Contraceptive Patch
What to Expect From Contraceptive Patch?
By Isaq Naser
A contraceptive patch is a transdermal patch applied to the skin that releases synthetic estrogen and progestin hormones to avoid pregnancy. Ortho Evra is the first contraceptive patch approved for birth control contraceptive for women by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Contraceptive Patch
It is very easy to use, especially for women who difficulty remember to take birth control pills regularly but the woman using contraceptive patch must remember to change it three times a month.
It is applied to the abdomen, upper arm, buttocks or upper torso. You must change the contraceptive patch each week for a schedule of 3 weeks on and 1 week off. The patch release estrogen and progestin hormones alternately through the skin. The contraceptive patch will be about 99% effective if it is used correctly but it will be only 92% effective if it used for women weighing 198 pounds or more.
It is advised that all women applying the contraceptive patch continue to use female condoms, to protect from HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases. Or you can read tips How to Put on A Condom for your partner.
Side Effects (source: Wikipedia.org)
There are some side effects from contraceptive patch. The clinical trials involving a total of 3,330 women using the contraceptive patch for more than one year, 12% of users discontinued the patch because of unpleasant events. The most frequent unpleasant events leading to patch discontinuation were: application site reaction (1.9%), headache (1.1%), nausea or vomiting (2.4%), emotional lability (1.0%), engorgement or pain (1.9%), and breast discomfort.
See also In Vitro Fertilization for the best choice for having a baby.
