How to Not Let Your Contraceptive Patch Slip off in the Pool!

Contraceptive patches are designed to wear for a week, whether you are showering or swimming. But don’t rub or scrub the area too hard the glue will be disturbed!

Where to put your patch? Definitely not on your breast, that specifically is a medical contraindication. And not on an area of cut or rash, you need to apply the patch to an area of healthy skin.

Rotate where you place the patch. Putting it on one spot over and over will irritate skin.

How about if you have your Sharpies and want some decor? Well, patches aren’t decorated and they don’t recommend bedazzling either! So For most medicated patch wearers (contraceptive patches included) there may not be a lot of difference, or a lot of differences that will make changes to the effectiveness or to the numbers of your side effects. And for sure don’t decorate it, the fiber is porous and you could interfere with distribution of medication.

The least absorption of hormone is usually the abdomen, relative to the place like the buttock. This probably has to do with the amount of fat, the way the patch lays, all sorts of variables. Although no study seems to say that it affects how effective it is.

But one thing researchers also point out, when it comes to knowing exactly which spot would be best: The patch blood hormone level variability is relatively high from place to place, which might affect break through bleeding.

So if you have questions, ask your gyno!