Georgia Tech Contraceptive Jewelry

Contraceptives are very effective, provided they are administered on a tight schedule. Too often, many women forget or do not take the pill, resulting in unwanted surprises. Georgia Tech researchers, taking into account the current wearing of unusual jewelry, have developed an ear loop, a necklace, a ring and a watch, each incorporating a transdermal patch containing the hormone levonorgestrel.

The jewels release the hormone at a constant rate (1.7 μg / cm²· H), at least when tested on pigs, and in the rat, the approach has shown efficacy to maintain serum hormone levels above the levels targets. Even when the patches were removed for the night, as would be the case for jewelry during sleep, the technology has kept the level of levonorgestrel at least at the level indicated to prevent pregnancy in women.

The rats wore the ear loop patches and did not seem to care, at least according to the researchers who had the chance to spend time with the animals.

The patch that is the functional part of all these jewelry has three layers. One serves to attach the stamp to a jewel, the middle layer contains a powder of the drug and the third layer comes in contact with the skin and helps the drug to pbad through the transdermal route into the blood.

Study in Journal of controlled release: Pharmaceutical jewelry: Earring for transdermal administration of contraceptive hormone ……

Georgia Tech …