It’s like a square band-aid that you put on your skin every week for three weeks in a row and then nothing for a fourth week. It works two ways – it prevents the egg from ever getting released and also makes the mucus of your cervix (at the end of your vagina) super thick so sperm can’t get through. It uses a hormone that naturally occurs in your body- estrogen and progestin. It’s great because you only have to think about it once a week (instead of every day like a pill) but it does nothing for STDs.
Issues: Because it has estrogen in it, if you also smoke cigarettes, the patch isn’t for you. Also, you shouldn’t smoke (we have to say that because we’re doctors)
The patch hasn’t been studied in people who weigh more than 200 lbs. We don’t know if it’s as effective or not. It very well could be, we just don’t know.
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