Infertility treatment

Content written by Irwin Goldstein, MD

Low androgen blood test values may be caused by conditions that affect the ovaries, including infertility hormone treatments. Before puberty, when all the androgens are low, the woman’s peripheral genitals including the clitoris, prepuce (foreskin), frenulum, labia minora, labia majora, G-spot, and vestibule are not fully developed. After puberty, when androgen level increase, the woman’s peripheral genitals fully develop. The clitoris reaches adult size, sensitivity, and engorgement capability, the labia minora develop tissue mass and local lubrication occurs via a series of glands that release the lubricant onto the labia during sexual arousal. The vagina muscularis easily relaxes during sexual arousal so that the vagina increases appropriately in length and width. With aging or certain medications such as infertility drugs, when androgen levels fall, the woman’s androgen-dependent peripheral genitals, such as the clitoris and prepuce, undergo atrophy and take on the same underdeveloped characteristics they had prior to puberty.