Title slide: What Is a Vasectomy?
1) A vasectomy is a permanent form of sterilization
2) What it entails is a small incision in the scrotum, where we bring up the tube which is the vas deferens, and we clip it and cut it and put it back, in order to prevent the sperm from traveling through the channel in order to avoid pregnancy.
3) A person that should consider a vasectomy is a male who's looking for a permanent form of sterilization, who wants to avoid using either condoms or having their partner on the birth control pill or an IUD or having their partner undergo a more invasive procedure, which is tubal ligation, they'd be a good candidate
4) There are typically two types of vasectomy procedures. One is a no scalpel vasectomy and the other one can utilize a scalpel. Both are minimally invasive. The no scalpel vasectomy uses a very sharp pair of scissors, essentially to poke a hole in the scrotal skin in order to get to the vas deferens. A vasectomy utilizing a scalpel makes a very small incision and is just a different way to get to the vas deferens. Each procedure does require a hole in the scrotum
Title slide: What Are the Risks?
5) There are a few risks that we discuss with our patients prior to undergoing a vasectomy. One is bleeding, which is less than one percent, where you can get an abnormal collection of blood in the scrotum or at incision site. Another is infection, which, again, is less than one percent. We don't even give antibiotics prior to the procedure. It is a sterile procedure where we do clean the area with a solution to prevent infection. The other risk is failure, which is approximately one in 2,000, and we define failure if we detect sperm in the semen analysis approximately six months from the time of the procedure.
6) Some people can have long term pain. Again, very, very small risk with that. Otherwise, it's a very, very safe procedure.
Title slide: Recovery From a Vasectomy
7) The recovery time from a vasectomy is very minimal. We ask that you don't do any heavy lifting for about 24 to 48 hours. We do ask for post-operative recovery to ice the scrotal area off and on for again, 48 hours. It's advised not to do any heavy lifting for the next few days, but typically people return to work the next day or two to three days later. Another thing that we advise against resuming is ejaculation for approximately one week
8) A vasectomy is a reversible procedure. However, it is best to go in with the mentality that this a permanent form of sterilization.
9) 99 percent of vasectomies can be done in the office in about 15 to 20 minutes. Some reasons why we would not want to do it in the office is if you have abnormal anatomy, which makes it difficult, which would cause increased time of the procedure and potential pain
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