Vasectomy (Male Sterilisation)

Many couples reach a point where they know their family is complete. Often the woman has managed contraception for years, through pills, a copper-T or injections, and the question comes up of who should have a permanent procedure. Vasectomy is the simpler and safer of the two sterilisation options. In India it's still chosen far less often than female sterilisation, often because of worries about strength, sex drive or manhood that the evidence doesn't support.

In a vasectomy, the two tubes that carry sperm from the testes (the vas deferens) are cut and sealed, so semen no longer contains sperm. It's done under local anaesthetic through a tiny puncture or one or two small cuts in the scrotum, and takes 15 to 30 minutes. The testes keep making testosterone as before. They also keep making sperm, which the body simply absorbs.

Vasectomy is one of the most reliable forms of contraception, with a long-term failure rate of about 1 in 2,000 once a semen test shows no sperm. It doesn't work straight away, though. Sperm stored beyond the cut take about three months to clear, so you use other contraception until the test is clear. Think of it as permanent: reversal is possible, but it's a bigger operation and doesn't always work.

Our urology department treats conditions of the male reproductive system in a private, non-judgmental setting, and our urologist Dr. Prabhat Ranjan is also an andrologist. Semen analysis, which you'll need a few months after the procedure, is available here too.

Vasectomy is a choice rather than a treatment for a disease. It's right when you're sure you don't want children in the future, whatever changes in your life.