What is Kyleena?
Kyleena is a brand of intrauterine system (IUS), or birth-control IUD. It’s a little piece of T-shaped plastic, inserted into the uterus through the vagina by a health care practitioner, typically in an outpatient facility or doctor’s office. Kyleena is a hormone IUD: it alters pregnancy by releasing hormones into the body to prevent fertilisation, or prevent egg implantation. The hormone in Kyleena is levonorgestrel, a progestin medication. Levonorgestrel also has noncontraceptive uses [1, 2].
What Does Kyleena Do?
Kyleena works by gradually releasing levonorgestrel in the uterus so as to prevent a pregnancy. It acts in three ways, thickening the cervical mucus to block sperm from entering the uterus, slowing sperm motility making it more difficult for sperm to reach and penetrate the egg, and thinning the lining of the uterus, lessening the chances of an egg implanting [3].
Kyleena is effective at preventing pregnancy – in clinical trials, it prevented pregnancy in 99% of cases [4] – and lasts up to a whopping 5 years [1, 2]. It is reversible, too – once removed, your fertility will immediately return [2].
Benefits of Kyleena
Kyleena is a hormonal intrauterine device (IUD) that offers several benefits as a birth control option.
Firstly, it is very effective, with an efficacy of 99% for preventing pregnancy [4]. This puts it among the most effective of all forms of birth control [2].
Another advantage to Kyleena is its longevity: once placed, it can prevent pregnancy for up to 5 years [1, 5]. This longevity means Kyleena is a good option for anyone looking for long-term birth control.
Kyleena is also reversible. If you decide you want to become pregnant, or stop using it for some other reason, you can remove it at any time, and your fertility will return as soon as it’s removed [2].
Kyleena can also result in lighter periods or even none at all for some people, making it a real plus for those who have heavy or crampy periods.
Moreover, a good feature of Kyleena is that it’s safe for people who can’t use any kind of birth control that contains estrogen – individuals who are sensitive to estrogen -hence a good choice for users [2].
Finally Kyleena is a cost-effective birth control pill. It’s an upfront initial cost but then, for 5 years, there are no other costs which gives it a financial advantage towards the end [2].
What is Mirena?
Mirena is a kind of hormonal intrauterine device (IUD), which is a long-term contraception method. It’s a T-shaped piece of plastic that is placed in the uterus by a doctor or a nurse [6, 7]. The active part of Mirena is a hormone levonorgestrel, which is the synthetic type of sex hormone produced by the body, called progesterone [8, 9]. The IUD emits tiny amounts of levonorgestrel into the body gradually [6].
What Does Mirena Do?
Mirena contains levonorgestrel, which prevents pregnancy by making the cervical mucus thicker and the lining of the uterus thinner. This prevents the sperm from reaching the egg [8, 9]. In some women, Mirena can stop ovulation [8].
Besides preventing pregnancy, it treats menorrhagia (heavy menstrual bleeding), and can be used to treat chronic pelvic pain [8, 6, 7]. Mirena can be used to treat endometriosis [7].
Once in place, Mirena can prevent pregnancy for up to five years [8, 9]. It can prevent heavy menstrual bleeding for up to five years [6, 7].
Benefits of Mirena
Marketed under the name Mirena, this long-acting hormonal intrauterine device (IUD) has become popular for use in contraception as well as for a number of other health-related applications.
The most obvious advantage of Mirena is its very high efficacy as a contraceptive that is reported to be over 99% effective, comparable to sterilization procedures [10].
Another great benefit of the Mirena is the long-term use of the contraceptive. Once embedded, it can be used for up to five years. This gives a very convenient and worry-free form of contraception [10, 11, 8].
Mirena also can reduce menstrual bleeding – at 4 months, it reduces median menstrual blood loss by 80%, by 1 year it reduces it by 95%, and by 2 years menstrual bleeding ceases altogether (the women become amenorrhoeic) [12]. For women with heavy periods (menorrhagia), the reduction in menstrual bleeding could be helpful [13, 8].
Alongside its contraceptive ability, Mirena can also be useful if treating certain conditions; it has been used for the treatment of adenomyosis (inside the uterus), treated endometriosis and uterine bleeding not associated with any reproductive condition, relieving sufferers [14, 15, 9].
Lastly, Mirena can potentially be beneficial to women’s quality of life and sexual function. For instance, it has been found to improve quality of life parameters including general health, energy/fatigue, emotional well-being and sexual desire and arousal [14, 16].
Which is More Effective: Kyleena or Mirena?
Both Kyleena and Mirena are highly effective in preventing pregnancy: according to the manufacturer’s data, Kyleena is more than 99% effective for any given year of use (98.6% effective for up to 5 years), and Mirena is over 99% effective for up to 7 years [3].
If you have heavy menstrual bleeding, Mirena might be the better option, because it actually acts to thin the endometrial lining more than Kyleena. This is why 2 out of 10 Mirena users stop bleeding after a year, whereas 1 in 100 Kyleena users stop bleeding after a year [3].
Irregular bleeding or spotting for the first year, and lighter periods or stopping altogether in a year are also possible with both Kyleena and Mirena [3]. And even though some providers have reputations for recommending Mirena to teens more hesitant towards sex, during the clinical trials more women had acne with Kyleena (14.1%) than with Mirena (6.8%) [3].
Kyleena is smaller than Mirena, both in length and in diameter. Kyleena measures 1.18 inches long, while Mirena is 1.26 inches long [3], meaning that insertion might be more comfortable for some [3].
To sum up, Kyleena and Mirena are very effective types of birth control but could have different pros and cons that might benefit you more then the other. Talk with your physician on which device is better for you and which would fit your body more appropriately.