Olympian Picabo Street Announces She Just Had the Essure® Permanent Birth Control Procedure

Olympian Picabo Street and her husband John Reeser announced today that their youngest son, Dax Meyer Street Reeser, born in August of 2009, will be their last child. After evaluating all their birth control options, including a vasectomy, the couple decided that the Essure procedure was the best solution for them. By choosing the Essure procedure, Street avoided the added risk and recovery time associated with a surgical tubal ligation.

"When I look at my family, I know we are a complete unit,” says Picabo Street. "With the upcoming 2010 Olympic Games and my work as a national correspondent for NBC’s Today Show, I have no room for downtime associated with surgery or an unplanned pregnancy.”

"I am publicly speaking out about my choice to have the Essure procedure because permanent birth control is a decision that most couples make at some point in their relationship. People need to be aware of their options when it comes to any medical procedure to ensure that they do not subject themselves to the risk and recovery time associated with outdated surgery techniques,” continued Picabo. "I was shocked to learn how few women know about Essure and I want to empower and encourage women to become their own health advocates.”

Essure is a gentle permanent birth control procedure for women that can be performed in the comfort of a doctor’s office in minutes. The procedure is often preferred by women because it is a simple procedure that does not require cutting into the body, being put under general anesthesia, scarring, burning, hormones or downtime for recovery. Since receiving FDA approval in 2002, the Essure procedure has become a trusted solution for hundreds of thousands of women and their physicians. The Essure procedure is 99.74 percent effective with zero pregnancies reported in clinical trials, making it the most effective permanent birth control available.

To follow Picabo’s insider Olympic experience visit http://twitter.com/Picabo_Street. To learn more about Essure please visit Essure.com.

About the Essure Procedure:

The Essure procedure, FDA approved since 2002, is a permanent birth control method that can be performed in the comfort of a physician’s office in about 10 minutes (average hysteroscopic time) without hormones, cutting, burning or the risks associated with general anesthesia or tubal ligation. Small, flexible micro-inserts are placed in a woman’s fallopian tubes through the cervix without incisions. Over the next three months, the body forms a natural barrier around the micro-inserts to prevent sperm from reaching the egg. Essure is 99.74% effective based on five years of follow up with zero pregnancies reported in clinical trials, making it the most effective form of permanent birth control on the market. The procedure is covered by most insurance plans, and when it is performed in a doctor’s office the cost may be as low as a simple co-pay.

Three months after the Essure procedure, a doctor performs an Essure Confirmation Test to confirm that the fallopian tubes are fully blocked, and that the patient can rely on Essure for permanent birth control. Essure has been proven and trusted by physicians since 2002, with more than 340,000 women worldwide having undergone the Essure procedure.

Essure and Conceptus are registered trademarks of Conceptus Inc. (NASDAQ:CPTS)

About Picabo Street

Picabo Street is three-time Olympian in alpine skiing who competed in the 1994, 1998 and 2002 Winter Games, and is a two-time Olympic medalist. Picabo captured the gold medal in the Super G at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, and the silver medal in Downhill in the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. She was a decorated medalist at multiple World Championships, World Cups and U.S. National Championships, capturing medals in the Downhill, Super G, Combined Downhill and Combined Events. During the 1995-1996 and the 1996-1997 seasons, she won the World Cup Downhill Title.

Picabo was named the U.S. Olympic Committee Sportswoman of the Year in 1995 and 1998, and in January 2005, she was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame. Since retiring from competitive skiing in 2002, Picabo has completed broadcasting assignments with NBC’s Today Show, CBS Sports, NBC Sports, OLN, FineLiving Network and RSN.

Picabo is married to businessman John Reeser and they live between Park City, Utah and Birmingham, Alabama where they raise their three boys Eli, Trey and Dax.

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