El Paso doctor ‘very happy’ Bayer decided to pull the plug on birth control device Essure

Bayer Pharmaceuticals recently announced it will no longer sell the controversial birth control implant, Essure.

The news was a victory for El Paso gynecologist, Dr. Julio Novoa. “I have to be honest, I did like a little dance. I was very, very happy,” said Novoa, an outspoken critic of the device.

Novoa was even interviewed for the new Netflix documentary “The Bleeding Edge.” Essure, a medical device that hit the market in 2002, is one of the topics discussed in the documentary.

One of the benefits of Essure is that it doesn’t require surgery. It involves a small implant of flexible coals into the fallopian tubes that, in just a few months, result in scar tissue that prevents the eggs from reaching the uterus.

“The Essure device was designed to cause an intentional, dramatic, but localized, foreign body reaction,” Novoa said. “Unfortunately, mother nature didn’t follow that suit.”

Instead, some patients reported having severe pain and bleeding. The coils sometimes became dislodged and traveled to other parts of the body.

Christine Cervantes, of Galveston, Texas, told ABC-7 that is what happened to her when she was just 39 years old. Her uterus had to be removed because of a coal that became dislodged. Cervantes said it was a painful experience.

“I only had one coil still in my fallopian tube and the other coil from what was shown in the x-ray was in my abdomen,” Cervantes said. “The Essure coils, by that point, were out of my fallopian tubes and were puncturing through my uterus, so it was was like somebody stabbed my uterus with the coils.”

Bayer said the decision to pull Essure was mainly due to declining sales. In a statement to ABC News, Bayer said the positive-benefit-risk profile of Essure had not changed.

Dr. Michel Noe, an OBGYN, told ABC-7 that in the 10 years he’s been recommending the device, he’s had only three patients who reported any problems.

“Every other person, they rarely even show up for their post-ops because there is no pain involved,” Noe said. “It’s been very popular with the patients.”

Noe says that with Bayer pulling Essure off the market, it eliminates what he believes was a good option for his patients.

As for Cervantes, her message to other women is simple: “Stay away from Essure, it’s not worth it.

Cervantes said, “To me, the risk does not outweigh the benefit with this device. There’s too many women being harmed.”

Even though Bayer will no longer sell the device, Dr. Novoa is concerned for the women who already have it and for those whose doctors may still suggest the implant.

“There are literally hundreds of women in El Paso who have the Essure device in place that don’t even know that the problems that they’re having are associated with the Essure device,” Novoa said. “Although we won a significant battle in what I consider a war, it’s not over yet.”

The FDA has not banned Essure, but earlier this year the FDA announced that doctors must give patients an in-depth checklist prior to receiving the implant.

Bayer will no longer sell the device effective December 31st.