No tampons, no oversized pads, no cramps… Any woman pressed by Pamprin could rant about endless positives of a period-stopping birth control pill. But is this new drug that eliminates menstruation safe and can it still provide protection against acne?
What is “stop period”
Well, first, the period ending contraceptive called Lybrel doesn’t actually stop your period. As the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals points out, birth control-induced period interruption is actually “menstrual suppression.” The body’s response to the seven days of no birth control hormones after the typical 21-day birth control cycle triggers withdrawal bleeding, not an actual period.
Regardless of what it’s called, this week’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of contraceptive period skipping raised enough unanswered safety questions to fill a month’s worth of programs morning interviews.
librel
Lybrel to suppress period comes in a pack of 28-day pills. The pills contain 90 micrograms of the progestin, levonorgestrel, and 20 micrograms of the estrogen, ethinyl estradiol. These active ingredients are similar to and work like other FDA-approved contraceptives. Except you skip the placebos.
Levonorgestrel stops the body’s monthly release of an egg from the ovary and thickens cervical mucus, making it harder for sperm to fertilize an egg.
Lybrel and acne control
In addition to preventing pregnancy, Lybrel may also have an acne-preventing effect. The ethinyl estradiol component of the pill can reduce circulating levels of testosterone and ultimately limit facial oil secretion, one of several factors implicated in triggering acne.
But how will Lybrel menstrual suppression effectively treat acne?
A study sponsored by Lybrel’s manufacturer, Wyeth, supports the acne-preventing power of levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol. Ironically, however, possible side effects of levonorgestrel include oily skin and acne. If you experience acne while using a contraceptive containing levonorgestrel, tell your doctor, as commonly prescribed acne antibiotics, such as tetracycline, can make levonorgestrel less effective.
More studies on menstrual suppression are needed
While the words “stop your period” may sound melodious to millions of women, for the University of New Hampshire professor of gender sociology and medical sociology
Jean Elson, sound more like a prelude to a horror movie.
Elson feels: “Using hormones to reduce normal menstruation strikes me as a very strange mixture of feminism and medical authority: women are offered the opportunity to control their own bodies, but what are the real implications?”
Furthermore, Elson finds that menstruation has been transformed from a biological problem into a social issue and proposes that women “…might not find their periods so inconvenient if schools and workplaces provided opportunities for people to rest” .
Like Elson, Margaret Freda, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and women’s health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, has concerns about menstrual suppression.
Last August, Freda told the american journal of nursing“The jury is still out on total menstrual suppression” until long-term studies of its safety are done.
A study published in Contraception tested the safety of continuous daily use of Lybrel in more than 2,000 healthy women who had normal menstrual cycles. Among participants, Lybrel side effects were comparable to those reported for the 21-day and 7-day off oral contraceptive regimens.
However, Dr. Camelia Davtyan, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, noted a problem with the study. davtyan said Health Day News that, “…the rate of complications related to uterine bleeding is quite high.”
Granted that some women have practiced menstrual suppression for years, it could be five to twenty years before medical studies finally agree on the overall safety of this practice. In the meantime, women will once again have to rely on their intuition and personal health needs to decide the best way to prevent pimples and pregnancy.
Sources:
Archera, David F et al. Evaluation of a continuous regimen of levonorgestrel/ethinyl estradiol: results of the phase 3 study. Contraception; December 2006, vol 74, no 6, pp 439-445.
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. Health Matters: Understanding Menstrual Suppression. October 2006.
Health Day News. New Birth Control Pill for the Whole Year Safe and Effective. December 13, 2006.
Potera, Carol, and Maureen Shawn Kennedy. Choosing not to menstruate: a trend for adults and some adolescents. It is safe? american journal of nursing; August 2006, vol 106, no 8, pp 19.
Thiboutot, Diana. A randomized controlled trial of a low-dose contraceptive containing 20 μg ethinyl estradiol and 100 μg levonorgestrel for the treatment of acne. Fertility and Sterility; September 2001, vol 76, no 3, pp 461-468.
University of New Hampshire. Expert: New birth control pill that eliminates periods is a bad idea. Informative; May 22, 2007.
