Implant (Nexplanon): Frequency Asked Questions

The implant is effective right away if you get it during the first 5 days of your period. Otherwise use a back-up method for the first 7 days after you get it inserted.

There may be a delay, but don’t count on it—many women get pregnant soon after stopping the implant, so if that’s not what you want, make sure to start a different method immediately after getting your implant removed. Depending on your body, it can take up to two months to get back to your regular cycle after having the implant removed.

You get an injection of numbing medicine through a small needle—that's usually the worst part. Then your health care provider inserts the implant in your arm, which only takes a few minutes. That area of your arm may be sore and bruised for a couple days. Generally speaking, no big deal.

Just like when it’s put in, your arm gets numbed before the implant is taken out. But that’s the worst part and the whole thing usually only takes a couple minutes.

This is a side effect that may be hard to fix, but if you’ve only had the implant for a few months or less, it could also lessen or go away on its own. Check out our Provider Perspective “Side effect spotlight: What’s up with spotting?” for more information.

For most people, the risk of blood clots when using the ring, the patch, or the combined birth control pill (which is the most common type of pill) is low. But smoking increases this risk. If you are over 35 and smoke 15 or more cigarettes a day, the combination pill, patch, and ring are not safe options for you. If you’re over 35 and you smoke less than 15 cigarettes a day, talk to your provider about whether these birth control methods are safe options for you. People who smoke can always use the IUD, the implant, the shot, the mini-pill (progestin-only pill), and any method that is hormone free (like condoms, for example).

For women with high blood pressure, methods with estrogen–the pill (except for the mini-pill), the ring, and the patch–may make their blood pressure even higher, increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Fortunately there are lots of highly effective birth control options that are safe and estrogen-free like the IUD, the implant, or the shot. Talk to your doctor about your condition and what birth control is best for you.

Using a method of birth control with estrogen, like the pill, patch, or ring, increases the risk of forming a blood clot, but the risk is so low that if you don't have any factors that increase your chances of having a blood clot, you can safely use all types of birth control. If you do have an increased risk of blood clots because you've had one before you've had a stroke or heart attack, or you have a medical condition that increases your risk of a blood clot, like high blood pressure, then adding birth control with estrogen to the mix increases your risk too much and it's not recommended that you use birth control with estrogen in it. But that doesn't mean there isn't a birth control method for you!

If you can't take estrogen, you have quite a few options available to you. First you have the non-hormonal methods, like the copper IUD. You can also use any of the hormonal methods that only contain progestin, not estrogen, like the implant, mini-pill, shot, and hormonal IUDs, like Mirena, Skyla, Liletta, and Kyleena. These don't increase your risk of blood clots and are all really good at preventing pregnancy.

If you're worried about blood clots or don’t know if you have risk factors, talk to a health care provider about which birth control methods are options for you.

If you feel like your birth control is changing your behavior, it's time to talk to your health care provider. Everybody responds to birth control differently, and your provider can help you decide whether it's time to try something else. It might be a matter of switching hormonal methods or deciding whether to avoid hormonal birth control altogether, or you may choose to wait it out since some negative side effects go away with time. The bottom line: If your current method is making you feel blah, don't settle. There are a lot of methods to choose from and sometimes it can take a few tries to get it right.

Easy enough. Make an appointment to get it removed. Once it’s removed, the hormones in your body should go back to normal pretty quickly.