Female Sexual Dysfunction

Sexual desire among female cancer survivors wasn't enhanced by the use of a skin cream containing the hormone testosterone, according to new research from the Mayo Clinic published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The cream was no more effective than a placebo treatment in improving libido in 150 post-menopausal cancer survivors in a trial. The team said the result might be explained by low levels of estrogen, a female hormone, among the study participants

THE little blue pill known as Viagra is keeping many men in pleasure, and for a while there was hope that it would do the same for women. But now researchers know that women need something different to improve their desire for sex, and their enjoyment of it. "A number of compounds effective in men have limited utility in women," says Dr. Taylor Segraves, a psychiatrist at Case Western School of Medicine in Cleveland.

Dr. Jennifer Berman was the golden newcomer to the burgeoning world of women's sexual health when, in 2001, UCLA lured her from Boston University with a prestigious fellowship and groomed her to open its Female Sexual Medicine Center. Her promise of an innovative approach to an array of disorders grouped under the newly minted term "female sexual dysfunction" had rocketed her to the forefront of the hunt for a drug to enhance female sexual pleasure.

"They have Viagra," says the woman in the advertisement. "Now we have Avlimil." The ad for the herbal supplement, which promises "an enhanced libido" and a "more frequent and satisfying climax," is among the first campaigns touting pharmacological remedies for a condition called "female sexual dysfunction." Others promise to follow, as researchers at companies such as Pfizer Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co.

Jennifer and Laura Berman didn't go looking to become torchbearers for the female sexuality movement so much as it came looking for them. When the two sisters--one a urologist, the other a psychotherapist--set up practice together at a low-profile Boston urology clinic in 1998, their goal was to improve the treatments available for women suffering from sexual disorders. Their timing, as it turned out, was perfect.

People in need of authoritative medical information on sexual health now have two new Web sites to contact. The American Foundation for Urologic Disease, a nonprofit organization, launched a Web site (http://www.impotence.org) last month. The site was created and is maintained by medical experts. It includes a chat area monitored by a physician, information about various treatments and a confidential registry for patients to receive regular updates on medical options.

Viagra is doing so well for men--especially for men in the pharmaceutical industry--that legions of sexologists and urologists are trying to find a way to market it to women. If men have erectile dysfunction, though, what do women have? There must be something comparable. It's only fair. Accordingly, a new category of disorder is now being promoted, "female sexual dysfunction," or FSD.