For women on oral contraceptives who may be concerned about future breast cancer risk due to hormone exposure, Raquel Arias, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Keck School of Medicine of USC, says you can stop worrying. “Thirty years worth of world studies—including the use of past pills that had many times the amount of hormones than current pills—concluded there was no associated or increased risk for breast cancer in women who use the pill, no matter how long they use it,” says Arias. In addition, she points out that women who use oral contraceptives dramatically reduce their risk of developing the most deadly pelvic cancer (ovarian) as well as the most common pelvic cancer (endometrial).
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