Oral contraceptive

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview[edit | edit source]

Oral contraceptives are medications taken by mouth for the purpose of birth control.

Types of Oral Contraceptives[edit | edit source]

Female[edit | edit source]

• Two types of female oral contraceptive pill are widely available:

• The combined oral contraceptive pill contains oestrogen and a progestogen, and is taken once per day.
• The progestogen only pill contains only a progestogen, and is also taken once per day.

• Other types of female oral contraceptive are experimental or only available in limited areas:

• Mifepristone is an antiprogestogen which has been used as a daily oral contraceptive in investigational clinical trials.
• Ormeloxifene (also known as Centchroman) is a selective oestrogen receptor modulator which is taken one to two times per week. Ormeloxifene is approved as an oral contraceptive only in India.

Male[edit | edit source]

• Male oral contraceptives do not currently exist, although several possibilities are in various stages of research and development.

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