Clinical use of oral contraceptives

ABSTRACT

Since first introduction of oral contraceptive pills in 1960, with increased women's right of sexual decision, oral contraceptives had been used widely around the globe as a highly effective and safe contraceptive method. The physiological mechanisms of oral contraceptives were a reduced maturation of ovarian follicles and blocked ovulation to fertile women. Also, oral pills induce uterine endometrial decidualization, thickening of cervical mucus, disturbance of intrauterine sperm movement and embryo implantation. However, in addition to providing effective reversible contraception to fertile women, oral contraceptive pills offer various non-contraceptive benefits to numerous conditions. In this review, we summarize the list of currently available oral contraceptive pills in Korea and discuss non-contraceptive indications of oral contraceptives pills.