Gräfenberg's ring is a flexible ring of

silk suture A surgical suture, also known as a stitch or stitches, is a medical device used to hold Tissue (biology), body tissues together and approximate wound edges after an injury or surgery. Application generally involves using a Sewing needle, needle w ...

, later versions of which were wrapped in

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

wire. It was an early IUD, a birth control device. Gräfenberg's ring was the first IUD used by a significant number of women. The ring was introduced by German gynecologist

Ernst Gräfenberg Ernst Gräfenberg (26 September 1881 – 28 October 1957) was a German-born physician and scientist. He is known for developing the intra-uterine device (IUD), and for his studies of the role of the woman's urethra in orgasm. The G-spot is named ...

in 1929. It ceased to be in wide use circa 1939. Inserting a foreign device into the

uterus The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, including humans that accommodates the embryonic and fetal development of one or more embryos until birth. The ...

causes an inflammatory response, which creates a hostile environment for sperm. The silver wire used to construct later versions of Gräfenberg's ring was contaminated with

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...

, which increases this spermicidal effect. In 1934, Japanese physician Tenrei Ota developed a variation of the Gräfenberg ring that contained a supportive structure in the center. The addition of this central disc lowered the IUD's expulsion rate. However, insertion of these devices caused high rates of infection and were condemned by the medical community. Furthermore, their use and development was stifled by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

politics:

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

was forbidden in both

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and Axis-allied Japan. The rest of the Western world did not learn of the work of Gräfenberg and Ota until well after the war ended.

References

History of medicine Intrauterine contraception {{treatment-stub