked is how testosterone improves your vision. All the sex hormones have to do with overall eye health, including testosterone. And hormone optimization, including testosterone, has the ability to favorably affect your eye health.
The decline of estrogen, progesterone, adrenal hormones, and testosterone is common at menopause for women and during aging for men. The imbalance of these hormones may contribute to increased dry eye during menopause.
There are many simple things we can do to have healthy eyes including wearing sun protection for our eyes and avoiding too much smoke exposure.
Causes of blindness may include cataracts, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. Hormone use, including proper balance of testosterone, has been linked with decreased incidence of both of these diseases.
Hormone use, including contraception, especially if not in proper balance, can add to eye dryness which is not healthy over time. Discuss any eye symptoms with your gynecologist so that they have.
HT may affect the development of cataract, studies have shown conflicting results. Diabetics might be at more risk for cataracts when given certain types of hormone therapy. To the extent that proper testosterone balance would help the blood sugar control, the secondary benefit should be to decrease risk of cataract, not increase the risk.
Glaucoma causes blindness due to pressure on the optic nerve. Eye pressure alone doesn’t always lead to pressure to the optic nerve itself. As we age and have increased pressure on that nerve we lose visual acuity as well as have risk of blindness. Pressure internally in the eye isn’t directly affected by blood pressure, but vascular pressure overall helps eye oxygenation. Proper hormone optimization will improve overall blood pressure.
Testosterone therapy indications for men and women include low testosterone, fatigue, low libido, weight gain, vasomotor symptoms and mood changes.