implant questions!

[millal]

hello! i've had the Nexplanon implant for about a month and i love it so far, no side effects or anything. my boyfriend and i want to have sex but i'm unsure about whether or not we need condoms, we don't need them for stds because we have both been recently checked for them, but regarding pregnancy, would condoms be necessary to use along with my implant?

[Alice O]

Hi millal,

I'm so glad to hear that the implant has been a good fit for you

Also glad to hear you are being careful about STI protection and pregnancy prevention!

In terms of safer sex, if you and your partner tested negative for STIs and you've both been exclusive since those tests and for 3-6 months prior, then yes, per Scarleteen's recommendations you don't need to use condoms with a partner.

In terms of pregnancy prevention, the implant is an extremely effective form of birth control. Both perfect and typical use of the implant is 99.9% effective at preventing pregnancy in a given year. But I also know that in the past you have had a lot of worries about pregnancy, and so if using two methods of birth control helps to ease your mind about pregnancy and allows you to focus on other (more fun!) parts of sex, than I would encourage you to use condoms as well.

What do you think?

[millal]

okay! i heard that the implant is as effective as sterilization, do you know if that's true?

[millal]

so it would be safe for a guy to ejaculate in you while you had the implant, regarding pregnancy?

[Jacob]

Sterilisation refers to permanant stuff.
Whereas the implant is effective for 3 years and then it's recommeneded it's replaced.

Otherwise alice has answered what you're asking above regarding effectiveness.

Beyond that we don't answer questions about pregnancy anxiety. So i'll have to ask you to not ask us more about that topic.