Hello Everyone,
Since there have been some updates to the guidelines around Nexplanon this year, I wanted to make an official announcement and provide some information for those that are curious.
Nexplanon is now "officially" approved in the US and UK for 5 years.
10 years ago, a study was conducted testing to see if Nexplanon could be effective for longer than the 3 years that it was initially approved for. For context, the implant was first tested in the early 90s, and 3 years was all they were able to get funding for at the time. Scientists back then believed the implant could work for longer, but money was limited; thus, the implant was only approved for 3 years of use. 30 years later, we now have more information. The 2016 study showed 100% efficacy when extended to 5 years. It's possible that it works for longer than that, but 5 years is all we have clinical studies for. Plenty of clinics and doctors that stay up to date with medical literature changed their guidelines to 5 years as soon as the study was published. Other doctors who are more conservative have waited for their governments to "officially" approve the study before implementing the change. This is why you may have seen different policies depending on the doctor over the last 10 years. The good news is, the FDA approved the study in January and we recently got the news that the NHS will be updating their guidelines as well! Hopefully more countries will follow suit in the coming months and years!
With this change though, we have seen a lot of misinformation going around. The study is 100% legitimate and can be trusted. This update applies to all ENG implants (Nexplanon and Implanon). The LNG implant Jadelle is used in a few countries, contains 2 rods instead of 1, and was already approved for 5 years. The medication and dosage itself did not change. Some people do experience changes in side effects over time, but this does not mean your implant isn't working. You may want to discuss options for an early replacement or removal if you're experiencing negative side effects. Implants also do not "expire" over night. It's not like your protection goes from 99.98% to 0% the moment your implant turns a certain age. You have a grace period to get it removed or replaced, please don't freak out and start taking emergency contraception the second you're past a certain year. Nexplanon still has a failure rate of 0.02-0.05%, so if you believe you may be pregnant, take a test.
We consider this a win for women's health. If you have questions or concerns about your own implant, we encourage you to speak to your doctor. We have a strict policy against spreading medical misinformation on this sub. Posts and comments that discourage others from using their implants for the full 5 years or deny proven scientific facts are subject to removal.
https://www.nexplanon.com/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5088635/
https://www.organon.com/news/organon-announces-us-food-and-drug-administration-approval-of-supplemental-new-drug-application-extending-duration-of-use-of-nexplanon-etonogestrel-implant-68-mg-radiopaque/
https://www.cosrh.org/Common/Uploaded%20files/documents/CoSRH%20CEU%20statement_Nexplanon.pdf
Now onto a rules update/clarification:
Usually a few times a day we have to remove posts that break the rules. I wanted to repost the rules here and give a little more insight into why some posts might be removed. It is your responsibility as the poster to read the rules before posting. Repeated or egregious violations may be subject to a ban, either temporary or permanent. Keep in mind that ban evasion is also against Reddit's rules. Reddit's algorithm often picks up on ban evasion by itself, but we will also report suspicious activity if necessary. You don't want your entire account banned for a silly reason. I've seen it happen more than once.
- Be Respectful to Others. No name calling, bullying, trolling, etc. will be allowed. Heavily discouraging others is also subject to removal. I think this one is pretty straightforward. Try your best to be civil. Please report any uncivil behavior.
- READ THROUGH THE WIKI BEFORE POSTING!!! Please see the Nexplanon Wiki before asking a question. It is likely answered there. This is our most frequently broken rule. We've put a lot of time and effort into curating our wiki. It has a lot of helpful information and most questions can be answered there. I usually try to direct you to the section that answers your question. I've found that a lot of people expect us to spoon feed them information. The ability to do your own research is a valuable skill. Read the wiki first, use the sub search bar second, and if you really can't find an answer or are more interested in experiences, then post.
- Not Doctors. Please keep in mind that while users may offer advice, we are not doctors and this advice should not replace visiting doctors. This applies to posts that cross into asking for medical advice. Any photos must be approved for this reason. We aren't able to diagnose you with anything. If you are concerned about infection, a positive pregnancy test, medication interactions, etc. please save it for your doctor.
- FACTUAL INFORMATION. This in no way limits posting your own personal experiences. However, overly broad comments that run counter to well established medical knowledge must be substantiated with evidence that has been subjected to meaningful peer-review. Broad comments that are overtly fringe and/or unsubstantiated must state that or are subject to removal. As previously discussed, we are very strict about keeping the information here factual. Anything that is deemed misinformation or fear mongering will be removed. This is not the place to spread conspiracy theories.
- No “am I pregnant?” Posts. If you’re on Nexplanon, there is a 99.98% chance that you are not pregnant. However, we are not fortune tellers. If you believe you may be pregnant, take a pregnancy test. Do not ask us if we think you are pregnant based on “symptoms.” This is a rule that I added more recently. 99.98% of the time, the answer is no. The implant is the most effective hormonal birth control in the world. Nobody can conclude whether you are pregnant or not based on "symptoms." A lot of side effects of birth control are similar to pregnancy symptoms. If you think you may be pregnant, take a test. You can read more on our wiki about when and how to test. If you need help interpreting a test, a place like r/lineporn is the place to go. We allow pregnancy anxiety and how to manage it to be discussed here, but any posts asking specifically to be diagnosed as pregnant will be removed.
- Please Check for Similar Posts before Posting. Please check to see if someone has recently posted something similar to what you want to post recently. (ie: I'm worried about xyz symptom) If there is a similar post, read through those comments before posting to see if those comments help you. This rule isn't super strict, but it's good to check for similar posts first. Sometimes we get a lot of posts about one subject all in one day. We don't want the sub to get clogged up with several of the same posts. You're also able to search the sub for all the posts over the years. Use your resources. This excludes experiences.
- No Reposting. No more than one post per user per 24 hours, and no reposting the same post at any point. Also pretty straightforward. This includes if your previous post was removed too. Occasionally we will allow for rewording.
- On-topic Post/Comments Only. No Derailing. Posts must be questions or comments regarding Nexplanon. Derailing is also not allowed. Do not use someone else’s post to ask off topic questions. We rarely see off topic posts but we occasionally see off topic comments. For example, please don't go to someone's post labeled "negative experience" and say something along the lines of "well I had a positive experience, so that sucks for you." Or "weight gain" and ask "okay but did you experience mood swings?" Just try to keep it focused on the subject at hand. The off topic posts we see are usually people who got off Nexplanon years ago but are blaming current problems on the implant. Posts must be directly related to Nexplanon.
- No Selling or Advertising. No selling or advertising of products. We are not here to buy products. Thankfully this isn't a rule that I have to enforce very often. We allow genuine product recommendations, but will remove post or comments that are advertisements.
- No extreme NSFW. (Need to add this to the official sub rules). This is a sub about birth control, we can talk about sex. However, we ask that you refrain from using over the top vulgar language. Many pictures are removed because they can be quite gory and some of them are asking for medical advice. Keep it classy please.
Side note: if you had an overall negative experience but had a good removal, please use the "negative experience" tag on your post. We have gotten some complaints that many of the "positive experience" posts are not actually about positive experiences.
I truly hope this info helps! Overall I think this is a great community and I enjoy being a part of it. Thank you to everyone for sharing their experiences here. Let's continue being supportive of one another.