What Are The Standard Procedures And Concerns For A Vasectomy?

I kind of wanted to wait to post this for another month, since the third Friday of November is World Vasectomy Day, but I decided not to.  For those who don’t want to whip out your calendars, the third Friday would be November 21, 2025. Feel free to celebrate that day however you’d like.

The procedure for a vasectomy is actually a really simple and straightforward procedure. But like any surgical procedure, there's the before and after that we also have to talk about.

Before the procedure you're going to do a consultation with a urologist. They'll talk about the procedure itself, and then what recovery will look like. They’ll also talk to you about if insurance will cover it, and if so, how much it will cover. Then they’ll get consent to do the procedure. Part of this consent process is explaining that this is considered permanent.

While there is a procedure called a vasovasostomy, which is the reversal of a vasectomy, it doesn’t always work. So the urologist is going to want to make sure you understand that the vasectomy is considered a permanent method of birth control.

Theoretically, we would now move on to talking about the day before the procedure and the procedure itself. But I left something out.

Recently I’ve been hearing more about men trying to be persuaded from having the vasectomy done when they meet the doctor for the consultation.

I know a few people in their 30s who have decided that they don't ever want to have to worry about pregnancy. After discussing it with their wives, they decided that they wanted to be the ones who had surgery. Sterilization for men is much easier to do than it is for women.

They told me that they were pressured by the urologist into not getting one because they may decide later that they want children.

For anyone who is shocked by this, you should know that this has been happening to women for decades.

I know several women who decided that they just never wanted children, or that they didn’t want more children, and tried to get their tubes tied. The doctors in these situations would often pressure women into changing their mind. They would encourage them to go home and think it over. And then reschedule if the women decided they want to do the surgery. None of the women ever went back to those doctors.

Several doctors refused outright to do the procedure.

In one situation, the doctor said he would do it, but only if the husband came in and signed the consent form with his wife.

For the record, this pressure on men was not the equality I was hoping for. I’d rather see bodily autonomy for people of all genders, not more restrictions on men.

But let’s assume this doesn’t happen. You like the urologist and feel comfortable with them and decide to move forward with the surgery.

The day before, you're probably going to be asked to shave all the hair away from the scrotum.

Since the procedure is usually done using a local anesthetic and not a general one, there aren’t the same restrictions on eating and drinking the day of the procedure.

The procedure itself is quick. It usually takes no more than 20 minutes. This is either done at an outpatient facility or in the doctor’s office.

I wanted to show you an image of what this looks like but I have to tell you that when I was searching for an image to use, I saw some scary ones. Like a drawing of testicles with scissors aimed at them. If I didn't know what I was looking at I would be a bit terrified by that. So I wanted to warn you in case you do your own Google search.

This image comes from Wikipedia and it's being credited to K. D. Schroeder.

 
Remember that men have two vas deferens, one on the left and one on the right. The doctor is going to access these, sometimes using a scalpel, sometimes not. They’re going to cut each one and then close off the ends. The specifics of how they do this, and whether or not they use a scalpel, should be discussed during the consultation.

And that’s basically it. Once they decide everything looks okay, they’ll send you home.

Recovery may take up to a week. You want to make sure you give your body time to recover. You’ll be given a list of physical restrictions by your doctor before they send you home. Usually these involve limitations around exercise and lifting heavy objects.

A couple of months after the surgery you’ll go back to the urologist so they can check and see if there is any sperm in your semen. Until you get the all clear from this, you should still be using some form of birth control if you’re sexually active.

 And that’s the basics! If there are specific questions I didn’t address just let me know and I’ll do a follow-up.

Until next time, be safe, and have fun!

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