My new BFF: The VCF

Hey guys, so no luck on the diaphragm front. I went to the Shilo branch Maccabi pharm with all the prescriptions and medical approvals and asked to order a diaphragm in the size stated on my prescription. After making a few phone calls, they announced that they haven’t sold diaphragms since 2015, and when they did, the sizes were bigger than what I had asked for (oh, please! I assure you I am quite average). I’ve decided to postpone my diaphragm quest because it is so frustrating, and I don’t have many more leads. But! Not to worry. My mum flew to London yesterday, and she is supposed to return with an exciting new method: The Honey Cap. Further info TBD.

So, in the meantime, I have the #VCF and sponges, and after consulting a fertility counselor, I decided to try the VCF. VCF stands for Vaginal Contraceptive Film and is a thin film covered in spermicide (it’s dry), that dissolves in your vagina and is supposed to function as a protective barrier between the sperm and the egg.

VCF has relatively low success rates for pregnancy prevention, estimated at around 75-94% success (I wonder how these percentages were calculated… it’s a pretty wide range. I would only recommend VCF when combined with another method). In addition, VCF does not prevent STDs, so it would be good to combine it with a condom.

How can you buy VCF?

You can buy a pack of 9 films for 100 NIS (~30$) in any pharmacy without a prescription. No, it isn’t cheap compared to condoms, but it is compared to having a baby! Every film comes wrapped separately, and you tear it open before you need to use one. Once torn, you extract the film from the wrapping by pinching two fingers and insert it just like a tampon until you feel the beginning of your cervix. The user manual says all sorts of things about finding your pubic bone, but all you need to do is push it ‘all the way’ in. Within a few seconds, the film dissolves inside, and it becomes effective 15 minutes after insertion. It can be used for 3 hours.

I thought it might feel itchy because some women are sensitive to spermicide, but neither I nor my partner felt anything at all. We completely forgot I was even using VCF. However, we did also use a condom, so I don’t know how my partner would have felt without it. But it’s not supposed to make any difference.

To conclude, at present I am very pleased with the VCF. It’s easy, accessible, simple to use and you can forget all about it. You don’t have to rush off after sex to take care of it, because it just vanishes and you don’t feel a thing.

That’s all for now. Have a good weekend, sans surprises 😊

Melanie