Dr. Rebecca Rohrer - Contraception
Rebecca is a Medical Director of Healthcare Management in the UK at Bupa. You can ask her all about contraception - the different types and what to consider when choosing which opt...
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Who are you and what is your background?
My name's Dr. Rebecca rra. I'm a doctor practising clinically and a medical director at Bupa, and I've got a passion for supporting women's health.
What is contraception?
Contraception or birth control is ultimately designed to prevent pregnancy, and in some cases can also help to prevent sexually transmitted infections or STIs. It does that in a couple of ways: it can prevent eggs being released by the ovaries, it can thicken cervical mucus to stop sperm getting through into the womb, it can also act as a barrier to stop sperm entering the vagina in the first place. So there's lots of different options for you.
What does contraception do?
So contraception or birth control is ultimately designed to prevent pregnancy, and in some cases can also be used to prevent sexually transmitted infections. It's good to think about contraception in two different groups. Reversible contraception, which provides that temporary prevention of pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections and non-reversible forms where fertility won't return, and that, for example, includes surgical options like sterilisation. Also, really important to remember that some forms of contraception can be used to treat medical conditions like endometriosis, acne, and polycystic ovarian syndrome.