--- title: Essure: FDA to Review Contraceptive Device Amid Complaints description: The FDA will convene a panel Thursday to review the Essure contraceptive device amid complaints that it causes harmful side effects. canonical: https://time.com/4048045/fda-review-essure-contraception/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-24T14:01:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:41.308Z article:section: Health og:title: FDA to Review Essure Contraceptive Device Amid Complaints og:description: Thousands of women have reported harmful side effects og:url: https://time.com/4048045/fda-review-essure-contraception/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85db6b419ed6470a/698865318e0601b300462800/essure.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Essure og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: FDA to Review Essure Contraceptive Device Amid Complaints twitter:description: Thousands of women have reported harmful side effects twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85db6b419ed6470a/698865318e0601b300462800/essure.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # FDA to Review Essure Contraceptive Device Amid Complaints > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: The Truth About Egg Freezing [Watch (HLS stream): The Truth About Egg Freezing](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/A1nDxOli.m3u8) (8:41)  _Published 2015-07-16. Vicki Rokhlin, 28, is relying on her 14 frozen eggs to have children. But will they work?_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 24, 2015 2:01 PM UTC  This product image provided by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. shows the birth control implant called Essure. This product image provided by Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. shows the birth control implant called Essure. AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Sep 24, 2015 2:01 PM UTC The Food and Drug Administration will convene a panel Thursday to review the Essure contraceptive device amid complaints that it causes harmful side effects. Essure is a permanent contraceptive device for women that is marketed as an alternative to tying the fallopian tubes, [NBC reports](http://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/fda-reviews-essure-see-if-device-causes-problems-n432351). But of the roughly 750,000 women who have had Essure implanted, some 17,000 women say it harmed them, including by inducing chronic pain, bleeding, fatigue and skin allergies. An [FDA website page](http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/ImplantsandProsthetics/EssurePermanentBirthControl/ucm452254.htm) about Essure said women had “\[described\] symptoms that are not included in the labeling, and were not observed in post-approval studies, or described in the clinical literature.” Angela Lynch had Essure implanted when she was 28, and told NBC, “After two years I started losing hair. Then I started losing teeth, and over time it got to where my whole body was hurting.” Once she had the device removed, “After three days it was like I woke up from a five-year flu.” Dr. Patricia Carney, Bayer AG’s medical director for Essure, said ,”We want to understand as a company what is going on. We want to know whether there is a link to the product.” Thursday’s panel will discuss potential changes to Essure’s label or whether more clinical studies should be conducted on the product, but the panel will not formally vote on any measures. 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