Looking for a safe way to order Viagra online? Here is a convenient side-by-side comparison of the services and prices available from three online vendors. 

Introduction

Shopping online for Viagra — or any erectile dysfunction drug, really — can be a somewhat risky proposition. Particularly if you don’t know anything about the online vendor you may be dealing with.

Fortunately, a handful of reputable online suppliers — all based in the United States — make it easier and safer than ever for men with erection problems to get the help that they need. All use cutting-edge telemedicine technologies to ensure that these ED medications are prescribed appropriately. In other words, you’ll still need a prescription to buy one of these drugs, but you’ll be dealing with medical professionals remotely rather than face-to-face.

And for many men, face-to-face sit-downs with their regular physician or any doctor are uncomfortable and time-consuming, causing them to avoid getting help for the understandably sensitive matters of sexual health and function.

This article compares the services available from three such online vendors: Edrugstore, Hims, and Roman. The first of these three has been around since the late 1990s, while the other two are relative newcomers that have debuted online in the last couple of years.

How Their ED Drug Offerings Compare

All three online vendors are best known for the sale of ED medications. However, the selection of ED drugs available from Hims and Roman is relatively limited compared with those of eDrugstore. Hims sells only brand-name Viagra, along with 20-milligram tablets of sildenafil citrate and monthly packets of daily tadalafil, the generic equivalent of daily Cialis.

Roman offers both brand-name Viagra and Cialis and their generic equivalents, as well as low-cost 20-milligram tablets of sildenafil citrate.

In contrast, eDrugstore sells all five FDA-approved brand-name ED drugs — Viagra, Levitra, Cialis, Staxyn, and Stendra — and the generic equivalents of Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis.

Both Hims and Roman widely advertise low-cost sildenafil citrate, which is the active ingredient in Viagra. However, what they’re selling is 20-milligram tablets of sildenafil, a dose that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH), a form of high blood pressure that targets the lungs. This is actually the generic equivalent of Revatio, a Pfizer drug designed expressly for the treatment of PAH.

The recommended starting dose of Viagra (or its generic equivalent) is 50 milligrams, meaning that it would take two or three 20-milligram tablets of sildenafil to approximate the recommended starting dose for treating ED. On its FAQ page, eDrugstore notes that it doesn’t sell 20-milligram tablets of sildenafil because it “does not approve of off-label prescribing. Twenty-milligram Revatio (sildenafil) is only approved for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and is not FDA approved or clinically tested to treat erection dysfunction.”

What Else They Sell

While ED medications are clearly their primary offering, all three online vendors also offer a limited selection of other lifestyle medications and products. In addition to Viagra, sildenafil citrate, and tadalafil, Hims sells gummy vitamins, hair and skin care products, and antiviral medications to treat cold sores.

At Roman, you can find medications for the treatment of premature ejaculation, hair loss, cold sores, and genital herpes, as well as smoking cessation products.

The product selection at eDrugstore includes not only a full range of ED medications, both brand-name and generic, but also medications for the treatment of hair loss, cold sores, genital herpes, seasonal allergies, and acid reflux. Also available from eDrugstore are medications to help consumers to stop smoking and to shed unwanted pounds.

Subscriber Service or Not?

While both Hims and Roman are subscriber services, eDrugstore is not. Each order you place with eDrugstore is a stand-alone transaction and in no way obligates the consumer to continue receiving a medication on a regular basis.

When you place an order with Hims or Roman, it is usually for a month’s or quarter’s supply of a product. You will continue to get the same monthly or quarterly shipment of that product until you terminate your subscription.

Getting a Prescription?

As previously noted, all three vendors offer low-cost or complimentary online consultations with licensed U.S. physicians. These are conducted via health history questionnaires that are filled out by prospective customers. The information supplied is then evaluated by doctors to determine if the customer is an appropriate candidate for the drug. Certain underlying medical conditions as well as certain medications are incompatible with oral ED drugs, so would-be customers suffering from such conditions or taking those drugs would be rejected.

The prices charged by Hims and Roman for these services are relatively low and may be included in the package prices for first orders, but at eDrugstore these consultations are always complimentary. As an added extra, eDrugstore ships a free pill splitter with all first orders.

Getting in Touch

In its guidelines for selecting an online pharmacy, the FDA recommends choosing one that provides a physical address and telephone number in the United States and has a licensed pharmacist to answer questions.

All three of these online vendors are based in the United States, although only eDrugstore.com’s website lists the physical street address and local phone number of its headquarters. Also listed is a toll-free number. An interactive chat feature is also available.  The eDrugstore website also indicates that it has licensed pharmacists on hand to answer questions from potential customers.

At the Hims website, there is a contact email address and an online Help? feature, but attempts to interact with it in real time were unsuccessful. There may be a delay before queries are responded to.

Customers at the Roman website can interact directly with customer representatives through the site’s chat feature. Also listed at the site are a toll-free phone number and an email address.

A Cautionary Note

While all three online vendors offer low-cost or free online consultations with licensed U.S. physicians, such interactions are not intended to be a substitute for regular physical examinations and face-to-face consultations with family physicians or specialists.

Because ED can be caused by underlying medical conditions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, it’s important to see a doctor in person on a regular basis to ensure that such health problems don’t exist. However, if they do, your doctor can lay out a treatment plan to keep such problems from getting worse.

Which to Choose

While all three of these online vendors have some things in common, they differ sharply in terms of their breadth of ED drug selections. Only eDrugstore sells all five brand-name ED medications, as well as all of the currently approved generic equivalents of ED drugs.

Bear in mind that the low-priced sildenafil available from both Hims and Roman is actually the generic equivalent of Revatio, which is approved by the FDA only for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Although this form of the drug has not been approved for ED, taking multiple 20-milligram tablets can approximate the typical dose of sildenafil contained in Viagra.

It’s also worth pointing out again that both Hims and Roman are subscription services. Your monthly or quarterly order will continue to be filled until you cancel your subscription.

To learn more about the ED drugs available from eDrugstore, as well as the services it offers, pay a visit to eDrugstore’s Erectile Dysfunction page.