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Vasectomy (Male Sterilisation)
Vasectomy is a minor operation that is usually done at a doctor's office or at a clinic. You are awake during the surgery, which usually takes no more than 30 minutes. First, the hair is clipped from the scrotum. The doctor injects a local anesthetic into the skin of your scrotum to numb it. Then the doctor makes one or two small cuts in the skin of the scrotum through which the tubes are gently lifted out. The doctor cuts the tubes, and may remove a small piece of each. The cut ends are tied or sealed with electric current. The openings in the scrotum are closed with small stitches. After a short rest (usually half an hour) you can go home.
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Sperm are made in a man's testes. During a man's ejaculation the sperm travel through two tubes (vasa deferentia), mix with semen, and come out of the penis. If the sperm enter a woman and one of the sperm joins an egg, the woman will become pregnant. During a vasectomy, these two tubes are cut and blocked so the sperm cannot mix with the semen. Without sperm in his semen, a man can no longer make his partner pregnant.
After a vasectomy, a man still has erections and ejaculates. The amount of fluid in his ejaculations is not different, except there is no sperm. The fluid looks and smells the same. A man's hormones, beard, and voice do not change. His sex drive and ability to have sex do not change. The only change is that he cannot make a woman pregnant.
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Most medical experts, including special panels convened by the National Institutes of Health and by the World Health Organization, have concluded that vasectomy is a safe procedure. A number of large-scale, well-designed epidemiological studies have examined the long-term health effects of vasectomy. The body of research evidence continues to be reassuring and suggests that vasectomized men are no more likely than other men to develop heart disease, testicular or prostate cancer, immune complex disorders, or other illnesses. A small percentage of men have reported chronic testicular pain or discomfort following vasectomy.
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The decision to end your fertility is not a simple one. You may feel a little uncomfortable about ending the part of your life involved with creating a family. You may feel that you are getting older. These feelings usually pass in time, as you go on to the next stage of your life.
On the other hand, you may feel relieved that the worry about pregnancy is over. You may feel freer and more spontaneous. You may be able to concentrate more on yourself, your children, your job, your partner, and your future.
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No. Your body will continue to produce the hormones that make you a man. There will be no change in your beard, your voice, or any other of your male traits. The operation will not cause you to lose strength.
Probably not at all. Your sexual drive will not change. Your erections and climaxes will be the same. Some men say that without the worry of accidental pregnancy and the bother of other family planning methods, they and their partners find sex more pleasurable and spontaneous. Once in a while a man has sexual problems after the operation. This is almost always emotional rather than because of physical changes.
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No. Vasectomy only prevents pregnancy. If you are at risk of infection because your partner has a sexually transmitted infection (STI), or because you or your partner have more than one sex partner; or if you have an STI you can pass on, the best way to protect yourself and your partner is by using condoms. Aside from abstinence, male and female condoms offer the best protection against HIV infection and other STIs.
Even with improvements in surgical technique, you cannot count on the successful reversal of your vasectomy. The chance that the average man seeking reversal will be able to father a child is much smaller than many published success rates suggest. The reversal operation is more difficult and far more expensive than vasectomy. If you are seriously thinking about reversal now, vasectomy may not be the right step for you at this time.
You cannot be sure that semen stored in a sperm bank will be able to cause a pregnancy at an unknown time in the future. Sperm banking is not fertility insurance, and it is quite expensive. If you are thinking about sperm banks, vasectomy may not be right for you now.
Before the operation, you may be given a mild sedative to relax you. When the doctor injects the local anesthetic into the skin of your scrotum, you will feel some discomfort. After the anesthetic takes effect, you should not feel any pain.
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All surgery involves some risk, but the chance of serious problems is small with vasectomy. Most postoperative complications of vasectomy are minor and can be treated with mild non-aspirin pain killers and local application of ice. The following problems will usually subside within 1-2 weeks:
More significant complications are generally quite rare, but include:
Serious long-term problems associated with vasectomy are rare. However,
while postoperative vasectomy pain usually subsides within 1-2 weeks,
some men report chronic testicular pain or discomfort following vasectomy.
Most cases of post-vasectomy pain can be treated with non-steroid anti-inflammatory
drugs such as ibuprofen, sitz baths, antibiotics, or spermatic cord blocks
(an injection that helps to deaden the pain).
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Yes, rarely. There is a very small chance (less than 1%) that a man's partner will become pregnant after he has had a vasectomy. A vasectomy can fail if the tubes were not completely sealed off during surgery. Sometimes, the cut ends of the vasa join together by themselves, or an opening develops that lets sperm pass through. A pregnancy may also happen if a couple do not use some other kind of family planning until a test of the semen shows that the man is sterile.
You will probably feel sore for a few days after the operation, and you should rest for at least one day. A mild non-aspirin painkiller should help. There may be swelling around the incision(s), and the scrotal skin may look bruised. To help avoid these problems, your doctor may suggest an athletic support, ice packs, and rest from hard work. Nearly all men recover completely in less than a week.
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You should not do heavy physical labor for at least 48 hours after your vasectomy. If your job does not involve such labor, you can go back to work sooner. Many men have their vasectomies on Friday so that they can rest over the weekend and go back to work on the following Monday.
You can have sex as soon as you are comfortable. Remember to use some other form of reliable birth control after the vasectomy until the doctor tells you that you are sterile.
No. Right after the operation there are always some active sperm left in the semen. It takes about 20 ejaculations to clear them. You and your partner should use some other form of family planning until the doctor tests your semen and tells you that it is free of sperm. If it isn't, the test will be repeated in a few weeks.
Yes. The semen is produced by glands that are not affected by the vasectomy. They will continue to make the same amount of semen. The only difference is that it will not contain sperm.
Your testes will continue to make sperm. When the sperm cells die, your body will absorb them. This is what happens to sperm cells that are not used—whether or not a man has had a vasectomy.
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