Vidalista 20 Dosage: How to Take It, When It Works and How Long It Lasts

Vidalista 20 is a tadalafil tablet from Centurion Laboratories in India, labelled to contain 20 mg of tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis. This guide is about using it: what dose to start on, how long before sex to take it, how long it lasts, how often you can take it, and which men need a lower dose or a longer gap between doses.

We found no published clinical trials of Vidalista itself, and it has not been assessed by the FDA, the MHRA, the TGA or Health Canada, so the figures below come from the US prescribing information for Cialis (tadalafil). If you are weighing Vidalista against the brand, our Vidalista 20 vs Cialis comparison covers that. If you are ready to order, the Vidalista 20 product page has the packs, prices and delivery details.

The short answer

Take one tablet whole, with or without food, at least 30 minutes before sex, and no more than once a day. The effect can last up to about 36 hours. But 20 mg is the maximum dose for use as needed, not the starting dose: the tadalafil label recommends 10 mg for most men. Men with kidney or liver problems, and men taking certain medicines, have lower limits that a 20 mg tablet goes over. Never take tadalafil with nitrates.

Vidalista 20 at a glance

Question	Answer
Active ingredient	Tadalafil 20 mg per tablet (labelled)
Brand owner	Centurion Laboratories, Vadodara, India
Where 20 mg sits in the label	Maximum dose for use as needed; the usual starting dose is 10 mg
When to take it	At least 30 minutes before sex
How long it can work	Up to 36 hours after a dose
How often	No more than once a day
Food	No effect on absorption; take it with or without food
Regulatory status	Not approved by the FDA, MHRA, TGA or Health Canada

Is 20 mg the right starting dose?

For most men, no. The tadalafil label says the recommended starting dose for use as needed is 10 mg, taken before expected sexual activity. The dose can then go up to 20 mg or down to 5 mg depending on how well it works and how well it is tolerated.

Twenty milligrams does work a little better on average. In 11 pooled trials, 68% of attempts were successful on 20 mg, against 58% on 10 mg and 31% on placebo. The European Medicines Agency judged the difference between 10 mg and 20 mg "rather marginal", with only a few men expected to gain more from 20 mg than from 10 mg. Headache and indigestion were also reported more often at 20 mg in the pooled trials (see the side effects table below), although the EMA judged the safety of the two doses similar.

A practical point: Vidalista 10 costs less per tablet than Vidalista 20 in every pack size we sell. Starting there and moving up only if needed follows the label and costs less.

How to take a dose

• Swallow one tablet whole with water. The Cialis label says the tablets should not be split; the entire dose should be taken.
• Food makes no difference: the label says the rate and extent of absorption are not influenced by food.
• Sexual stimulation is still needed. Tadalafil does not cause an erection on its own.
• Do not take it with any other PDE5 inhibitor: other tadalafil (including daily tadalafil, or tadalafil for pulmonary arterial hypertension such as Adcirca), sildenafil (including Revatio), vardenafil or avanafil.

How long before sex to take it

The label tells patients to take a dose at least 30 minutes before sexual activity. One trial measured this directly: 223 men took tadalafil 10 mg, 20 mg or placebo and used a stopwatch to time their first successful erection.

Group	Successful erection within 30 minutes
Placebo	35% (26 of 74)
Tadalafil 10 mg	38% (28 of 74)
Tadalafil 20 mg	52% (39 of 75)

So about half of the men on 20 mg had a successful erection within half an hour. At 10 mg, the 30-minute result was close to placebo, so allow more time before judging a 10 mg dose. Blood levels keep rising after that: peak levels arrive between 30 minutes and 6 hours after a dose, with a median of 2 hours. If time allows, taking it a couple of hours ahead is reasonable, and there is no need to time it to the minute.

How long the effect lasts

Tadalafil's average half-life is 17.5 hours, far longer than sildenafil's 4 hours. The label says tadalafil improved erectile function compared with placebo up to 36 hours after dosing. In one study of 348 men, attempts were deliberately timed about a day or a day and a half after a 20 mg dose.

Time after the dose	Placebo	Tadalafil 20 mg
About 24 hours (22 to 26 hours)	37%	61%
About 36 hours (33 to 39 hours)	37%	64%

The figures are the share of men with at least one successful attempt. The long window is the main practical difference from sildenafil; our tadalafil vs sildenafil guide compares the two in detail.

How often you can take it

The label sets the maximum frequency for use as needed at once a day in most men. The EU product information says tadalafil 10 mg and 20 mg are intended for use before expected sex and are not recommended for continuous daily use. When Cialis was first approved, the European Medicines Agency strongly discouraged daily use of these doses because long-term safety data were too limited. If you want to have sex on most days, a daily low dose is the labelled option.

Daily low dose instead of 20 mg as needed

Tadalafil is also approved as a once-daily tablet for erectile dysfunction, taken at about the same time every day without timing it to sex. In the US label the starting dose is 2.5 mg, which can be increased to 5 mg. The EU and UK product information recommends 5 mg, reduced to 2.5 mg if needed, for men who expect to use tadalafil at least twice a week.

Daily dosing has its own limits. With a potent CYP3A4 inhibitor such as ketoconazole or ritonavir, the maximum is 2.5 mg a day. Below 30 mL/min creatinine clearance or on dialysis, daily tadalafil is not recommended, and mild or moderate liver impairment needs caution. Because a daily dose keeps tadalafil in the blood all the time, the nitrate and interaction warnings apply every day. The Vidalista range includes Vidalista 2.5 and Vidalista 5 for this. Our generic Cialis guide compares the two schedules.

Doses for kidney problems

Kidney impairment raises tadalafil levels: exposure doubled in people with creatinine clearance of 30 to 80 mL/min, and rose 2.7 to 4.8 times in people on dialysis. Even so, the label sets no dose limit above 50 mL/min. These are its limits for use as needed:

Kidney function (creatinine clearance)	Label limit for use as needed	Can Vidalista 20 be used?
Above 50 mL/min	No adjustment	Yes, within the usual rules
30 to 50 mL/min	Start at 5 mg not more than once a day; maximum 10 mg not more than once every 48 hours	No, 20 mg is above the maximum
Below 30 mL/min or on dialysis	Maximum 5 mg not more than once every 72 hours	No

Doses for liver problems

With mild or moderate liver impairment (Child-Pugh class A or B), the label says the dose should not exceed 10 mg once a day, so a 20 mg tablet is above the limit. With severe liver impairment (Child-Pugh class C), tadalafil is not recommended at all.

Medicines that change the dose

• Potent CYP3A4 inhibitors such as ketoconazole, itraconazole or ritonavir raise tadalafil levels sharply. The label limit is 10 mg, not more than once every 72 hours. The patient information also names the antibiotics clarithromycin, telithromycin and erythromycin, and grapefruit juice is likely to raise levels too.
• Medicines that lower tadalafil levels: rifampicin cut tadalafil exposure by 88%, and carbamazepine, phenytoin and phenobarbital are likely to lower it as well. The label says no dose change is needed, but expects the lower levels to reduce the effect of daily tadalafil by an unknown amount.
• Alpha blockers such as doxazosin, tamsulosin or alfuzosin can combine with tadalafil to lower blood pressure enough to cause dizziness or fainting. Be stable on the alpha blocker first, then start at the lowest recommended dose, so Vidalista 20 is not a starting dose here. The label does not recommend tadalafil with an alpha blocker when tadalafil is being used to treat an enlarged prostate (BPH).
• Other blood pressure medicines: tadalafil can add to their blood-pressure-lowering effect. Check with a doctor first.

Age 65 and over

Age alone does not call for a lower dose. Healthy men aged 65 and over had about 25% higher tadalafil exposure than younger men, and the label says no dose adjustment is needed on age alone, although some older men may be more sensitive to medicines. Diarrhoea was reported more often in men of 65 and over in the as-needed trials (2.5%). Older men are more likely to have kidney problems or take interacting medicines, which do change the dose.

Alcohol

Both alcohol and tadalafil lower blood pressure slightly. The label warns that substantial drinking (5 units or more) together with tadalafil can increase the chance of a faster heart rate, a fall in blood pressure on standing, dizziness and headache. Keep drinking light on days you take it.

Side effects by dose

These rates come from eight placebo-controlled trials of tadalafil taken as needed, pooled together. The doses were not compared within a single trial, and the table lists side effects reported by at least 2% of men and more often than on placebo.

Side effect	Placebo	5 mg	10 mg	20 mg
Headache	5%	11%	11%	15%
Indigestion	1%	4%	8%	10%
Back pain	3%	3%	5%	6%
Muscle aches	1%	1%	4%	3%
Nasal congestion	1%	2%	3%	3%
Flushing	1%	2%	3%	3%
Pain in a limb	1%	1%	3%	3%

Back pain and muscle aches usually started 12 to 24 hours after a dose and settled within 48 hours, so they can appear the day after sex. In these trials, 3.1% of men on 10 or 20 mg stopped because of side effects, against 1.4% on placebo.

If a dose does not seem to work

• Do not take a second tablet the same day. The maximum is one dose a day.
• Check that there was enough sexual stimulation and enough time after the dose.
• Try on several separate occasions before judging it.
• If 10 mg was not enough and was well tolerated, 20 mg is the next step the label allows.
• If 20 mg taken correctly does not work, see a doctor rather than moving to a higher strength. Erectile dysfunction itself can be an early sign of heart disease or diabetes, so new or worsening problems are worth a medical check; our guide to the causes of erectile dysfunction explains why.

Higher strengths and taking too much

No tadalafil dose above 20 mg is approved for erectile dysfunction. Early dose-finding studies tested 2 mg to 100 mg, and 100 mg was the worst tolerated. When Cialis was approved, the European Medicines Agency noted that no dose-titration studies had tested higher doses in men who did not respond well to 10 or 20 mg. Our high-dose tadalafil guide covers 40 mg, 60 mg and 80 mg tablets.

If you have taken more than one tablet in a day, or a strength above 20 mg, and feel unwell, contact a doctor or emergency services. The label's overdose section notes that single doses up to 500 mg were given to healthy volunteers under study conditions; that does not show that doses above 20 mg are safe to take, especially with heart disease, blood pressure medicines or interacting drugs.

Nitrates and emergencies

Never take tadalafil if you use nitrates in any form, including nitroglycerin and amyl or butyl nitrite "poppers": the combination can cause a dangerous fall in blood pressure. Because tadalafil lasts so long, the label says at least 48 hours should pass after the last dose before a nitrate is considered, even in a life-threatening situation, and then only with close monitoring. The patient information adds that tadalafil can stay in the body longer in men with kidney or liver problems or who take certain other medicines. If you need emergency care for chest pain, tell the staff that you took tadalafil and when.

Get urgent help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours, or chest pain during sex. A prolonged erection can permanently damage the penis if it is not treated promptly. For sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes, or sudden loss of hearing, stop taking tadalafil and get medical help straight away. Sudden vision loss from NAION, a problem with blood flow to the optic nerve, has been reported rarely with all PDE5 inhibitors; observational studies suggest about a 2-fold higher risk shortly after a dose, and men who have had NAION before are at higher risk of it happening again.

Who should not take Vidalista 20

• Anyone using nitrates, or a guanylate cyclase stimulator such as riociguat or vericiguat.
• Anyone who has had a serious allergic reaction to tadalafil or any ingredient of the tablet.
• Men for whom sex is inadvisable because of a heart condition. The label does not recommend tadalafil for men who had a heart attack in the last 90 days or a stroke in the last 6 months, men with unstable angina or angina during sex, heart failure (NYHA class 2 or worse) in the last 6 months, uncontrolled arrhythmias, blood pressure below 90/50 or uncontrolled high blood pressure.
• Men with severe liver impairment, or with hereditary retinal disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa (not recommended).

Talk to a doctor first if you have aortic stenosis, a deformed penis, a condition that raises the risk of prolonged erections (sickle cell anaemia, multiple myeloma, leukaemia), a previous sudden vision loss (NAION), a bleeding disorder or an active stomach ulcer. Tadalafil is for adult men only, and it does not protect against sexually transmitted infections.

Which Vidalista strength fits which dose

Product	Tadalafil	Where it sits in the label
Vidalista 2.5	2.5 mg	Starting dose for once-daily use
Vidalista 5	5 mg	Once-daily dose, or a lower as-needed dose
Vidalista 10	10 mg	Usual starting dose for use as needed
Vidalista 20	20 mg	Maximum dose for use as needed
Vidalista 40, Vidalista 60, Vidalista 80	40 to 80 mg	Above the labelled maximum; not approved for erectile dysfunction

Prescription and legal status

Tadalafil is a prescription medicine in the US, Australia and Canada, and in the UK apart from Cialis Together 10 mg, which pharmacies can sell after a consultation. Vidalista is not licensed by the FDA, the MHRA, the TGA or Health Canada. In the US, the FDA says personal importation of unapproved medicines is illegal in most circumstances. The UK MHRA warns that medicines not authorised in the UK can be unsafe or ineffective and advises UK buyers to use only UK-registered pharmacies. See a doctor before starting tadalafil, especially if you have heart disease or take regular medicines.

Checking what you receive

Check that each strip names Centurion Laboratories and shows the strength, a batch number and an expiry date, and reject strips that are damaged, unsealed or unmarked. These checks cannot prove a tablet is genuine, because counterfeiters copy packaging. If a batch causes unusual symptoms, stop using it, seek medical advice, and report it to your medicines regulator (the MHRA Yellow Card scheme in the UK, FDA MedWatch in the US) as well as to the seller.

Sources

• CIALIS (tadalafil) US prescribing information (Eli Lilly), revised March 2026, sections 2, 4, 5, 6.1, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 17, and Patient Information. DailyMed
• Cialis EU product information, section 4.2. European Medicines Agency
• VIAGRA (sildenafil citrate) US prescribing information, section 12.3. DailyMed
• MHRA. MHRA reclassifies Cialis Together tablets to a pharmacy medicine. GOV.UK
• European Medicines Agency. Cialis EPAR, scientific discussion. EMA
• Carson CC et al. The efficacy and safety of tadalafil: an update. BJU Int 2004. PMID 15180622.
• MHRA. 20 million illegal erectile dysfunction pills seized as MHRA warns against risky online buys, 13 February 2026. GOV.UK
• US Food and Drug Administration. Personal Importation. FDA

This guide is for information only and is not medical advice. Tadalafil is a prescription medicine in most countries; speak to a doctor or pharmacist before using it.