Is Your Family Complete? Men's Health Clinic

DuPage Med­ical Group Men’s Health Clinic

The DMG urol­o­gists offer vasec­to­my con­sul­ta­tions and pro­ce­dures on select Sat­ur­days through the Men’s Health Clin­ic at the Lisle Med­ical Office Build­ing. These appoint­ments, offered in addi­tion to week­day appoint­ments, are avail­able to ease the has­sle of tak­ing off work for the con­sul­ta­tion and procedure. 

For more infor­ma­tion, or to sched­ule an appoint­ment, please call (630) 790‑1221.

Vasec­to­my Overview

A vasec­to­my is surgery to cut the vas def­er­ens, the tubes that car­ry a man’s sperm from his scro­tum to his ure­thra. The ure­thra is the tube that car­ries sperm and urine out of the penis. After a vasec­to­my, sperm can­not move out of the testes. A man who has had a suc­cess­ful vasec­to­my can­not make a woman pregnant.

Vasec­to­my is usu­al­ly done in the sur­geon’s office using local anes­the­sia. You will be awake but not feel any pain.

• After your scro­tum is shaved and cleaned, your sur­geon will give you a shot of numb­ing med­i­cine into the area.
• Your sur­geon will then make a small sur­gi­cal cut in the upper part of your scro­tum, and tie off and cut apart the vas def­er­ens. Your sur­geon will use stitch­es or a skin glue to close the wound.

You may have a vasec­to­my with­out a sur­gi­cal cut. This is called a no-scalpel vasec­to­my (NSV).

• Your sur­geon will find the vas def­er­ens by feel­ing your scro­tum and then give you numb­ing medication.
• The sur­geon will then make a tiny hole in the skin of your scro­tum and seal off the vas def­er­ens. The sur­geon will usu­al­ly pull your vas def­er­ens through the tiny hole in order to tie off and cut it apart. You will not need stitches.

Why the Pro­ce­dure is Performed:

• Vasec­to­my may be rec­om­mend­ed for adult men who are sure they want to pre­vent future preg­nan­cies. A vasec­to­my makes a man ster­ile (unable to get a woman pregnant).
• A vasec­to­my is not rec­om­mend­ed as a short-term form of birth con­trol. The pro­ce­dure to reverse a vasec­to­my is a much more com­pli­cat­ed operation.

Vasec­to­my may be a good choice for men who:

• Are in a rela­tion­ship, and both part­ners agree they have all the chil­dren they want. They do not want to use, or can­not use, oth­er forms of birth control.
• Are in a rela­tion­ship, and their part­ner has health prob­lems that would make preg­nan­cy unsafe for her
• Are in a rela­tion­ship, and one or both part­ners have genet­ic dis­or­ders that they do not want to risk pass­ing on to their children

Vasec­to­my may not be a good choice for men who:

• Are in a rela­tion­ship, and one part­ner is unsure about their desire to have chil­dren in the future
• Are in a rela­tion­ship that is unsta­ble, going through a stress­ful phase, or is very dif­fi­cult in general
• Are think­ing about hav­ing the oper­a­tion just to please their partner
• Are count­ing on father­ing chil­dren lat­er by stor­ing their sperm or by revers­ing their vasectomy
• Are young and still have many life changes ahead
• Are sin­gle when they want to have a vasec­to­my. This includes men who are divorced, wid­owed, or separated.
• Do not want, or have a part­ner who does not want, to be both­ered by hav­ing to use oth­er forms of birth con­trol dur­ing sex­u­al activity

Risks

There is no seri­ous risk to vasec­to­my. Your semen will be test­ed in the months after the oper­a­tion to make sure it does not con­tain sperm.

As with any sur­gi­cal pro­ce­dure, infec­tion, swelling, or pro­longed pain can occur. Care­ful fol­low­ing of after­care instruc­tions reduces these risks significantly.

Very rarely, the vas def­er­ens can grow back togeth­er again. If this hap­pens, sperm can mix with semen. This would make it pos­si­ble for you to make a woman pregnant.

Before the Procedure

Two weeks before your vasec­to­my, tell your doc­tor all of the med­i­cines, even ones you bought with­out a pre­scrip­tion, vit­a­mins, sup­ple­ments, and herbs you are tak­ing. You may need to lim­it or stop tak­ing aspirin, ibupro­fen (Advil, Motrin), and oth­er med­i­cines that affect blood clot­ting for 10 days before your surgery.

On the day of your surgery, wear loose, com­fort­able clothes. Clean your scro­tum area well. Take the med­i­cines your doc­tor told you take.

Bring a scro­tal sup­port with you to the surgery.

After the Procedure

You should be able to return home as soon as the pro­ce­dure is done. Don’t do any work or activ­i­ty that requires heavy lift­ing, push­ing or strain­ing for two days. You should be able to return to your nor­mal phys­i­cal activ­i­ties in 3 to 7 days. It is nor­mal to have some swelling and bruis­ing of the scro­tum after the procedure.

You should wear a scro­tal sup­port as need­ed the week fol­low­ing the pro­ce­dure for com­fort. You can use an ice pack to pre­vent or reduce swelling. Pain med­i­cine, such as aceta­minophen (Tylenol), may help relieve dis­com­fort. Wait at least one week after the pro­ce­dure before resum­ing sex­u­al activ­i­ties, con­tin­ue to use some oth­er method of birth con­trol until you have had two sep­a­rate semen sam­ples test­ed and were told that no sperm were present in either sample.