When I first heard of the launch of Pandia Health in Michigan, I was thrilled — a female-founded, female-led, and doctor-led birth control company which sends your prescriptions directly to your mailbox? Sign me up!
If you already have a prescription, they will transfer the prescription to their business and bill insurance, which costs you nothing. Instead of just a one month supply, they will work with you to give you 3 months or even a year, and in every package they include small PSA health cards and a fun treat. Their Google reviews rave about their customer service as well. If you move, no worries! Pandia delivers to all 50 states and offers an annual appointment with expert birth control doctors.
Other birth control companies bring in OB/GYN consultants or have doctors on call rather than having a doctor CEO; one competitor’s doctors is an eye doctor. Pandia is inclusive and diverse, with Dr. Yen being a woman of color herself.
Who is Dr. Yen?
Dr. Yen is both an academic and a doctor who is passionate about bettering the lives of people who menstrate. “I’ve written over 2,000 prescriptions in the last two years… Women, your money is power! Choose the female-founded company with a CEO who’s taken the Hippocratic oath when you have the chance.”
Dr. Yen chose to pursue founding Pandia Health to ensure the health and safety of clients. “As a professor at Stanford, I affect future doctors of the world,” Dr. Yen says. “But at Pandia Health, I can affect every woman who has a mailbox.”
Why should people with periods choose Pandia?
The name Pandia is inspired by the idea every day: pan, meaning every in Greek, and dia, meaning day in Latin. Pandia covers you every day. It was also inspired by the Greek goddess Pandia, who is the goddess of the full moon.
“All other birth control companies are founded or led by a bunch of bros — no offense to the bros. But if you’re going to focus on women’s health, choose a woman.” said Dr. Yen. Pandia is unique in truly caring about reproductive health. “I was giving a talk to a group of doctors who were complaining about women not taking birth control, and asking, ‘What is their problem?’ They don’t understand that women don’t have the time to run to the pharmacy every month for 20 to 40 years of their life at the time their insurance companies dictate! At Pandia Health, you set it and forget it: #PandiaPeaceofMind. We are all about women empowerment. We want to grow with women as they grow. We’re also about to launch acne products, and later menopause produces.”
How does Pandia better serve people of color?
Dr. Yen notes that most Western medicine is typically based on the 70 kilo (154lbs) white man. Medicine for women is based on the Caucasian female and doesn’t work as well for Latinx, Asian, or Black women. Dr. Yen has a medical awareness of the different needs of BIPOC individuals and is creating ways their customers can contribute to research and self-report their ethnicity. This gives Pandia a wider database of information of what ethnicities respond better to which birth control pills.
Shocking birth control statistic 89% of doctors don’t know
If your BMI is over 26 — which is true for 2/3 people — Plan B and their generics WON’T work. The emergency contraceptive Ella, however, will work on BMI up to 35. Dr. Yen polled fellow doctors and 89% did not know this.
Additionally, women under 30 should be on 30 micrograms of estrogen because their bodies are building bone density. But many young people are on far lower doses. At a sorority house talk, Dr. Yen asked all the attendees to check their birth control, and they were all on 20 micrograms or less.
Why skipping your period can actually be GOOD for you
As I’ve always thought it was healthiest or most natural for our bodies to bleed, I asked Dr. Yen to explain. She said, “Every time we build the uterine lining, we risk endometrial cancer. Every time you pop out an egg, you risk ovarian cancer. Any physician knows if you turn off your ovaries for 5 years, you decrease your risk of ovarian cancer by 15%. If you look at biology and human history, our “natural” state is actually to be pregnant or breastfeeding for most of our fertile life. But now we’re incessantly bleeding with drastic hormonal change. Not using period products is better for the environment. The #1 cause of missed school or work in women under 25 is period pain. In a male-dominated world, women aren’t supported or allowed to take time off due to periods. We now have the technology to empower women to choose what’s best for them. I have bad eyes. It’s natural for me to not be able to see. But I’m really glad I don’t do what’s natural!”
Honestly, same. So glad for companies like Pandia Health, that are revolutionizing the way we see periods and take care of our bodies.
For more information, check out Dr. Yen’s TedX on the Pandia website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or TikTok.
