Microdosing

Microdosing is an informal term for taking a lower dose of hormones than a standard plan, usually to get changes more slowly or to aim for only some of them. It is used most often about testosterone, and most often by non-binary people.

Where you'll meet it

In forums and on social media far more than in clinics. Prescribers are more likely to say "low-dose" and to talk about adjusting the dose to your goals.

What it can and cannot do

A lower dose generally means slower changes, and some people find that slower pace gives them time to stop at a point that feels right. What it does not do is choose which changes happen. On testosterone, a low dose can still deepen the voice or grow facial hair, and a voice change, once it happens, is permanent. The order and speed of changes vary between people, so there is no dose that reliably gives one effect and not another.

Worth knowing

Low-dose testosterone is not contraception, and it may not stop periods. On feminizing hormones, a low dose of estrogen without an anti-androgen can leave testosterone high enough that little changes, or give an uneven mix, and bone health still needs enough of one sex hormone or the other. A prescriber who knows what you are aiming for can plan around all of this. Non-binary and low-dose HRT goes into it.

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