by Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt, South Lake Hospital.
Dr. Jamin Brahmbhatt is co-director of The Personalized Urology & Robotics PUR Clinic at South Lake Hospital, in affiliation with Orlando Health. He contributed this article to Live Science’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
In the next few years, men may have more options for birth control than ever before. Researchers are developing, and already testing, a number of new methods in China and India, and in Europe, an implantable on/off switch developed by a German carpenter is generating a lot of buzz. The switch, known as the Bimek SLV, has been tested on only one man so far — Clemens Bimek, the guy who invented it — but it’s garnering a lot of attention.
I guess if you develop a new method for contraception, you should be the first to try it. But for the rest of us, there is too much at stake to experiment with birth control. With that in mind, here is a rundown of various methods: what’s known, what’s not known and what’s next (including more on that on/off switch)….