A couple from Edinburgh are among the first people in the world to use a male hormonal contraceptive. <\/p>\n
James Owers, 29, and Diana Bardsley, 27, are part of a University of Edinburgh study<\/a> involving 450 couples who are relying on a hormone gel as their sole form of contraceptive for the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
The gel is a mixture of progesterone and testosterone. The progesterone switches off sperm production in the testes and the testosterone compensates for the drop in testosterone that this causes.<\/p>\n
The hope is that couples in long-term relationships could eventually use the gel as an alternative to the female contraceptive pill.<\/p>\n
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast, James explained: “I squeeze a 50p-piece-size out of the dispenser – the dispenser is a bit like one of those posh toothpaste tubes. It’s got the consistency of hand sanitiser. <\/p>\n
“I rub it into my shoulder and pectoral area and that dries in three to four seconds. I do that to the other shoulder and then I get dressed and go about my day as normal.”<\/p>\n
James has been using the gel since February but only started to use it as the sole form of contraception a week ago. “One of the side-effects has been an increased sex drive,” he said, but any negative side-effects have been minimal.<\/p>\n
“I have experienced no change in mood, I’ve got a few small spots on my back but they are already clearing up. I’ve put on maybe 1kg [in weight] but that’s probably due to the beer, if I’m quite honest!”<\/p>\n
He said the benefits of being involved in the trial were more than just medical.<\/p>\n
“The most positive thing for me has been I’ve got to experience a change in discourse about contraception. My friends and colleagues at work have been coming up to me and asking about it, asking when it’s available, asking all sorts of stuff. <\/p>\n
“I’m feeling very, very positive that either this contraceptive or other contraceptives for men will become available.”<\/p>\n
However, this could be some years away, according to Dr Cheryl Fitzgerald, a consultant in reproductive medicine at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.<\/p>\n
“This trial is looking at hundreds of men and looking at them quite closely to check that it’s safe and effective and tolerated well. After that there would be a much bigger trial so we are certainly looking at 10-plus years,” she said.<\/p>\n
The trial has brought benefits for James’s partner, Diana. She said: “One of the fantastic things for me is that I have been on hormonal contraception since I was 16 and this has now allowed me to have a break for the next year.<\/p>\n
“By giving men more choice we are taking some of the burden off women and allowing men to have more freedom over their own contraceptive method.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A couple from Edinburgh are among the first people in the world to use a male hormonal contraceptive. James Owers, 29, and Diana Bardsley, 27, are part of a University of Edinburgh study involving 450 couples who are relying on a hormone gel as their sole form of contraceptive for the next 12 months. The Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}