Stanozolol
Winstrol / Winstrol Depot; oral & injectable 17aa AAS
Evidence grade 3 of 5, Mixed. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.
The written rationale for this grade is still being prepared.
- FDA
- Former US approval (hereditary angioedema; vascular disorders); largely discontinued in US; Schedule III
- WADA
- Prohibited at all times (S1 Anabolic Agents). The Ben Johnson case is the sport's defining stanozolol finding.
Reference only. Not medical advice.
This is something to take to a clinician. The Atlas can tell you what is known about stanozolol in general. It cannot tell you what is happening in your body, and the difference matters most for exactly the symptoms that bring people to this page.
Stanozolol is a 17-alpha-alkylated DHT-derivative, unusual for a fused pyrazole ring on the A-ring, available both orally and as a (water-based) injectable. It had legitimate FDA-approved uses, most durably the prophylaxis of hereditary angioedema. It is best known publicly as the steroid for which sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his 1988 Seoul Olympic 100m gold medal and world record. As a 17aa compound (hepatotoxic even when injected) it markedly suppresses HDL, can cause cholestatic and other liver injury, and produces dry, painful joints in many users.
The drug that ended Ben Johnson's Seoul gold, and a classic example of oral hepatotoxicity.
What people take it for
These are the reasons people give for taking it. They are not effects it has been shown to have.
- Hereditary angioedema
- Its most durable approved indication: prophylaxis against angioedema attacks by raising C1-inhibitor activity.
- Vascular/anemia/growth contexts (historical)
- Various older indications now largely abandoned.
How it is supposed to work
Stanozolol binds the androgen receptor to support protein synthesis and reduces SHBG (raising free fractions of co-administered hormones). It does not aromatize, so its effects are non-estrogenic ('dry'). In hereditary angioedema it raises C1-inhibitor and C4 levels, reducing attacks.
A 5-alpha-DHT-derived steroid with a pyrazole ring fused to the A-ring and 17-alpha-alkylation. Because the 17aa group is what confers hepatotoxicity, even the injectable form burdens the liver.
Injectable does not mean liver-sparing
A common misconception is that injecting stanozolol avoids the liver. Hepatotoxicity is driven by the 17-alpha-alkyl group, not the route, so injectable Winstrol carries hepatic risk too. Stanozolol is also notable for severe HDL suppression and for joint pain/dryness from reduced lubrication, on top of HPTA suppression.
Safety in detail
This intervention involves significant physiological effects and requires evaluation and monitoring by a qualified physician. Self-administration without medical oversight carries documented health risks.
- 17aa hepatotoxicity regardless of route (oral or injectable).
- Severe HDL suppression and adverse lipid profile.
- Joint pain/dryness commonly reported.
- HPTA suppression; virilization risk in women.
- Illicit supply with counterfeit/contamination risk.
Replacement is not the same as a cycle
Approved angioedema dosing was supervised and modest. Athletic/physique use is supraphysiological and unsanctioned; this entry provides no dosing or cycle guidance.
What it does to fertility
Suppresses LH/FSH and spermatogenesis; subfertility during use with variable recovery afterward.
What has to be monitored
The bloodwork this needs, and the reason it belongs with a clinician rather than a website.
- Liver function
- Lipid panel
- LH/FSH, testosterone
- Hematocrit
- Blood pressure
What people get wrong
Often said'Injectable Winstrol is safe for your liver'
ActuallyHepatotoxicity comes from the 17-alpha-alkyl group, not the injection route; injectable stanozolol still stresses the liver and severely suppresses HDL.
Often said'Winstrol is a light cutting steroid'
ActuallyIt causes pronounced lipid harm, joint pain, and HPTA suppression; 'light' refers only to water retention, not safety.
Who profits, and who pushes back
Nobody is named here yet, because we have not done that work on this entry. Read that as unfinished. Somebody almost certainly sells this, and somebody almost certainly disputes it. Assume both until we have checked.
How we got here
Stanozolol was developed by Winthrop in the early 1960s. It found legitimate use, most enduringly in hereditary angioedema. Its name became globally famous on September 27, 1988, when Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who had won the Seoul 100m in a world-record 9.79s, tested positive for stanozolol and was stripped of medal and record, a watershed moment for Olympic anti-doping.
- ~1962Stanozolol developed (Winthrop)
- 1960s-80sUsed for hereditary angioedema and other indications
- 1988Ben Johnson stripped of Seoul 100m gold after stanozolol positive
- 2000sLargely discontinued as a US human product
At a glance
- Class
- 17a-alkylated DHT-derivative (pyrazole A-ring)
- Forms
- Oral and aqueous injectable (both 17aa)
- Former medical use
- Hereditary angioedema prophylaxis
- Aromatization
- None
What this entry does not yet cover
What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about Stanozolol. A short entry is not a safe entry.
- Cost and market. We have not documented what it sells for or who sells it.
- Supply chain. We have not mapped where it is made.
- Who uses it. We have not documented the user groups.
- What could change. No forward-looking summary yet.
- How it compares. We have not set it against the alternatives.
- Children and teenagers. We have not checked what is known about younger people.
- What can go wrong. We have not written the risk line for this one. Read the safety section below rather than treating its absence as reassurance.
- Where we land. We have not taken a position on this yet.
Sources
The studies below are named and described, but not linked. You cannot open them from here and check our reading against them, which means this page is our summary of the literature rather than a document you can verify. Weigh it accordingly until the links exist.
The studies that matter
1988 Seoul Olympics doping case (Ben Johnson)1988
Johnson tested positive for stanozolol and was stripped of the 100m gold and world record within days, a landmark anti-doping event.
Hepatotoxicity literature on 17aa steroids incl. stanozololvarious
Documents cholestatic injury, lipid derangement and rare hepatic vascular lesions.