Love your implant? Keep it for up to five years

Good news for people who love long-acting birth control… Research shows that the implant keeps working for up to two years longer than its FDA-approved length of use.

The implant works for five years

Right now, the label of the implant (a.k.a. Nexplanon, previously known as Implanon) says it can be used for three years. In a 2016 study, over 200 people with uteruses used the implant for two additional years. Guess how many got pregnant during the fourth and fifth years? Zero. And these results have been replicated in other studies.

So why does the implant label say three years?

Birth control labels aren’t the most up-to-date source of information about a method, and it can take a lot of time and money to get them updated. Luckily, health care providers can be quicker to keep up with research and change their recommendations based on new evidence.