Editing Cervical cap (section)

==History==

===Ancient===
The idea of blocking the cervix to prevent [[pregnancy]] is thousands of years old.  Various cultures have used cervix-shaped devices such as oiled paper cones or lemon halves. Others made sticky mixtures that included [[honey]] or cedar [[rosin]], to be applied to the [[External orifice of the uterus|os]].<ref name="pp2">{{cite web|title=A History of Birth Control Methods |work=Planned Parenthood |date=June 2002 |url=http://www.plannedparenthood.org/resources/research-papers/bc-history-6547.htm |access-date=2006-07-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517045452/http://www.plannedparenthood.org/resources/research-papers/bc-history-6547.htm |archive-date=May 17, 2008 }}</ref>  The modern idea of a cervical cap as a fitted device that seals itself against the [[vagina]]l walls is of more recent origin; it emerged within the past century.

===19th century===
In 1838, German [[gynecologist]] [[Friedrich Wilde]] created the first modern cervical cap by making custom-made [[rubber]] molds of the cervix for some of his patients.<ref name="pp2" /><ref name="Chalker1 p. 280">Chalker1 p. 280</ref> These caps were probably short-lived, as uncured rubber degrades fairly quickly.  An important precursor to the invention of more lasting caps was the rubber [[vulcanization]] process, patented by [[Charles Goodyear]] in 1844.  In the 1840s or 1860s [[Edward Bliss Foote|E.B. Foote]], a U.S. physician claims to have invented the cervical cap but it's reported that his patent was denied since the device could be used for obscene purposes.<ref name="Chalker1 p. 280"/>  Foote claimed that his invention was "widely counterfeited".  An occlusive [[pessary]] marketed in the United States as the "[[womb veil]]" seems to have been an early form of [[diaphragm (contraceptive)|diaphragm]] or cervical cap.<ref>Janet Farrell Brodie, ''Contraception and Abortion in Nineteenth-Century America'' (Cornell University Press, 1994), p. 216 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wbeoi0rGvpkC&pg=PA216&q=%22womb%20veil online]; Andrea Tone, ''Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America'' (MacMillan, 2001), p. 14.</ref>

Over the next several decades, the cervical cap became the most widely used barrier contraceptive method in [[Western Europe]] and Britain. Although the [[Diaphragm (birth control)|diaphragm]] was always more popular in the United States than the cervical cap, the cap was also common.<ref name="weiss">{{cite journal |pmid=1990736 |year=1991 |last1=Weiss |first1=BD |last2=Bassford |first2=T |last3=Davis |first3=T |title=The cervical cap |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=517–23 |journal=American Family Physician}}</ref>

===20th century===
Many designs were developed in the later 19th and early 20th century in various countries.{{sfn|Stopes|1924|p= 156}}  The Vimule cap became available as early as 1927.  A book by Vimule and Co., published in 1898, advertises the Vimule Cap.<ref>{{cite web |title=the Vimule permanent sheath, as purveyed by Lamberts of London, 1927 |work=Condom pictures |url=http://www.lesleyahall.net/condillo.htm |access-date=2006-11-12 |archive-date=2006-11-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061112220926/http://www.lesleyahall.net/condillo.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The Prentif brand cap was introduced in the early 1930s.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Cervical Cap Newsletter |publisher=Internet Archive |date=Winter 2002 |url=http://www.cervcap.com/download/news_winter_02.pdf  |access-date=2007-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040225153945/http://www.cervcap.com/download/news_winter_02.pdf |archive-date=2004-02-25 |journal=CXC |volume=15 |url-status=usurped |issue=1}}</ref>  The Dumas cap was initially made of plastic, and was available by the 1940s.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=12233290 |year=1944 |last1=Grafenberg |first1=E |last2=Dickinson |first2=RL |title=Conception control by plastic cervix cap |volume=12 |issue=8 |pages=335–40 |journal=Western Journal of Surgery, Obstetrics, and Gynecology}}</ref> Lamberts (Dalston) Ltd. of the UK manufactured these three cap types.<ref>{{cite web |title=96/281/2 Contraceptive cervical cap, "Vimule" cap |work=Powerhouse Museum Collection |year=1995 |url=http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=152305&images=&c=&s= |access-date=2006-11-12 |archive-date=2007-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927204600/http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=152305&images=&c=&s= |url-status=live }}</ref> Other types of caps had stems to hold them in place in the cervix; some of the stems actually extended into the uterus.  These [[stem pessary|stem pessaries]] became precursors to the modern [[intrauterine device]] (IUD).

[[Margaret Sanger]] brought cervical caps to the U.S. in the 1910s, but later on seemingly preferred the [[diaphragm (contraceptive)|diaphragm]], and never repudiated the cap.  This may have been influenced by her visit to the Netherlands where the diaphragm (also known as the "Dutch Cap") reigned supreme.

Use of all barrier methods, but especially cervical barriers, dropped dramatically after the 1960s introduction of the [[combined oral contraceptive pill]] and the IUD. In 1976, the [[U.S. government]] enacted the [[Medical Device Regulation Act]]. This law required all manufacturers of [[medical device]]s to provide the United States [[Food and Drug Administration|Food and Drug Administration (FDA)]] with data on the safety and efficacy of those devices. Lamberts (Dalston) Ltd., the only manufacturer at that time, failed to provide this information, and the FDA banned the use of cervical caps in the United States.<ref name="weiss" />

In the late 1970s, the FDA reclassified the cervical cap as an [[Investigational device exemption|investigational device]], and it regained limited availability.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=7018094 |year=1980 |last1=Fairbanks |first1=B |last2=Scharfman |first2=B |title=The cervical cap: Past and current experience |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=61–80 |journal=Women & Health |doi=10.1300/j013v05n03_06}}</ref> Within a few years, the FDA withdrew investigational status from the Vimule cap, following a study that associated its use with vaginal [[laceration]]s.<ref name="weiss" /><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/0010-7824(82)90143-3 |title=Studies of cervical caps: I. Vaginal lesions associated with use of the vimule cap |year=1982 |last1=Bernstein |first1=Gerald S. |last2=Kilzer |first2=Linda H. |last3=Coulson |first3=Anne H. |last4=Nakamura |first4=Robert M. |last5=Smith |first5=Grace C. |last6=Bernstein |first6=Ruth |last7=Frezieres |first7=Ron |last8=Clark |first8=Virginia A. |last9=Coan |first9=Carl |journal=Contraception |volume=26 |issue=5 |pages=443–56 |pmid=7160179}}</ref> In 1988, the then 60-year-old <ref>Chalker2, p.170</ref> Prentif cap gained FDA approval.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=12289360 |year=1988 |author1=United States. Food and Drug Administration FDA |title=Notice, 11 July 1988 |volume=15 |pages=19 |journal=Annual Review of Population Law}}</ref>  The [[feminist movement]] played a large role in re-introducing the cervical cap to the United States. One paper called its involvement at all steps of the FDA approval process "unprecedented".<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1300/J013v15n02_07 |title=Feminism and Regulation Collide |year=1989 |last1=Gallagher |first1=Dana |last2=Richwald |first2=Gary |journal=Women & Health |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=87–97|pmid=2781812 }}</ref>  This renewed interest in the cervical cap has been called "The cervical cap renaissance".<ref>Chalker1, p.281</ref>

===Quality===
In the 1920s it was reported from England that "careless and hasty construction" could sometimes be found in many brands.  Some caps had a seam in the dome (two parts of it were welded together making a seam) and the seam might be defective and even contain minute perforations.  Also, the junction between the rim and the dome might be rough and difficult to clean. Caps that were seamless avoided the "seam" problem.  It was suggested that caps should be inspected for possible defects by the user under a magnifying glass.{{sfn|Stopes|1924|pp= 151,154}}