I have an IUD
What strings are for, how they become nonvisible, and what a complicated removal involves.
Learn
IUD Safestring
Complicated IUD removals are largely preventable.
Most begin the same way: IUD strings that can’t be seen or felt. This project works to fix that at the system level — starting by asking the FDA and IUD manufacturers to mark the strings.
The mission
The goal of the broader project is simple to state: decrease the incidence of complicated IUD removals through a systems-focused, multitargeted approach.
IUD Safestring is the public arm of that work. It raises awareness of nonvisible IUD strings as a largely preventable complication — needlessly painful, time-consuming, and costly for patients and providers — and gives patients, clinicians, manufacturers, and regulators clear ways to act.
Our mission
Mark the Strings
Ask the FDA and manufacturers to mark the strings.
One device-level change: IUD strings marked in 1 cm increments, so string length becomes an objective, visible measure instead of a guess. The petition asks manufacturers to make the change and regulators to set evidence-based string-length guidance.
Launching soon
We’re finalizing a petition platform that treats signers’ privacy and accessibility seriously. The petition will open on this page — no email address is collected in the meantime.
Start here
Choose your path
Three ways in, depending on what brought you.
Learn
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Start with the basics
Reviewed education, written in plain language.
IUD basics
What an IUD is, what the strings do, and why every brand’s instructions differ.
Why nonvisible strings matter
How strings become impossible to find — and why most of those cases are preventable.
The removal pathway
What routine removal looks like, and what changes when it becomes a complicated removal.
Find care and support
Where this site can point you — and the questions worth asking your clinician.
The proposal
Mark the strings
The proposed fix is a device-level change: mark IUD strings in 1-centimeter increments, so string length becomes an objective, visible, enduring measure instead of a visual guess.
Today, no brand’s strings carry any measurement. Clinicians cut them by eye against instructions that differ from product to product. Marked strings would give everyone — patient and clinician — a reference that can actually be checked.
How this could help
unmarked
marked
Where to go next
The mission explains the why; Learn covers the how.