Initial UK experience of Norplant -- a first report from the UK multicentre study. UK multicentre trial.

The acceptability of the Norplant insertion procedure was investigated in a survey of 354 British women (mean age 28.2 years) recruited from 32 medical sites. At study entry 124 women (35.0%) were using a combined oral contraceptive 105 (29.7%) relied on a barrier method and 38 (10.7%) were taking a progestogen only pill. Ease of use effectiveness and long duration of effect were the most commonly cited reasons for switching to Norplant. At insertion 337 (96.0%) felt no pain or only mild discomfort; no women reported severe pain. At the three-month follow-up 276 women (87.9%) indicated no or only slight discomfort at any time since insertion 27 (8.6%) felt pain and 11 (3.5%) reported severe pain. 40 women experienced complications primarily bruising of the arm (3.2%) blister/allergy (2.9%) and inflammation/itching (1.9%). Overall the Norplant insertion process seems to be well tolerated and associated with no serious complications.