VIAGRA THE SIDE-EFFECT NO ONE TOLD ABOUT?

Ten years since its launch, there seems no end to Viagra's success. The male sex drug has become one of the world's best known brand names and has restored sexual function to an estimated 27million men worldwide.

The number of users continues to increase by the week, in the process making Pfizer, its manufacturer, untold millions.

Viagra has changed the lives of millions of men - but at what cost to women?

So far, however, there is no equivalent wonder pill for women, and whether Viagra use has caused equal delight among the often middle-aged female partners of the men taking it is another matter.

Indeed, many of them are battling with the mood swings and low libido induced by menopause, just as their husbands are experiencing sexual rejuvenation.

Have women been forgotten?

Doctors agree that a healthy sex life is important to the well-being of most people, and anything they can do to assist that is valuable. The problem, it seems, is that women have been left out of the equation - as Miranda Hopkins unhappily discovered.

The greater problem is that in many cases, just as the older man's sex drive is being rejuvenated by Viagra, his wife is experiencing the menopause, with its negative effect on libido.

Studies of the social effects of treating sexual dysfunction in older couples have revealed a regular complaint that male doctors are often only too happy to treat male patients on their own, without making any inquiries about the state of a man's relationship with his wife or partner.

Female sexual dysfunction has received similar scrutiny as the drugs industry relentlessly searches for new conditions open to a medical label. But so far, efforts to treat women have not been successful.

'Fixing a man's sexual function while doing nothing for the woman is not helpful. We know that half of the men who get Viagra from their doctors never go back for a repeat prescription - not because it doesn't work, but because their partners don't like it.'

So while we know that a healthy sex life is important for both genders, interest in helping women is lagging way behind the interest in helping men.

'That might all change when there is more hope of offering women effective treatment, but it is not happening yet.'..DAILYMAIL