Joseph S.K. Woo, MD

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The IUCD is the stainless steel 'Chinese ring'  widely used in China for the last 20 years. We see quite a lot of these  rings in Hong Kong from women who recently arrived from China and wanted  to have them removed.

 					The 'original' of this device is the Graefenberg ring, I believe  first being used in Graefenberg, Germany in the early 1960s, and was  originally made of silver and copper.  The Chinese subsequently produced  a stainless-steel version of the device in the 1970s in the city of  Shanghai and it was then called the 'Shanghai ring'. It became very  popular and was used all over China as the 'main' contraceptive device,  being cheap to produce, durable and effective. It was subsequently  renamed the 'Chinese ring'. It is about an inch in diameter, very  springy and flexible. It does not have a thread attached to it because  it was not meant to be removed easily be a lay person or 'ordinary'  practisioner. The rationale of course, was from the 'one-child-family'  concept.

 					It can nevertheless be removed without too much hassle using a  special hooking device which I have aquired in my office from some  medical supplier in the Mainland. The ring is used, which you might be  surprised to know, for what is called immediate post-placental insertion  (IPPI) which is common in China, referring to the application of the  ring immediately (within 10 minutes) of the delivery of the placenta and  even during a Caesarean seation.

 					Quite a few papers have been written on this and it appears the  expulsion and infection rates are not that high. I have also attached an  updated Chinese ring which has a double helix, I presume to increase  the efficacy of the device. I will also send you a picture of 20 other  IUCDs in a separate file which you might find useful later on.

Articles

The IUCD is the stainless steel 'Chinese ring' widely used in China for the last 20 years. We see quite a lot of these rings in Hong Kong from women who recently arrived from China and wanted to have them removed.

Author | Joseph S.K. Woo, MD

Articles

Chinese ring