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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly all women living in the United States use contraception at some point in their lives.
While the top choices for birth control are female sterilization and oral contraceptive pills, long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are on the rise. In fact, the most recent data shows that LARCs are the most common choice for birth control among women between the ages of 20-39.
For many women, the right birth control method isn’t just about what’s most effective in preventing pregnancy. When it comes to choosing a birth control method, you may also have to think about your lifestyle and other health needs.
Because birth control methods are not one-size-fits-all, our team at the Center for Women’s Health in Sugar Land and Richmond, Texas, is passionate about helping you discover the type that works best for you, which might be a LARC.
In this month’s blog, we discuss the benefits of LARCs to help you better understand if they could be the right birth control for you.
What do LARCs have to offer?
The two most common types of long-acting reversible birth control are implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs).
An implant is a thin rod, about the size of a matchstick, that’s placed in your arm and releases hormones to prevent you from getting pregnant. An IUD is a small piece of flexible plastic that’s shaped like the letter T. It’s placed in your uterus and uses copper or hormones to prevent sperm from reaching an egg.
Both options have a lot of benefits, which is why so many women are opting for them. Let’s take a look at a few things LARCs have to offer:
Efficacy
Both implants and IUDs are 99% effective at preventing pregnancy, making them the top methods for protection against unwanted pregnancies. So, if you know that you don’t want to grow your family anytime soon, you can rest assured that these devices will do just that.
However, these methods are also reversible, meaning if you decide at any point that you want to become pregnant, the device can be removed and you can begin trying to conceive.
Convenient
Although oral contraceptives and condoms are easily accessible and still work to prevent pregnancy, you have to remember to take the pill or use the barrier consistently, or they lose all effectiveness.
With LARCs, you can simply get the device and let it do all the work for you. While you still need to use condoms to protect against STDs, the LARC does the heavy lifting for pregnancy prevention.
This is especially helpful if you live a hectic lifestyle and don’t always remember to take oral contraceptives.
Painful and heavy period relief
If you have particularly heavy and painful periods, choosing an implant or hormonal IUD can regulate and lighten your periods.
Is long-term birth control right for you?
If you’re looking for a highly effective and convenient birth control method, an IUD or implant could be right for you. However, there are always a lot of factors to consider before choosing a new form of birth control.
To learn more about LARCs or any of the other forms of birth control that our Center for Women’s Health team offers, schedule an appointment by calling your nearest office location or using our online booking feature today.