Hormone patch or a gel is not a best idea in general as skin has it's saturation limit after which it can't absorb the substance anymore, so places should be rotated, and it may get tricky. Dosing that way becomes uncertain too. IM is a best way to administer any hormone (for females there is a way to use a cream in their wag 
)
This is a gray zone regarding these questions, no obsolete evidence yet. I guess we are stuck with anecdotical examples of golden era bb'ers, most of them are alive and well at an old age. If we talk current bb'ing field, well... I dare to say that hormones probably are still far from very dangerous, as some of these guys are pushing the envelope for a decade or more and still seem to be alive and well, some unfortunate ones and biggest extremists drop dead at 30-40 tho'. But it still blows my mind of how much of that stuff body can take and they are posing on the stage dehydrated and not lying in a hospital bed. I have no doubt that a good amount of them will get serious health issues due to usage of insulin alone, it is a very very bad hormone to have in excess in ones body.
I agree IM is best way to deliver it, but from a TRT perspective I wonder if its providing far higher levels of testosterone rather than replacement, as often TRT users typically report effects that they felt better than ever, or better than when they had nornal natural test levels which suggest they are getting a higher than therapuetic dose.
In terms of general steroid use, I think many users will go through life without problems, I think to a large extent it is luck of the genes and also use vs abuse. One thing I have always been amazed by in particular is the few guys I know who were not into bodybuilding that much but wanted to build some muscle and did one or two cycles and nothing else. They seem to have benefited the most long term, as they are able to maintain their mass gained with minimal training and nutrition, its like the first couple of cycles didnt impact their test levels enough, so when they came off their own test levels stayed at a level high enough to maintain the gains long term.
Anyway back to your point, I do think its down to a combination of luck and genes interms of survival for the heavy user. If Im not mistaken there are far more top white bodybuilders who have died than black ones for example.
Users who stick to test probably at lower risk than those who use orals or things like tren and other substances.
