500,000 American Men Get Vasectomies Every Year – A Specialist Explains the Quick and Simple Procedure

In the United States, about 500,000 men have vasectomy procedures every year. Despite the fact that the proportion of men receiving them has been down for the previous 20 years, it appears that after the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, those numbers are increasing.

Although it's too soon for official statistics, I can personally attest that more new patients are coming to see me as a urologist and microsurgeon who specializes in vasectomies. In our Miami clinic, we used to regularly conduct 20 to 25 vasectomies each month. However, since the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, we've been fully booked, with 30 vasectomies planned per month into the following year. Additionally, I've noticed a 30% increase in online searches for vasectomies. It's the first such increase I've noticed in my fifteen years of employment.

The number of urologists is also increasing. In fact, a physician in Kansas City reported a 900% surge in enquiries about vasectomy in just the four days following the judgment.

The majority of new vasectomy patients at our clinic are young or unmarried men. When abortion care is less accessible than it once was, they claim they are worried about getting a woman pregnant. They also ask about freezing their sperm first in case they ever decide they want to have biological children. It is possible to store things in the freezer, and some patients have even been successful in freezing their own sperm.

Vasectomies are typically completed in an outpatient facility and last 15 to 20 minutes.

The majority of vasectomies are easy and simple procedures. In reality, an outpatient clinic performs 98% of them. Most guys at a medical office remain awake for the entire 15 to 20 minute procedure.

Only 2% of vasectomy patients receive their procedure under anesthesia in a hospital. That's typically due to anatomical problems, past surgeries that made the treatment more difficult, or the patient's personal inclination to fall asleep.

The urologist first creates a little incision in the scrotum. The vas deferens, the tube that carries sperm from the testes to the ejaculatory duct, is then removed by the physician. The doctor takes out a little portion of the tube from between the permanent clips after attaching them in two places on the tube. The clips continue to hold the severed tube ends closed and permanently sealed. The sperm no longer has a pathway from the testes, where it is made, to the urethra, where it originally left the body.

Patients usually return home to rest for about four hours while applying ice to the injured area. If their employment doesn't require manual labor, most people can return to work just one or two days afterwards. We advise against having sex or doing any strenuous activity for roughly a week following the vasectomy.

Sports aficionados frequently use the recovery period as an excuse to schedule their vasectomy around important sporting events that will air on TV. In this way, individuals can recuperate while enjoying the Masters golf tournament, the World Series of baseball, or the American football bowl games. In fact, one of the reasons March is a popular month for appointments is because of "March Madness vasectomy" marketing timed to the college basketball championships.

The patient visits the clinic two to three months after the operation. To determine the sperm count, we collect a sample of semen. That is utilized to determine the success of his vasectomy. We might need to perform another one if there are any sperm in the ejaculate. Less than 1% of the time, this occurs. In the vast majority of cases, we are able to inform the patient that their surgery is finished.

Patients naturally have many questions and worries because this is a surgery. One thing I frequently hear from patients is that having a vasectomy will diminish their masculinity because they are unable to bear children. But it is not at all the case. It won't diminish your manhood.

Because the treatment is so close to the penis, some men worry that it will harm it. A vasectomy, however, will not harm a man's penis or any other nearby structures. After the surgery, he won't experience any alterations in his sexual function or enjoyment.

Ejaculate volume after a vasectomy plainly falls little even though everything else remains the same. Some men worry about this. Since sperm make up only 5% of the volume of semen, the difference is not particularly obvious.

Patients can, however, have their vasectomies reversed if they later change their minds. About 5% of patients in the US do.

The majority of the time, this involves a man who wishes to have biological children with a new spouse. Vasectomy reversals are successful almost always, with sperm returning to the ejaculate 90% to 95% of the time. Additionally, vasectomy reversals are followed by pregnancies 50% to 60% of the time, depending on the woman's age.

By RANJITH RAMASAM, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI