Collegiate Times

A recent study by the Food and Drug Administration says the birth control patch may double the risk of blood clots in comparison to risks from the birth control pill.

Blood clots have always been a problem for women on birth control. However, a different form of estrogen and progestin in the patch may be the cause of these blood clots, says Barbara Parker, nurse consultant for the Virginia Department of Health.

Women who took the patch as opposed to the pill were exposed to about 60 percent more estrogen.

?It may be the delivery system - the medication in the patch passes through a permeable membrane to the skin to the body,? said Parker. ?They're not sure if that's the issue.?

Schiffert Health Center is still distributing the patch. However, because the pill is roughly $10 cheaper, it is prescribed more frequently, said Janet Harer, women's clinic coordinator.

Blood clots were of specific risk to women over the age of 35, who smoked or had an immediate family history of blood clots and heart attack problems at an early age, Harer said.

?What we do is we always talk to our patients about the latest methods that are going on,? Harer said. ?Anyone who's interested in the patch, we help them make an informed decision.?

Harer is wary of this study warding women away from the patch.

?I hate to kill the patch because of media hype,? Harer said.

Many women concerned about the patch due to the media publicity choose the pill instead.

?We don't prescribe the patch as much, because we had many complaints and concerns about it,? said Connie Ratliss, licensed practical nurse at the Carilion New River Valley Medical Center. ?We do different kinds of pills instead.?

Despite voicing these concerns, Ratliss does not think that women currently using the patch should be severely alarmed.

?I would think that if I was wearing the patch and I saw it on TV it would cause me to have concerns,? Ratliss said. ?It would make me more tempted to call my doctor.?

The FDA has not issued specific instructions to women taking the patch, just providing information and advising women with concerns to see their doctors, said Parker.

?The patch has a little black box warning saying that they may cause these problems,? Parker said. ?However, the pills basically say the same ones. They all have the same side effects.?

The main benefit of the patch over the pill is the simple fact that women need not medicate every day. Although highly effective, women had to remind themselves to take the pill daily, typically with some form of alarm, said Harer.

The patch needs to be changed about once a week.

?The problem is that we need some methods of birth control that women don't have to think about everyday,? Harer said.