Viagra Connect® Dosage Guide
If you’re one of the millions of men in the UK affected by erectile dysfunction, you’ve likely heard of medications such as Viagra®, which contains the active ingredient sildenafil citrate.
These medications, which are often prescribed for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, work by increasing blood flow to your penis. This makes it easier to get an erection and stay hard during sexual activity.
The most accessible ED medication is Viagra Connect®, an over-the-counter version of Viagra that doesn’t require a prescription.
Unlike prescription Viagra or generic sildenafil pills, which are made in 25mg, 50mg and 100mg dosages, Viagra Connect is only available as a 50mg tablet.
This makes it easy to use this ED medication, but it has several disadvantages, one of which is that if you have moderate or severe erectile dysfunction, Viagra Connect might not be the most effective form of treatment for you.
Below, we’ve talked about what Viagra Connect is, as well as how it works to produce improved erections and better sexual function.
We’ve also covered why Viagra Connect is only sold as a 50mg tablet, as well as why you might want to consider trying conventional Viagra or a generic version of sildenafil if you have ED that doesn’t improve with Viagra Connect.
What is Viagra Connect?
Before we discuss Viagra Connect dosage, let’s quickly get one important thing out of the way: what Viagra Connect actually is.
Viagra Connect is an over-the-counter version of Viagra, the “little blue pill” for treating erectile dysfunction.
This form of Viagra has been available without a prescription since 2017, when the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) reclassified the medication from being a prescription-only drug to one that’s available following a pharmacist’s approval.1
Unlike conventional Viagra, which requires a prescription from your healthcare provider, Viagra Connect can be purchased from many pharmacy chains, as well as from online health platforms.
Viagra Connect contains 50mg of sildenafil, a PDE5 inhibitor substance that expands the blood vessels that supply blood to your penis. This allows more blood to flow into the erectile tissue in your penis when you experience sexual stimulation.2
By increasing penile blood flow, the sildenafil in Viagra Connect acts as a treatment for erectile dysfunction and may improve your sexual performance.
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There’s Only One Viagra Connect Dose
The prescription version of Viagra is available in three dosages: 25mg, 50mg and 100mg. Most men are prescribed the 50mg version of Viagra, which is stated as the “recommended” dose in Viagra’s FDA labeling document.3
The 100mg version of Viagra is usually only prescribed to men with moderate or severe ED who aren’t able to maintain an erection and have fulfilling sexual intercourse with 50mg of Viagra.
On the other hand, the 25mg version of Viagra may be prescribed to men with mild ED that gets better with relatively little medication, or men who are prone to adverse effects from Viagra and similar treatments for erectile dysfunction.
Potential adverse effects of Viagra and/or generic sildenafil include headaches, facial flushing, dyspepsia (indigestion), nasal congestion, back pain, muscle aching, nausea, dizziness, rash and vision issues, including blurred vision and changes in colour vision.4
For some men, these side effects are more severe and commonplace with higher dosages of Viagra or generic sildenafil.
In other words, the prescription form of Viagra is a medication that can be tailored, to a certain extent, to each man’s needs by their clinician.
Viagra Connect, on the other hand, is an easily-accessible form of Viagra that’s available over the counter. It’s available following a discussion with a pharmacist, who will check that you are eligible to use this medication safely.5
This discussion will involve talking about any medical conditions you currently have, as well as whether you currently use medications for high blood pressure or related conditions that could cause potentially harmful drug interactions with Viagra Connect.
To keep things simple, this version of Viagra is only available in the most popular, widely-used dosage: 50mg.
The good news is that clinical studies show that most men with erectile dysfunction experience significant improvements in the onset of erections and general sexual performance from the 50mg dosage of Viagra.
For example, in clinical trials conducted as part of Viagra’s FDA approval process in the United States, 74 percent of men with erectile dysfunction reported improved erections after using the medication.6
In comparison, 63 percent and 82 percent of men reported improvements after taking 25mg or 100mg of Viagra, respectively.7
A key advantage of the 50mg dosage is that it’s less likely to cause many of the most common side effects of Viagra than the 100mg dosage that’s used to treat severe ED.
For example, headaches — the most common side effect of Viagra — were only reported by 21 percent of men who used Viagra 50mg in clinical studies, compared to 28 percent of men who used the stronger 100mg tablet.8
Similarly, dyspepsia (pain and/or discomfort in the upper abdomen) was only reported by nine percent of men who used Viagra 50mg, compared to 17 percent of men who used Viagra at a dosage of 100mg.9
Put simply, the 50mg dose of sildenafil that’s used in Viagra Connect is a good “sweet spot” in terms of effectiveness and side effect risk for most men with erectile dysfunction. It works well, and it’s less likely to cause several issues that can make using this medication less pleasant.
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What to Do if Viagra Connect 50mg Doesn’t Work for You
Viagra Connect is a helpful one-size-fits-all erectile dysfunction treatment for most men, but it’s not necessarily the best medication for everyone.
If you have severe erectile dysfunction, the 50mg oral dose of sildenafil in Viagra Connect may not be enough to completely treat your sexual dysfunction.
On the other hand, if you only have mild ED, the 50mg typical dosage might be more than you need, meaning you’re more likely to experience side effects with no clinical benefit.
If you’ve tried Viagra Connect and feel like it isn’t quite right for you, you may want to consider an alternative treatment for ED, such as sildenafil (the generic drug form of Viagra) or tadalafil (the active ingredient in Cialis®).
Generic sildenafil treatment has several benefits. The first is that it’s available in more than one dosage, meaning you can take a larger dose if you have severe ED that doesn’t get better with the 50mg of sildenafil in Viagra Connect.
The second is that because sildenafil has exactly the same active ingredient as Viagra but not the famous brand name, the per-pill cost of sildenafil treatment is much lower.
For example, we offer sildenafil online in several doses, including 50mg and 100mg, from only £1.30 per dose, following a consultation with a clinician.
Tadalafil, on the other hand, is a long-lasting oral treatment for ED that can provide relief from your symptoms for up to 36 hours per dose.10 This makes it a good option to consider if you’re interested in having sex without having to carefully time your medication beforehand.
Tadalafil is also less affected by food than sildenafil — one of several differences we’ve covered in our Cialis vs. Viagra guide.
We offer tadalafil online, as well as a daily-use version of tadalafil that you can take on a daily basis for ongoing relief from erectile dysfunction.
The Bottom Line on Viagra Connect Dosage
As an over-the-counter erectile dysfunction pill, Viagra Connect is currently only available as a 50mg tablet. Other doses of Viagra or generic sildenafil, such as 25mg or 100mg, can only be purchased with a prescription.
We offer Viagra Connect online, making it easy to access this medication for ED without having to visit your local pharmacy.
We also offer a range of other erectile dysfunction medications, which are available following an online consultation with a provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate.
Not sure where to get started with ED medication? Our guide to what to expect from medication for erectile dysfunction explains more about how these treatments work, from their time to onset to their potential side effects, pricing and more.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice. Always talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of any treatment or medication.