A woman is issuing a warning to others after her primary care provider “lied” about the expiration date on her intrauterine device (IUD). And she isn’t the only one.
TikTok user @webkinzkween posted a video five days ago with the PSA. In the video, she says, “If you have the Kyleena IUD, your provider might have lied to you like they lied to me.” In the on-screen caption, she writes, “My provider lied to me and now I’ve had an expired IUD for almost a year.”
@webkinzkween explains that she received her Kyleena IUD five years ago in 2019. “So five years from 2019 is 2024,” she says. “My IUD is expiring this year. So about two years ago, I asked my PCP. ‘Hey, aren’t we coming up on the expiration date in the next couple of years? Don’t I need to get this replaced soon?’ And she was like, “Actually, you don’t.’”
Primary care doctor’s advice
@webkinzkween says her doctor informed her that the Kyleena IUD was recently approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration to last up to seven years. @webkinzkween says, “I remember Googling at the time, and I did not see anything about it on the internet, but her phrasing was like it just happened.”
Fast forward to 2024. “I was thinking about it lately, and I was like, oh yeah, my IUD. I’m starting to come up on five, six years—maybe I should ask about it and see when I should get it replaced. And I look it up, and my Kyleena IUD has never been approved for seven years. The [expletive] got it confused with Mirena.
“Which, [expletive] happens, but you can’t tell a patient that with an IUD,” she says. “And so now I have an IUD in me that is over a year expired. I just found out. And now I have to deal with all of the fallout.” @webkinzkween gestures to a pregnancy test, which she is presumably taking to ensure that her IUD is still working.
How long does Kyleena last vs Mirena?
In 2014, a study looked into how long IUDs can remain effective. According to a Reuters article about the study, “Mirena, a plastic IUD which releases the hormone levonorgestrel to prevent pregnancy, is advertised as effective for five years, but is effective for at least seven years.”
Kyleena, on the other hand, is designed to be replaced after five years. According to Medical News Today, leaving an IUD in longer than intended can come with consequences. “If your IUD is left in your uterus past the expiration date, the most serious danger would be infection. Serious infections can cause infertility. The other risk is that an expired IUD will not be an effective birth control method,” the article states.
In a Reddit post to r/birthcontrol from seven months ago, a user asked for advice on this issue. “So I’ve had the Kyleena for 5 1/2 years. When I first got it in, I was told it was for 5 years. I talked with my Dr about getting it out since it was expired and she told me it had been approved for 7 years. I did some research but all I’m seeing is still just the 5 years. Anyone know if it’s truly been approved for 7 years or am I unprotected now?” the person wrote.
In response, a user wrote, “I get your confusion. Research on things change as time goes on. Your best bet is just to swap it out.”
Viewers express outrage
The video has amassed more than 85,000 views as of Wednesday. In the comments, users offered their own personal experiences and expressed outrage at @webkinzkween’s situation.
“HOW ARE DOCTORS MIXING THAT UP?! kyleena is smaller than the mirena, my gyno literally wrote me a card for the expiration date when i got mine in 2019… i’m SO SORRY this happened to you,” wrote one user.
In response, @webkinzkween wrote, “I legit think it’s all the fluffy ass names that end with -a. Mirena, Kyleena, and Skyla. I also have the card but she said to ignore it.”
Someone else wrote, “hell nahhh. if i fell pregnant that doctor would be paying me child support.”
@webkinzkween kyleena gang rise up #IUD ♬ original sound – webkinzkween
The Daily Dot reached out to @webkinzkween via TikTok comment and direct message for comment.
Update Aug. 8, 7:00pm CT: In a message to the Daily Dot, @webkinzkween wrote, “I definitely didn’t expect it to blow up the way it did, but I’m also not super surprised because I made it since I had a suspicion that other people had been fed the same misinformation, and unfortunately that was totally the case. As a woman in the U.S. healthcare system, we are literally more likely to die from preventable conditions because our entire country’s medical knowledge was based on white men only until the last couple of decades. And I also want to acknowledge my privilege as a white person too, because being a POC means you’re even more at risk for maltreatment in our system, especially if you’re both a POC and a woman. I am a very forgiving person and do not think the doctor misinformed me out of any malice or ill will, but in a post-Roe America where control of one’s reproductive health is being severely limited, being provided accurate information on birth control can literally be life or death for people. Thankfully, I am not pregnant and am getting mine replaced in a few weeks, but there were so many horror stories in the comments of people who weren’t as lucky as me.”
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