Pros and cons of using vaginal pills for contraception
The peculiarity of some medications applied in gynecology and birth control is that they may be used both orally and vaginally. The same thing is true for oral contraceptive pills. The safety and effectiveness of applying oral hormonal contraception via vagina have been checked in several clinical studies.
One of them was performed among 124 female-participants who administered vaginal contraceptives for the period from 6 to 20 months. Not a single woman got pregnant during the defined period. Hence, these tablets really work. Furthermore, they are effective regardless of the age of the patient. The control of fertility at 35, 40 or 20 years may be successfully fulfilled with the help of vaginal pills.
However, there are a lot of other birth preventive methods available so why choose this one and are there any cons of vaginal pills usage?
Benefits of vaginal pills contraception choice
The primary advantage of vaginal hormonal tablets has been already named. It’s effectiveness. Otherwise, there’s no sense in using them. However, this is not the only benefit a woman can expect when making her choice in favor of vaginal pills contraception. The other positive sides are:
- Fewer side effects. If compared to the oral route of administering hormonal contraceptives, vaginal pills lower the probability of experiencing such unwanted reactions as a headache, nausea, vomiting. Besides, the percent of women facing any adverse reactions associated with vaginal hormonal contraception pills is only 5%.
- Weight loss. Despite common opinion that hormonal contraceptives promote weight gain, the results of some clinical trials revealed that 9% of women lost weight.
- Vaginal administering of the medicines is possible in all women, whereas oral intake may be contraindicated in some cases.
- Regular menstrual cycle.
Drawbacks of vaginal pills contraception
Of course, when there are pros, there are also cons. Among the major disadvantages of applying the mentioned method of birth control are:
- Inconvenience of application. Of course, it is much easier to take a pill orally if compared to vaginal administering. Some women may find it distasteful to insert the pills into the vagina on the daily basis.
- Adverse effects. Even though the frequency and the severity of unwanted reactions are significantly lower with vaginal tablets, side effects still occur. Among them are vaginal discharge, irritation of the vagina, breast pain, headaches, acne, increased nervousness.
- A very small percent of women may have breakthrough bleeding.
