What is Levitra?
Levitra is a pill that helps you get an erection and keep it long enough to have sex. You take it ‘on-demand’, usually under an hour before you want to get intimate. After that, it stays active in the body for up to five hours. This should give you plenty of time to enjoy its benefits.
Levitra works by helping blood circulation to the penis.
When you get aroused, your brain starts a process called vasodilation. This is where the blood cells around your penis are signalled to relax and let more blood into the area. When more blood enters the area, your penis gets hard.
If you have ED, these blood vessels stay tight. This means that blood can’t enter the penis. This can result in no erections, erections that don’t last long or erections that are only semi-hard.
Vardenafil, the active ingredient in Levitra, helps to make sure that the blood cells around the penis do let blood in. This makes erections easier, longer-lasting and strong enough for sex.
What dosage of Levitra is best?
There are three different doses of Levitra. Which one is best for you can be down to a number of factors.
Levitra 5mg is the lowest dose. You might start here if you have underlying health problems.
The Levitra 10 mg tablet is a good starting point for otherwise healthy men. If you start on this and get mild side effects, you might be lowered to 5mg.
Levitra 20mg is for when you’ve used the 10mg but it hasn’t provided the best results (for example if you got an erection but it didn’t last long enough, or only got semi-hard).
There’s also a Levitra ODT dose (10mg). ODT stands for oro-dispersible tablet, so the tablet simply melts on your tongue. No water required.
Levitra or Vardenafil: what’s the difference?
Choosing between Levitra and Vardenafil is basically choosing between the branded and generic medications. Levitra is the original version of the treatment that comes in the Bayer packaging. Vardenafil is the generic medication of the same drug and can be made by different labs.
Branded and generic drugs have to be tested for bioequivalence before they’re given approval. This means that in lab conditions they’re essentially the same. So you shouldn’t really notice any difference in how they work or how well they work for you.
But it’s possible that on a personal level, you notice a difference between a brand and a generic. If that’s the case, then choose the treatment that works best for you.
Price can also play a part. Brands are normally more expensive than generics. You can compare prices below if you’re stuck on a decision.
This page was medically reviewed by
Dr Daniel Atkinson, GP Clinical Lead on August 02, 2022. Next review due on August 01, 2024.
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