Does Permanent Really Mean Permanent with a Vasectomy?
All the carefully thought out plans in the world could eventually be reconsidered at some point down the road. The vasectomy procedure is one of them. Committing a man sterile through a vasectomy is meant to be permanent but life’s circumstances can change causing regret. Up to 50,000 men each year in the United States undergo a vasectomy reversal procedure because they had a change of heart.
For whatever reason a man chooses a vasectomy, circumstances change causing them to consider whether the price (no just cost but emotional and physical too) is worth it to try for a reversal procedure. Men may remarry and want a child with their new wife whereas they didn’t want a child previously. Or perhaps a couple with several children decides to try for one more child to complete the family thus requiring a vasectomy reversal. Whatever the reasons, they are important enough to the man to consider going under the knife once again.
Two-way street
Having a vasectomy is a like traversing a two way street. On one hand, it is desirable because it is a permanent form of birth control and on the other hand, it is considered permanent and therefore, tough to reverse. The best thing a man can do is consider a vasectomy as a permanent procedure with no chance of changing or reversing it.
For those men who simply develop a new mindset and would like the possibility of children, there have been microsurgical procedures that have been perfected in recent years. These procedures have greatly increased the chances of a vasectomy reversal. The key to the highest success of a reversal is just having a short amount of time lapse between the vasectomy and the reversal. If it has only been a few years, that has not given the body long enough to form tissue which might make things more difficult. If the time frame has been quite a while, a vasectomy reversal’s chances of pregnancy success are much lower.
Chances of Pregnancy Success
There are two ways to view the success of a vasectomy reversal procedure. First of all, doctors must be able to reopen the vas deferens tubes which are the vehicle used in transporting the sperm from the testicle glands to the semen. Secondly, success is also measured by whether or not a woman gets pregnant after her partner’s vasectomy reversal.
When the vasectomy was five years ago or less, doctors have had close to 100% success in re-constructing and reopening the vas deferens while the chance of a woman getting pregnant is close to 80%. However, success percentages lower the longer the time has passed from getting the vasectomy to a contemplated reversal.
The best recourse is not getting a vasectomy in the first place and instead resort to alternative means of birth control, especially if there is the slightest chance that there could be a change of heart. So while vasectomies can be reversed, there are no guarantees that a pregnancy could result from the reversal.
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