Healthier Scotland. Scottish Government

Longer lasting contraception is often referred to as LARC. Long Acting Reversible Contraceptive methods. These are primarily implants which would offer up to 3 years contraceptive cover or coils which would be anywhere from 5 to 10 years depending on the type of coil that you have fitted.

They are pretty much easy to fit, certainly the implant goes into the inner aspect of the upper arm, it’s a small local anaesthetic is given to numb the skin where the implant will go. Patients may experience a bit of bruising, a bit of tenderness for a couple of days but that is very short lived and there is very little in the way of scarring to be seen after the wound heals. Having it removed, again a local anaesthetic is given just where the implant is and a small tiny cut is made just to sort of get the implant out there.

In terms of coils, they do however involve an internal examination, which is often embarrassing for women, the whole procedure perhaps takes around 15-20 minutes by the time you have your examination and your coil fitted. It can cause a bit of discomfort like period like cramps during the procedure and for a few days afterwards and again that settles very quickly. We often advise women to take some pain relief tablets before they come to the consultation which might help if they are experiencing some discomfort during the procedure. Again these coils can last between 5 and 10 years.

The main thing I think about LARC is that women don’t have to come back for regular check ups, however they do have to come back if they are considering stopping the method because it does have to be removed by somebody specially trained in taking them out.