There are two types of injection:
- Depo-Provera which is usually given in the buttock (top of your bottom) every 12 weeks
- Sayana Press given every 12 – 13 weeks and is injected just beneath the skin at the front of the thigh or abdomen.
Please explore the following sections for more information:
If 100 sexually active women don’t use any contraception, 80 to 90 will become pregnant in a year. Contraceptive injections are over 99 per cent effective.
This means less than four women in every 1,000 will get pregnant over two years.
Contraceptive injections contain a progestogen hormone which is similar to the natural progesterone that women produce in their ovaries.
The contraceptive injections works by stopping your ovaries releasing an egg each month (ovulation) and thicken the mucus from your cervix which makes it difficult for sperm to move through it and makes the lining of your uterus (womb) thinner so it is less likely to accept a fertilised egg.
- It is very effective because while it is being used you do not have to remember to take or use contraception.
- It can be used if you are breastfeeding.
- It is not affected by other medicines including those taken for epilepsy and HIV.
- It may reduce heavy painful periods and help with endometriosis and premenstrual symptoms.
- It is a good method if you cannot use the combined pill or patch
- Sayana Press can be issued for patients to administer at home or whilst travelling after a demonstration by a qualified practitioner has been completed.
- Irregular bleeding may occur when you first start this method but this usually improves over six months
- Some women may put on weight when they use Depo-Provera
- The injection cannot be removed from your body, so if you have any side effects, you have to be prepared for them to continue during this time and for some time afterwards.
- There can be a delay of up to one year before the return of your periods and fertility after stopping the injection.
- Contraceptive injections do not protect you against Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI), so it is advisable to use condoms with any new partners and have regular STI screens
Using Depo-Provera may affect your natural estrogen levels, and may cause thinning of the bones. Bone replaces itself when you stop the injection and it does not appear to cause any long-term problems.
It does not cause an increase in bone fracture.
Thinning of the bones may be more of a problem for women who already have risk factors for osteoporosis.
Young women below the age of 18 years are still making bone so can only use Depo-Provera after careful evaluation by a doctor or nurse.