Thinking about going hormone-free in the bedroom? Maybe making the switch to a diaphragm as your preferred contraceptive method? That’s great news. But you can’t just pop off to the shops and buy one. You really do need to visit a healthcare professional first. Here’s why.
Diaphragms are held in place by the walls of the vaginal canal, and each woman is a bit different internally. A correctly sized diaphragm will hold securely over the cervix. It should not move out of place during sex. And of course, it will be comfortable.
I’m An Average Size Woman, An Average Size Diaphragm Would Work?
Not necesarily. A petite woman could actually have a larger vaginal tract than a woman twice her size or weight. And then after childbirth things would change again.
In fact, even after gaining or loosing a few kilos there’s a chance that enough body fat in the lower abdomen, buttocks, inner thigh area has shifted around and increased/decreased that there could now be more, or less, pressure on the outer walls of the vagina, changing the optimum size of diaphragm thanks to a shift of just a few millimeteres.
How Do I Find Out What Size I Need?
A trained Doctor, Gynaecologist, Midwife, or healthcare practitioner will measure you for size.
They will use a fitting kit with sample size diaphragms to ascertain which diaphragm will be the most effective and secure choice for you. Quite literally it’s trial and error, there’s no way for them to calculate your correct diaphragm size, so they just pop one in, see if it fits and then move to a the next size up or down accordingly until they see the perfect fit. Pretty similar to a visit to an optician. It doesn’t sound like cutting edge medicine, but it works.
After your “fitting session” they’ll tell you what size is correct.
How Is A Diaphragm Inserted?
The round diaphragm is folded into a cylindrical shape and then inserted into the vaginal canal. It will natural unfold inside your vaginal canal, and is then further pushed into place to cover the cervix. While the process might seem a bit daunting, with just a bit of practice most women find it simple and easy to do.
When you go for your diaphragm fitting session, the healthcare professional who is doing it will be able to coach you on correct insertion AND removal of your diaphragm.
What If I Already Have a Diaphragm?
This is quite a common occurrence, especially with the Caya single size diaphragm.
We have spoken to women who have glanced at a web page, seen it’s a single size and assumed it’s one-size-fits-all. Upon receiving it they see it’s only suitable for around 80% of women and with contraception being a high stakes game they figure they better seek advice.
Usually it works out okay, at least for the 80% cohort for whom the Caya is correct, since they have the chance to speak to a professional about their change of chosen contraception method. They can have a quick check to see if there’s any medical reason they ought not to use a diaphragm and also by taking their diaphragm with them they can have a bit of a hands-on coaching session, especially focused on correctly inserting AND removing the device.
I Can’t Find A Healthcare Professional For A Fitting, What Are My Options?
First up, your regular GP, Midwife or Gyno’ should be able to talk you through any change of contraceptive method and confirm if there are any medical reasons that you shouldn’t be using a diaphragm. But they might not be trained or equipped to assess your size.
There are more and more healthcare professionals doing courses for this but it can still be hard to connect with someone. On this website we plan to build up a list of trained professionals that would be willing to book you in for a fitting session. In lieu of that there is another interesting consideration: cervical caps.
A cervical cap fits over the tip of the cervix, rather than being held in place by muscles of differing sizes in the vaginal tract. Since the size of cervix is predictable you can work out the correct size of cervical cap without a fitting session.
How so? Well after puberty, a woman’s cervix size corresponds to a 22mm FemCap. This will never change unless she becomes pregnant. Two weeks after conception, the cervix dilates irreversibly. This is important to understand because even if a women miscarries early in the pregnancy and perhaps is not even aware she conceived, her cervix size has changed and a 26mm FemCap is now necessary. Think of a deflated balloon and how it never shrinks back to it’s original size. Vaginal delivery once again changes the cervix size; the correct size for someone who has had a vaginal delivery is 30mm. With a C-section delivery the cervix wouldn’t stretch the cervix like a vaginal delivery so a 26mm would still be apt.
This simple sizing system based on a your obstetric history means it is easy to self-size, but you should still speak to a healthcare professional to see if diaphragms or cervical caps are right for you.
For two decades David has been the owner and director of several marketing and distribution companies. During this time he has learned the indisputable benefits of looking after customers, colleagues, workers, suppliers and the local community, treating them all as respected stakeholders in a common project. Recently he consolidated his personal beliefs and business ethics by founding the Natural Intimacy brand and developing it as an Ethical Company.
