Vasectomy: A Cheap, Simple and Safe Operation for Male Sterilization

Nowadays the desired number of children in a family may be achieved when both parents are still in their early twenties. In such a situation, the mother would have to face up to twenty years on the contraceptive pill if she were to be spared the fear of unwanted pregnancies. What is her best course?

It has been observed that the contraceptive pill is not completely symptom free and other contraceptives are not absolutely reliable. Female sterilization requires admission to hospital and a general anaesthetic which is inconvenient and time consuming for some women. Yet some form of reliable birth control is urgently needed each year. The answer to the problem can be vasectomy.

Vasectomy is a cheap, simple and safe operation for male sterilization. The operation is a simple minor one. The scrotal sac is opened, usually under local anaesthetic and the vas deferens is cut and tied. This prevents sperm passing from the testis into the seminal fluid.

The operation takes anything from ten to thirty minutes depending on the skill of the operator and if done under local anaesthetic, the patient will walk away from the operating table within a few minutes. It is certainly a far less serious operation than, say, having the appendix out.

Few patients have any significant trouble resulting from the operation. The most troublesome complication reported is the formation of a haematoma which is a collection of blood which disappears after a few days. Most of the men who have undergone vasectomy have reported an improvement in marital harmony and their sex life.

Vasectomy has been performed since the end of the last century although originally it was for men who were mentally disturbed. Vasectomy is not castration, but quite the reverse. But many men still consider vasectomy an affront to male dignity. Most candidates for vasectomy are in their thirties or forties, although it has been performed in men in their early twenties, and, on rare occasions, as late as the sixties for those with young wives.
One minor disadvantage of vasectomy is that sterility is not achieved until several weeks after the operation. At least two specimens of semen have to be declared clean before it can be certain that the contraceptive precautions are unnecessary.

Before vasectomy takes place, the man and usually the wife must be interviewed by a doctor. Occasionally, the interview results in a change of mind but problems and queries are usually resolved. Sometimes people expect a miraculous improvement in their sex life as a result of the operation. They have to be told that vasectomy is not the cure for all their sexual or psychological problems.

Wherever people decide that their families are complete, when it is carried out and properly checked, vasectomy is 100 percent reliable. Although it can very often be reversed, it is wise to think of vasectomy as being irreversible.