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Add subdermal implant to options for teens
By Anita Brakman , MS Director of Education, Research & Training Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health New York City and Melanie Gold , DO, FAAP, FACOP Clinical Professor of Pediatrics University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Staff Physician University of Pittsburgh Student Health Service
Most adolescents who use contraception rely on combination oral contraceptive pills. 1 Unfortunately, this method poses challenges in daily maintenance. Both the transdermal patch and vaginal ring entail less maintenance, yet still require patients to remember when to remove the method and replace it on the skin or in the vagina on a weekly or monthly basis, respectively. Therefore, long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods that are provider-inserted and require less user maintenance may be especially useful to adolescent patients who are looking to postpone childbearing for several years.
As reported in this issue of Contraceptive Technology Update , the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recently released a practice bulletin on LARC methods focusing on intrauterine devices and implants. 2 In addition, much has been written about the benefits of intrauterine contraception for teens and other nulliparous women. 3-5
Less has been written, however, about the contraceptive implant. Use of this method is not even tracked by the National Survey of Family Growth, the major data source on contraceptive use in the United States, which makes it difficult to assess how well the method is being utilized by adolescents and older women.
The only contraceptive implant available in the United States is Implanon (Merck & Co., Kenilworth, NJ), a single-rod device approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006. Implanon is placed as an outpatient procedure subdermally in the...