The Food and Drug Administration has just approved a new, lower estrogen birth control patch for the market.
“It’s very exciting because not everything works the same for every person,” said Dr. Anne Banfield, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital in Maryland.
The new product is called Gwyn Lo and it is the lowest estrogen patch dose yet.
“The estrogen component of combined contraception can often be associated with nausea, breast soreness, headaches,” she said. “It is the component of birth control that can increase the risk for patients to have a blood clot, heart attack or stroke. And so, by having options that have lower doses of estrogen available that can make patients feel much safer about it.”
You wear each patch for seven days at a time for a total of three patches over three weeks. You remove the patch and then, “have what would be a hormone-free week, and that’s the week that the bleeding or period would occur,” Banfield said.
So what makes it different?
“In this case, the dose of estrogen is lower than the other patches that are available on the market, and the dose of progesterone is slightly higher,” she said. “Because of the higher dose of progesterone and the lower dose of estrogen over time, this is a type of birth control that can make periods shorter and lighter, so less bleeding.”
She said it can be used to decrease bleeding for those who have heavy periods.
“Or to help to control pain for people who have crampy and uncomfortable periods,” Banfield said.
The patch has not been recommended for women with a BMI greater than 30 because it may impact the effectiveness, Banfield said.
The patch is expected to be available through prescription later this year.
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