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Dr. Stephens offers comprehensive family planning services. The medical team specializes in customized care to ensure you can plan the family of your dreams.
To prevent unwanted pregnancies, the team at Dr. Jacqueline Stephen's offers a wide range of contraceptives, including:
Also as part of the family planning services, the team can explain the use of condoms as birth control and their role in preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), as well as other non-prescription birth control methods, like diaphragms.
The right birth control method depends on a variety of factors, including your personal and family medical history and your plans for a family. The team at Dr. Jacqueline Stephen's takes the time to review your information and help you make the most informed decision.
If you’re looking for a birth control option that will allow you to have children in the near future, you may be a candidate for birth control pills, patches, or the vaginal ring. These methods deliver a steady dose of hormones to prevent sperm from fertilizing the egg.
If you’re unable to tolerate hormones, you may need to use non-hormonal birth control methods, like condoms or a diaphragm.
The team at Dr. Jacqueline Stephen's also offers in-office placement of an IUD, a device that goes into your uterus to prevent pregnancy. They offer both hormonal and non-hormonal IUDs.
NEXPLANON works using a hormone that stops an egg from being released by your ovary and prevents sperm from reaching the egg. It also changes the lining of your uterus.
Nexplanon prevents pregnancy by continually releasing a low dose of progestin over a three-year period. The amount of progestin released slowly decreases over time. By the end of the third year, the dose released is too small to prevent pregnancy, which is why the implant must be removed at that time.
This birth control implant is inserted under the skin of your upper arm by a trained medical professional. Before implantation, you will be given a local anesthetic to numb the area. Your healthcare provider will then use a special applicator that will guide Nexplanon under the skin of your arm.
The insertion process only takes a few minutes. After Nexplanon is implanted, you will need to wear a pressure bandage for 24 hours and then a smaller bandage for three to five days after.
Nexplanon is 99.9% effective when inserted correctly. With typical use, 1 of every 100 women who use Nexplanon for a year will become pregnant.
Nexplanon may be less effective if you are overweight. This is because the amount of hormone actively circulating in the blood will be lower in women with a high body mass index (BMI) compared to those with a normal BMI.
To this end, some healthcare providers will recommend replacement between the second and third years in women with a higher body weight, rather than waiting until the end of the third year.
There are many lifestyle and health benefits to consider when deciding to use Nexplanon. These include:
In addition, Nexplanon may be a good option for you if you don't want to get pregnant now, but want flexibility with family planning after ending birth control use.
Unlike some forms of hormonal contraception, fertility returns quickly once you stop using Nexplanon, often within 14 days.
An IUD is a tiny device that's put into your uterus to prevent pregnancy. It’s long-term, reversible, and one of the most effective birth control methods out there.
IUD stands for Intrauterine Device (basically: a device inside your uterus). It's a small piece of flexible plastic shaped like a T. Sometimes it’s called an IUC — intrauterine contraception.
Both copper IUDs and hormonal IUDs prevent pregnancy by changing the way sperm cells move so they can't get to an egg. If sperm can’t make it to an egg, pregnancy can’t happen.
The Paragard IUD uses copper to prevent pregnancy. Sperm doesn’t like copper, so the Paragard IUD makes it almost impossible for sperm to get to that egg.
The hormones in the Mirena, Kyleena, Liletta, and Skyla IUDs prevent pregnancy in two ways: 1) they thicken the mucus that lives on the cervix, which blocks and traps the sperm, and 2) the hormones also sometimes stop eggs from leaving your ovaries (called ovulation), which means there’s no egg for a sperm to fertilize. No egg, no pregnancy.
One of the awesome things about IUDs is that they last for years — but they’re not permanent. If you decide to get pregnant or you just don’t want to have your IUD anymore, your nurse or doctor can quickly and easily take it out. You’re able to get pregnant right after the IUD is removed.
Yes! The Paragard, Mirena, and Liletta IUDs work super well as emergency contraception. If you get one of these IUDs put in within 120 hours (5 days) after unprotected sex, it’s more than 99% effective. It’s actually the most effective way to prevent pregnancy after sex.
Another great thing about using an IUD as emergency contraception: you can keep it and have really effective birth control that you can use for up to 7 to12 years (depending on which kind you get). The other kind of emergency contraception is the morning-after pill. You can take it up to 5 days after unprotected sex to reduce the risk of pregnancy.