If you’re sexually active but do not wish to get your partner pregnant, vasectomies are one of the most effective birth control options. In fact, vasectomies are 99% effective in preventing unwanted pregnancies - although not right away.
Board-certified urologist Mike Hsieh, MD, and his team offer vasectomies to help men prevent unwanted pregnancies and perform a simple test a few months later to verify your vasectomy is working properly.
If you have a penis and testicles and do not wish to get your partner pregnant, a vasectomy is often your best option for permanent birth control.
During the in-office surgical procedure, the vas deferens tube that allows your sperm to travel from your testicles to your penis is severed and tied to prevent sperm from mixing with your semen. Vasectomies typically take about 20-30 minutes and require a short recovery in the office.
Suppose the experienced team suspects your vasectomy may present challenges. In that case, Dr. Hsieh may recommend performing your procedure at the outpatient center of a hospital or ambulatory surgical center under conscious sedation.
Once the procedure is complete and the vasectomy has been verified functional, there is no way you can mess it up, unlike other forms of birth control.
Vasectomies provide a permanent form of birth control, working to prevent pregnancies for the rest of your life without you having to do anything else. But if you think there is a chance you may want children someday in the future, a vasectomy is not the right birth control option for you.
It’s important to understand that vasectomies do not work to reliably prevent pregnancies immediately after the procedure. It takes about three months, or between 15 and 20 ejaculations, before your semen becomes sperm-free.
You will need to use other forms of birth control until your doctor verifies your vasectomy is working properly.
A few months after you have a vasectomy, Dr. Hsieh will conduct a semen analysis to check for sperm in your semen. Because an average of 1 of every 5 men will still have sperm in his semen even after three months, you should not rely on vasectomy as your birth control until your doctor confirms there is no more sperm in your semen.
Once Dr. Hsieh verifies your semen is sperm-free, you no longer need to use other birth control methods to prevent pregnancy.
Contact our office in La Jolla, California to schedule an appointment to learn more about vasectomies.
