Hormone Pellet Therapy in Leawood, KS

Medically reviewed by Mark Strehlow, MD, Medical Director — October 2026

Hormone pellets are small pellets of testosterone or estradiol placed under the skin of the upper outer buttock. They release the hormone slowly over several months. We offer pellet therapy to women in perimenopause and menopause, and to men with low testosterone confirmed by lab testing. Pellets are one of several forms of hormone therapy we prescribe, and they aren’t right for everyone. If another form suits you better, we’ll tell you.

Pellet therapy is cash-pay. Each placement is $450 for women and $900 for men, including the visit, the procedure and the pellets. Pellets are available to established patients in our HRT-Only and Premier Care plans. New to Rock Creek Wellness? Request an appointment to establish care, or, if you’re not sure which level of care suits you, start with a free 30-minute consultation with one of our providers. We’re in Leawood, KS, serving the Kansas City area.

Request an appointment or a free consultation or call (913) 727-7700.

At a glance

What they are

Small pellets of testosterone or estradiol, about the size of a grain of rice, placed under the skin.

Who they’re for

Women in perimenopause and menopause, and men with low testosterone confirmed by lab testing.

The placement

About 5 minutes in the upper outer buttock, with the skin numbed first.

How long they last

Usually 3 to 4 months for women, 4 to 5 for men: nothing to take daily or weekly.

Price per placement

$450 for women and $900 for men, including the visit, the procedure and the pellets.

What is hormone pellet therapy?

A hormone pellet is about the size of a grain of rice. Each one holds a measured dose of testosterone or estradiol. The pellets are placed under the skin, where they dissolve slowly and release the hormone into your bloodstream.

Pellets are bioidentical: the hormone has the same molecular structure as the testosterone or estradiol your body makes. Bioidentical doesn’t mean natural, safer or more effective. It describes the molecule, not the risk.

The pellets we use are compounded, and compounded pellets aren’t FDA-approved. There’s also less research behind them than behind FDA-approved forms of hormone therapy. One FDA-approved testosterone pellet exists, for men with diagnosed low testosterone. There’s no FDA-approved estradiol pellet, and no FDA-approved testosterone product of any kind for women.

Most of a pellet’s hormone is released in the first few months. Your levels are highest in the weeks after a placement and taper after that. That’s why we check your labs after your first placement, and why the timing of the next one depends on your symptoms and your labs.

Where our pellets come from

Our pellets are made by FDA-registered 503B outsourcing facilities. These facilities must follow federal manufacturing standards, known as current good manufacturing practice, and they are inspected by the FDA. Registration isn’t approval: compounded pellets still aren’t FDA-approved.

Testosterone pellets and estradiol pellets

For women

Women usually come to us with menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, poor sleep or vaginal dryness. Estradiol pellets are one way to take estrogen. If you still have your uterus, we also prescribe progesterone, because estrogen taken alone raises the risk of uterine cancer. We never prescribe synthetic progestins.

We also prescribe testosterone to women when symptoms and labs support it, at much lower doses than for men. The strongest evidence for testosterone in women is for low sexual desire after menopause. There’s no FDA-approved testosterone product for women. Read more about hormone therapy for women.

For men

Men usually come to us with symptoms such as low energy, low sex drive or erection problems. Before we prescribe testosterone in any form, we confirm low testosterone with your symptoms and lab testing. Age alone isn’t a reason to start. Read more about testosterone therapy for men.

Who pellets are for, and who they aren’t for

Pellets can be a good fit if your dose is already known from your labs, often from time on another form of hormone therapy, and you’d rather not take something every day or every week.

They’re a poor fit if you want to be able to stop quickly or change your dose between visits. Once a pellet is placed, the dose can’t be adjusted, and the pellet isn’t designed to be removed.

For women, the major guidelines don’t recommend testosterone pellets. ACOG, the national organization of OB-GYNs, and the international consensus on testosterone for women both advise other forms, citing limited safety data, levels that can run higher than intended, and the fact that pellets aren’t designed to be removed. We’ll go over every option with you, including the ones that aren’t pellets.

Our hormone care is for adults. We don’t provide hormone therapy for gender transition. We don’t start hormone care for anyone under 18, anyone with active cancer, or anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding. Some medical histories, such as blood clots, stroke or certain cancers, need a careful review; we’ll go over yours at the consultation.

Pellets are one option among several. See every form of hormone replacement therapy we prescribe.

What happens at a pellet placement

1. New to Rock Creek Wellness? Establish care first. Pellets are for established patients in our HRT-Only and Premier Care plans. Request an appointment, or, if you’re not sure which plan suits you, start with a free 30-minute consultation with one of our providers.
2. Labs before your first placement. We base your dose on your blood work. See when to schedule your blood draw.
3. The placement. It’s done at a follow-up visit, where you and your provider also go over your labs and how you’re feeling. The placement itself takes about 5 minutes. We numb the skin of your upper outer buttock, make a small incision, place the pellets under the skin, and close and cover the site with two layers of bandages.
4. Aftercare. You’ll get full written instructions at your visit. In short:
   • Remove the outer pressure bandage after 3 to 4 hours. Leave the inner layer on for 4 days (women) or 7 days (men).
   • Ice the site a few times that day, about 20 minutes at a time.
   • No baths, hot tubs or pools for 3 days. You can shower, but don’t scrub the site for about a week.
   • No hard exercise that works the area, such as running, for 4 days (women) or 7 days (men).
   • Swelling for 1 to 3 days is common. Tenderness, bruising or redness usually fades within a few days, though it can last up to 2 to 3 weeks.
   • Call us if you see pus, or if bleeding doesn’t stop after 5 minutes of firm pressure.
5. Labs after your first placement. About 4 weeks after for men, and 6 weeks after for women.
6. Your next placement. Usually every 3 to 4 months for women and every 4 to 5 months for men. Call us when the symptoms that improved start to return. A couple of weeks earlier or later is common, and your labs help set the timing.

Hormone pellet therapy cost

Price per placement	Women	Men
HRT-Only plan	$450	$900
Premier Care Platinum (5% off)	$427.50	$855
Premier Care Executive (10% off)	$405	$810

Each price covers the visit, the procedure and the pellets, every time you have pellets placed. Women usually need a placement every 3 to 4 months, and men every 4 to 5 months.

Pellets are part of hormone care in our HRT-Only and Premier Care plans; we don’t offer pellets on their own. HRT-Only is $250 to establish care, then $110 a month. Premier Care is $1,950 to establish care, then $214 a month (Platinum) or $314 a month (Executive). Compare the plans or read about Premier Care.

Labs aren’t included in the placement price. You can have Quest bill your insurance, or pay our cash price for labs. We’re cash-pay and don’t bill insurance for pellet therapy. Financing is available through CareCredit.

Downsides and risks of hormone pellets

Every form of hormone therapy has risks. These are the ones to know before choosing pellets. Your provider goes over them with you and monitors your labs while you’re on therapy.

The procedure

• Swelling, tenderness and bruising at the site.
• A small risk of infection, or of a pellet working its way out of the skin (extrusion), most often in the first month.

Pellets specifically

• The dose can’t be adjusted once the pellets are placed, and they aren’t designed to be removed. If side effects appear, we monitor your levels and manage the side effects while the pellet dissolves.
• Hormone levels can run higher than intended.
• Compounded doses can vary.

Testosterone

• Higher blood pressure.
• A higher red blood cell count, which we check with blood tests.
• Lower sperm production and reduced fertility. Tell us if you’re planning a family.
• Acne and fluid retention.
• Worsening sleep apnea.
• For men, prostate monitoring with PSA blood tests.
• For women: acne, unwanted hair growth, and voice changes that may not reverse.

Estradiol

• Uterine cancer. Estrogen taken alone raises the risk in women who have a uterus. That’s why we prescribe progesterone with estradiol for women who still have their uterus.
• Breast cancer. In the Women’s Health Initiative trial, the higher breast cancer risk was seen in women taking a synthetic progestin; women taking estrogen alone had fewer breast cancers. We prescribe progesterone and never synthetic progestins. Some studies link progesterone to lower risk than synthetic progestins, but others don’t. No study has measured breast cancer risk with pellets. We’ll go over your personal and family history at your consultation.
• Blood clots, stroke and gallbladder disease. In studies, these risks are mostly linked to estrogen taken by mouth and, for stroke, to higher doses. Pellets haven’t been studied this way.

Individual results vary. Hormone therapy isn’t approved or recommended to prevent heart disease, dementia or cancer, and testosterone trials found no lower risk of heart disease, memory decline or prostate cancer.

Common questions

Sources

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1. Prescribers Should Restrict the Use of Non-FDA-Approved Compounded Bioidentical Hormones, Except for Specific Medical Circumstances. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2020.
2. Compounded Bioidentical Menopausal Hormone Therapy. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2023, reaffirmed 2026.
3. Global Consensus Position Statement on the Use of Testosterone Therapy for Women. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2019.
4. Testosterone Therapy in Men With Hypogonadism: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline. Endocrine Society, 2018.
5. Compounded Bioidentical Hormone Therapy. Endocrine Society, 2019.
6. FDA issues class-wide labeling changes for testosterone products. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2025.
7. FDA Requests Labeling Changes Related to Safety Information to Clarify the Benefit/Risk Considerations for Menopausal Hormone Therapies. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2025.
8. Association of Menopausal Hormone Therapy With Breast Cancer Incidence and Mortality During Long-term Follow-up of the Women’s Health Initiative Randomized Clinical Trials. JAMA, 2020.
9. Use of hormone replacement therapy and risk of venous thromboembolism: nested case-control studies using the QResearch and CPRD databases. BMJ, 2019.
10. Transdermal and oral hormone replacement therapy and the risk of stroke: a nested case-control study. BMJ, 2010.
11. Gallbladder disease and use of transdermal versus oral hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women: prospective cohort study. BMJ, 2008.
12. TESTOPEL- testosterone pellet. DailyMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine), 2025.
13. Registered Outsourcing Facilities. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2026.