No more periods. Period.

For young women with a world of choices, even the menstrual period is now optional.

Thanks to birth control pills and other hormonal contraceptives, a growing number of women are taking the path chosen by 22-year-old Stephanie Sardinha.

She hasn't had a period since she was 17.

A college student and retail worker in Lisbon Falls, Maine, Sardinha uses Nuvaring, a vaginal contraceptive ring. After the hormones run out in three weeks, she replaces the ring right away, instead of following instructions to leave the ring out for a week to allow bleeding.

She says it has been great for her marriage, preventing monthly crankiness and improving her sex life.

Using the pill or other contraceptives to block periods is becoming more popular, particularly among young women and those entering menopause.

"I have a ton of young girls in college who are doing this," says gynecologist Mindy Wiser-Estin of Little Silver, N.J. "There's no reason you need a period."

And better treatments are on the way. Already, the Seasonale birth control pill limits periods to four a year. Wyeth is hoping by late June to get FDA approval to sell Lybrel, its low-dose continuous-use birth control pill.

Most doctors say they don't think suppressing menstruation is riskier than regular long-term birth control use.

Women have been using "the pill'' for nearly half a century without significant problems, but some doctors want more research on long-term use.

Two recent national surveys found about one in five women have used oral contraceptives to stop or skip their period.

"If you're choosing contraception, then there's not a lot of point to having periods," says Dr. Leslie Miller, a University of Washington-Seattle researcher and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

Her Web site, www.noperiod.com, explains the option: She points out women on hormonal contraception don't have real periods anyway, just withdrawal bleeding during the break from the hormone progestin.

The period is "way over-romanticized," says Linda Gordon, a New York University professor specializing in women's history and the history of sexuality. Gordon, author of The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America, says caution is needed because there's not enough data on long-term consequences of using hormones continuously.

Gordon notes menopausal women for years were told that hormone drugs would keep them young - until research uncovered unexpected risks.

Today's birth control pills contain far less estrogen and progestin than those of two generations ago, but they still increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and blood clots.

But there are benefits from taking oral contraceptives too, such as a lower risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer, osteoporosis and pelvic inflammatory disease.

Almost since the first pill arrived in 1960, women have manipulated birth control to skip periods for events such as a wedding, vacation or sports competition.

The idea gained momentum after Barr Pharmaceuticals launched Seasonale in November 2003. It's a standard birth control pill taken for 12 weeks, with a brief break every three months.

Publicity for Seasonale made women wonder, if just four periods a year are okay, why have any?

Users of Pfizer Inc.'s Depo-Provera, a progestin-only contraceptive shot lasting three months, usually are period-free after a year or two. There's now a generic version, but that drug can thin bones.

FOR MORE INFORMATION n Dr. Miller's site: www.noperiod.com. n Association of Reproductive Health Professionals: www.arhp.org.

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