Sometimes medicine just makes sense. Fertilization requires interaction between sperm and eggs. If fertilization is the enemy (as in anticontraception), then let’s prevent the sperm-egg encounter. How? Let’s block the highway they use. How? Let’s just use the body’s own machinery to build a blockade. How? Let’s shove some synthetic polymer in the fallopian tube “highway” and let the body attack it.

This is how I think about Essure, a form of permanent sterilization just as efficacious as bilateral tubal ligations (“tube tying”) without ever needing a surgical incision.

While the body builds this tissue blockade in the tubes (which can take three months), alternative forms of contraception must be used. Patients need a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) to assess the patency of the fallopian tubes during their three month follow-up. Nevertheless, Essure is taking on a greater role as the mainstay for elective permanent female sterilization.