Obosa Osawe, M. A menstrual cup is a small, flexible cup made of silicone or rubber that is inserted into the vagina to catch menstrual flow , rather than absorbing it like a tampon or pad. After eight to 12 hours, you simply remove the cup, empty it and wash with soap and water before reinserting it. Reduced irritation and vaginal dryness. Less mess and odor. Fewer leaks. When inserted correctly, the menstrual cup forms a seal, significantly reducing your chances of a leak.
Longer wear time. Menstrual cups can be worn for up to 12 hours, while tampons can be worn for a maximum of eight hours.
That said, Dr. Osawe advises women to empty the cup every eight hours and change their pad or tampon every four hours. A wet menstrual cup is much easier to insert. If you can put in a tampon, you should find it relatively easy to insert a menstrual cup. Just follow these steps to use a cup:. You should also be able to move, jump, sit, stand, and do other everyday activities without your cup falling out.
You can wear a menstrual cup for 6 to 12 hours, depending on whether or not you have a heavy flow. This means you can use a cup for overnight protection. You should always remove your menstrual cup by the hour mark. Reusable menstrual cups should be washed and wiped clean before being reinserted into your vagina. Your cup should be emptied at least twice a day. Reusable menstrual cups are durable and can last for 6 months to 10 years with proper care.
Throw away disposable cups after removal. Menstrual cups may be an affordable and environmentally friendly option, but you still need to keep a few things in mind:. Menstrual cups are more cost-effective than tampons and pads.
For many women, using a menstrual cup is a no-brainer. Before you make the switch, make sure you know what you need in a feminine hygiene product:. If you answered yes to these questions, then the menstrual cup is right for you. With so many options available, it can be tough to know where to start.
Learn more about selecting a menstrual cup and how to determine which one's…. Then you release the cup, and it should pop open inside you. Another good trick to making sure the cup is open and positioned right is to grab the bottom and twist the cup gently. We recommend squatting over the toilet for this part, especially for the first few times, just in case.
Instead, pinch the bottom of the cup, and then slowly remove it. We do not recommend just pulling on the stem, whatever the design, to get the cup out. When we tested the cups this way, it was a disaster every time. For us, what happened was a lot of blood all over the place. Once the cup is properly positioned, it should feel the same way a tampon does inside you.
If you think about it, you can feel it there. Before assuming the sizing is wrong, try removing and inserting the cup a couple of times over a couple of cycles. If the stem is poking you, trim it. If the cup makes you feel like you need to pee all the time or is causing pain in your urethra, you might need a smaller cup or a softer cup.
The cup might be the right size, but it might just be too firm and pushing too hard on your vaginal walls. Or it might be too big. This takes a bit of learning. Again, you might consider wearing a liner or period panties while wearing a menstrual cup for the first few cycles, as you get the hang of it. In a July The Lancet Public Health analysis, researchers at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and their colleagues found that cups were as likely—or more likely—to prevent menstrual leaks compared with tampons and pads.
Menstrual cups are considered a Class II medical device, just as pads and tampons are. Probably, though you should discuss this matter with a doctor. There are very few studies exploring this topic. But the authors of an ongoing, prospective trial examining, among other things, patient-reported copper IUD expulsions associated with menstrual cup use have recommended that study participants do not continue using menstrual cups with an IUD. Some of the study authors are employees of companies that are developing oral contraceptives, among other drugs.
In theory, you take out the NuvaRing to get your period, so you would just replace the ring with the cup.
We heard from at least one person who uses the ring and a cup together and says that it works fine. TL;DR, you can try to wear both at once, but the cup might leak a bit. Yes, with the caveat that you might want to give yourself some practice with the cup first before you do any strenuous biking. A note about flow: It might seem like you bleed a lot during your period. But the average person who menstruates usually loses 35 to 50 milliliters of menstrual blood during their cycle PDF.
The smaller menstrual cups can usually hold around 25 milliliters of fluid, and the larger ones around 30 milliliters. Those with menorrhagia lose more than 80 milliliters of blood during their periods.
But that simply means changing the cup more often, just as you might change a pad or tampon more often with a heavy flow. Anyway, this is all to say that the answer here is probably yes. But if you have concerns, talk to your OB-GYN about them, and they can give you guidance for your specific body. In fact, some people like cups exactly for this reason. Tampons and pads are very good at absorbing liquids, but not so good at absorbing solids. Because the opening of the cup surrounds the cervix, even if your flow tends to wind up on one side of your vagina, the cup will catch it.
Yes, if you can use tampons, you can use a cup. But you might want to opt for a smaller, softer cup. Almost all the cups we tested worked pretty well.
We could eliminate a couple, but the majority of them did exactly what they should do: fold up, hold fluid, and clean easily. Lunette : The Lunette cup is a great cup. If the Lena is unavailable, the Saalt is a competent alternative and it comes in beautiful packaging.
Intimina Lily Cup : This cup has a particularly interesting design. But the cup itself is pretty big, and the design makes it a bit harder for first-timers. The cup itself is asymmetrical, which means getting insertion just right takes a bit more practice, but it has a no-spill lip that did help cut down on messes in our tests. Yuuki : Yuuki cups are one of the other ones that come with firmness options.
You can get the Yuuki Soft or the Yuuki Classic. The Yuuki Classic is on the firmer end of the cups we tested although not as firm as the MeLuna Sport so if you feel you need a wider and firmer cup, the Yuuki is a good choice for you.
Intimina Lily Cup Compact : This cup seems like a really cool idea, as it collapses into a compact little disk. But in our tests, that feature introduced some flaws.
Because the body of the cup has to be able to fold down, we had an especially hard time folding the cup to insert it.
Intimina Lily Cup One : Much like the Compact, the Lily Cup One collapses down into a flat disc, that can be stored in the little plastic case that comes with it. The design also features a lot more nooks and crannies, especially at the bottom of the cup, which make cleaning harder.
The lip on the two cups is almost identical, but the Moon Cup has a rounder and fuller shape, whereas the MCUK is narrower and more tapered, like the MeLuna. Overall, the MCUK is more soft and pliable than the MeLuna, which we liked for its firmness sweet spot: soft enough to be comfortable and to pop open once inside, but firm enough to prevent leaking.
If you need a softer cup, the MCUK may be a good option. You can actually figure out a specific size of the MeLuna by using its size calculator , but the size closest to the Moon Cup is the large MeLuna, which is 51 millimeters long the Moon Cup is 50 millimeters long.
Keeper : The Keeper is the same shape as the Moon Cup but just a little firmer. SckoonCup : This model has one of the most pronounced bell shapes of all the cups we tested, with significant flaring at the base. When I inserted the cup into the fake vaginas, I immediately saw that most of the pressure from the cup would be concentrated on that flared ring, which might be uncomfortable for some folks.
The thick ring makes the cup really easy to open up, though. Blossom Cup : This cup performed well on all our tests. It was easy to insert and remove, and cleaning was no problem. Although the large cup is too big for most people, if you know that you bleed a lot and can comfortably fit a larger cup, it might be right for you.
FunCup : This cup looks and feels great. Unfortunately, this is a case of form over function. Without a stem, this model was difficult to remove cleanly. The cup is asymmetrical and angled too, so depending on how you insert it you might wind up with the lower bit tipped the wrong way, which could cause leakage.
Otherwise, we think this cup will likely be uncomfortable for most people. Flex Cup : Formerly known as the Keela cup , the Flex Cup features an innovative design that aims to make removal easier.
Instead of having to reach up into your vaginal canal, pinch a cup, and pull it down and out of your body, this cup has a built-in pull tab that does some of the work for you. The stem of the Flex Cup runs up through the middle of the cup and attaches to the rim. To remove the cup, you pull the loop on the stem down, which pulls the rim of the cup and helps both break the seal the cup has formed and pull the cup toward your vaginal opening. Once the cup is low enough, you can grab it with your fingers, pinch, and remove it the way you would a normal cup.
This is a great idea. I had a hard time getting the amount of tension right: Pull too hard, and you risk yanking the whole cup out by the bottom, flinging blood around. Pull too gently, and nothing happens. I also experienced leaking through the hole where the stem pull tab threads through the bottom of the cup. A much smaller drawback is that the cup is black. Floweret Valve Menstrual Cup formerly known as the Tulip Cup Stem Cup : This cup attempts to solve one of the problems people often have with cups—emptying them without creating a mess especially while away from home.
The idea is an interesting one: Tulip has built a little valve into the stem of this cup so that you can reach up, pinch the stem, and let the cup empty itself into the toilet. In theory this is a good idea. In practice, emptying the cup via the stem wound up being messier than simply removing it.
To access the valve, you have to reach two fingers into your vaginal canal and pinch at the exact right angle to make the slit open. When you do, chances are good that the blood will run out of the cup and all over your hand, instead of right into the toilet.
Ruby : The Ruby is a totally serviceable cup in a field of very serviceable cups. OrganiCup : The OrganiCup is, like many on this list, a totally fine cup. The material is soft, and the cup is a bit firmer than others so it might not be comfortable for folks with tight vaginal canals. No animal products go into the production of medical grade silicone. Menstrual cups are not tested on animals. I reached out to The Vegan Society, the body that certified OrganiCup as vegan, asking for clarification, whose representative said that some cups might theoretically be made using oils that could have animal byproducts in them.
We also would not be able to provide details of companies that have been refused registration owing to client confidentiality.
Michael A. Mitchell, et. Elizabeth Nyothach, et. Courtney Howard, et. Barbara B. North and Michael J. Anna Maria van Eijk, et. Our pick. Cora Cup The best menstrual cup for beginners The Cora cup has some clever design elements that make it easier for a first-time cup user to get the hang of things—it folds nicely, and its slightly irregular shape makes pinching and removing easier.
Also great. MeLuna Shorty For low cervixes If you have a really low cervix, this is the shortest cup we tested that still performs well. DivaCup For high cervixes This is one of the best-known cups and also one of the largest.
Lena Cup For wide vaginas The silicone is smooth and feels good on the skin, and this cup is easy to insert and remove. Everything we recommend. Why you should trust us.
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