Birth control patch calendar
Schedules for the listed products come from each product's own labelPage updated Sources
Enter the day the first patch of your current cycle went on. The calendar shows each change day, the removal day, the patch-free week and when the next cycle starts, from your patch's label.
Pick your patch and enter the day the first patch of your current cycle went on. You get a calendar of each change day, the removal day, the patch-free week and the start of the next cycle, for up to 6 cycles. Print it, or add it to your calendar app as events titled "Reminder".
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For contraceptive patches only
This calendar is for the weekly birth control patch: Xulane, Zafemy and Twirla in the US, and Evra in the UK. It is not for HRT (hormone replacement) or estradiol patches.
How the patch schedule works
The labels of all these patches describe the same cycle of 28 days (4 weeks).
- A new patch goes on each week for the first 21 days of the cycle, always on the same day of the week, and then comes the patch-free week. The US labels call this day the Patch Change Day; the Evra label calls it the Change Day.
- The last patch of the cycle comes off 21 days after the first patch went on. That starts the patch-free week.
- The next cycle starts 28 days after the first patch went on, with a new patch on your Patch Change Day.
How to read the calendar
- The day the first patch went on is the first day of the cycle, and every date is counted from it.
- Change days, the removal day and the next cycle start all fall on the same day of the week as that first day.
- Dates before today are marked as passed.
- The start date can be up to 27 days ago. Enter the start of the cycle you are in now, not an earlier cycle.
What this calendar can't do
It lays out the routine cycle for patches you already use as the leaflet directs. It has no answer for:
- your first patch cycle, or starting again after a break;
- switching from another method, or changing brand partway through a cycle;
- a patch that came off, is loose or damaged, or any other problem with a patch;
- using patches in a different pattern from the leaflet, such as skipping the patch-free week;
- a recent birth, miscarriage or abortion;
- taking, or recently stopping, another medicine;
- a chance that you might be pregnant;
- not being sure which day the first patch of this cycle went on.
For any of these, follow your patch leaflet and find a pharmacist or clinic.
This tool does not assess protection from pregnancy.
A worked example
The date here is only an example. If the first patch of your cycle went on Wednesday, 3 March 2027, you change patches on Wednesday, 10 March 2027 and Wednesday, 17 March 2027. The last patch comes off on Wednesday, 24 March 2027, and the next cycle starts on Wednesday, 31 March 2027.