The professor who feels like he's 28

PROFESSOR Aksam Yassin, head of the Institute of Urology and Andrology in Hamburg, Germany, is 53, looks 45 and feels 28.

That's all because he started taking testosterone injections 2 1/2 years ago.

Before he started the therapy, he was overweight and tired all the time.

'I attributed it to a bad diet and stress from working at the hospital and doing research.

'I ate a lot. I weighed 122kg. And all of a sudden, I developed high blood pressure,' he said in an interview with The New Paper.

He decided to treat himself as one of his own patients.

He went to see his colleague, who told him: 'Aksam, how can you convince the people you treat when you look the way you look?'

Prof Aksam said: 'I was on my way to a heart attack.'

His cholesterol level then was 420. The normal level is below 200. His triglycerides level was 380.

The norm is 180.

He was put on testosterone injection therapy four times a year and blood pressure medication.

He changed his diet, cutting out all fried food and carbohydrates, and exercised more.

Within six months, his trousers went down by four sizes. His waist circumference went down from 116cm to 104 cm.

The 1.87m-tall professor now weighs 95 kg and is happy about it.

'I tell my patients that I apply the same therapy to myself,' he said.

The taxi-driver who got back his sex drive

MR T K Tay, 48, a taxi driver, started losing interest in sex about three years ago.

He did not even notice it, but his girlfriend of six years brought it up.

So he took Viagra, a drug which treats erectile dysfunction.

'But it had no effect on me,' he told The New Paper.

Then last year, he read about testosterone injections and wondered if they might be the solution for him.

'I am not fat; I exercise three times a week at the gym. I am muscular, have no diabetes, no high blood pressure. Just no sexual interest. And even when I have interest, I may not succeed in getting an erection,' he said.

His doctor checked his testosterone levels and found that they were very low.

The normal levels are from 15 nanomoles per litre (nmol/L) and above. His was 8 nmol/L. (See graphic above.)

He started testosterone injection therapy a year ago.

Within three months, his sexual interest and ability returned.

This story was first published in The New Paper on Dec 4, 2008.