Why Do Men Want To Reverse Their Vasectomy?
An excerpt from Dr. Sherman Silber's book, How To Get Pregnant
Vasectomy is one of the most common operations performed today in the United States, and it is the most popular method of birth control in the world. About twenty-five million American men have been vasectomized, and almost a quarter of a million more undergo this operation every year. Despite careful counseling and the warning that this procedure should be considered a permanent step, many men change their minds at a later date. A marriage can break up, and the man may remarry several years later.
Our lives and our families are held together by such thin threads that few of us can feel quite comfortable, at least while we are young, with the decision to be sterilized. One patient of mine had two healthy children, a wonderful wife, a beautiful home, and just about everything anyone could want out of life. When his third child, a boy, was born, it was an absolute culmination of all his desires. The patient waited several months to make sure the child would be healthy before having his vasectomy performed by a local urologist. One month after the operation, he and his wife noticed a lump on the four-month-old child's arm — it turned out to be a rare and incurable malignant tumor of the muscle. The child died four months later. The couple knew that having another child would not replace the one they lost, but they simply had to have another child.
There are many other reasons why vasectomy reversal is so commonly requested. I am an outdoors enthusiast, and I realized on a trip to the far Arctic, in one of the most remote regions of the world, just how intense is the human will to reverse a previous decision to be sterile. I was traveling in the barren region of the magnetic North Pole, thousands of miles from any populated area, on a three-man expedition consisting of myself and two Eskimos. Kalook, my guide, had no idea that I was an expert on vasectomy. He just knew I was a doctor of some sort. He looked sad on the thrid day of our trip as he stared at the floor of the igloo. He said to me, "I made a very bad thing last year." I asked what happened. He said, "The government sends a doctor to our camp every year, and last year he gave me a vasectomy." Kalook already had five children, quite enough accroding to the view of the governement and the social worker who had advised him. But Kalook deeply regretted that he could not have any more. He said, "I am so sorry I did that; I would like to have more children." I started to laugh, patting Kalook on the back, and said to him, "My friend, you have come to the right igloo." For reasons that will become apparent by the end of this story, I could assure Kalook almost a 99 percent chance of having his fertility restored.
The problem with cases like his is that pressure buildup from the vasectomy causes damage to the delicate ductwork closer to the testicle. When we bypassed the epididymal damage, his sperm count returned to normal levels within six months. We have performed many thousands of such successful operations on men whose first vasectomy reversal had failed despite what appeared to be an accurate reconnection of the vas. Therefore, most men with this problem now can once again father children.
Learn more about vasectomy reversal on infertile.com >
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