Contraception: Your Questions Answered

This seventh edition has been completely revised and updated, incorporating relevant WHO and national guidance documents: therefore imparting best evidence-based practice for all methods.

Combined oral contraceptives (COCs) Based on the long-established evidence that 7 days of routinely not-taking pills in each cycle is too long for maintained ovarian suppression - and this necessarily leads to too little margin for errors in pill-taking - the authors recommend that providers switch to a new norm for all users of either:

Tricycling, the 84/4 regimen, or totally continuous use (365/365),

OR, for women who remain keen to see monthly pill-bleeds (which are completely unnecessary for health), one of the regimens (24/4 or 21/4) that shorten the contraception-non-taking time to 4 days

New methods, and their importance or otherwise:

Intrauterine system: Jaydess®

Subcutaneous, self-injectable alternative to Depo-Provera: Sayana® Press

24/4 combined hormonal contraceptives: Zoely®, Eloine®

Diaphragm: Caya®

Updates

Quick starting and bridging (the Proving not Pregnant Protocol)

Emergency contraception (EC), how advice differs for ulipristal acetate EC

Drug metabolism (implications with norethisterone) and interactions (eg affecting lamotrigine)