A friend of mine decided that he wanted a RX for testosterone in an attempt to be a little more 'legal' in what he did. Naturally, he used some deca to send his testosterone level far below normal, got blood work done, and was told he would be a great candidate for TRT.
The doctor gave him a prescription for Androgel, 50mg a day. He applied the Androgel on the insides of his legs every day for a month (doctors orders) and got blood work again. His testosterone level had hardly rose at all. The doctor doubled the amount he was to take, and the next month he got blood work again and there was only slight improvement.
Transdermal medications work, but everyone is different. My friend asked the doctor why he was not given something like Cypionate, and the doctor told him that every time you do an injection, you risk infection. Even if its just a 0.001% chance, there is still a chance, but Androgel is safe.
He eventually was put on Cypionate because he did not have good results with the Androgel. The Cypionate worked as expected, and he's now a happy camper with a prescription for Testosterone, which makes him feel much safer when he travels with it.
A real concern is making sure that it doesnt get on your wife/gf/child. This is a downside to Androgel, and in my mind, unacceptable.
My buddy gave me the Androgel he had left over, and I gave it to a friend. The friend that I gave it to actually got very good results with it!
Long term results are similar to the long term results of testosterone in general. You are suppressing your bodies natural production of testosterone just as you would with an injected form.
In my opinion, IM injections of testosterone are the way to go. You can get very stable levels doing an injection once a week. Having to rub some gel on my body everyday, while making sure I was the only one that came in contact with that gel would be a pain for me.
One last thing, after my friend was switched to IM injections, he asked the doctor what he personally used. The doctor told him that he personally used Cypionate as well because he did not get the results he wanted with the gel.
I hope some of what I wrote was helpful for you.
G