How Vasectomy Reversal Works

By Dr. Harris Brown


Men who either have decided not to have any more children or who have decided that starting a family is not for them may choose to get a vasectomy. While a lot of men (about 500,000 annually in the US alone) have vasectomies performed, around five percent of these men will change their mind after word and seek out a vasectomy reversal. This is a relatively simple outpatient procedure which has a success rate of around 99%. While your chances are pretty good overall, your odds of regaining your fertility are higher when your operation is performed by a vasectomy reversal expert, especially a skilled microsurgeon.

Before the reversal procedure became commonplace, men who had already had a vasectomy and decided to have children would have just two options. The couple would need to have a therapeutic donor insemination (TDI) or an in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) procedure. Although these procedures are able to help many couples conceive, they could not truly restore fertility and this spurred the development of vasectomy reversal. This surgical procedure consists of reconnecting the cut ends of the vas deferens to allow sperm to pass through at ejaculation. Reversal is far less expensive than TDI or IVF/ICVSI procedures and is usually seen as the best option for men who are interested in having children after having had a vasectomy.

To perform the procedure the vasectomy reversal expert will put the man under anesthesia while they perform the operation. The incision is made in the same spot as the vasectomy, about a two inch long incision into the scrotal skin. The surgeon locates the ends of the vas deferens and removes all scar tissue from the area. Before going further, a sample of the fluid is extracted from the testicular end of the vas and placed on a glass slide for examination under a light microscope, right then. The result of the slide will determine the method of microsurgical reconstruction. The thought is that the testicals continue to produce sperm after a vasectomy and therefore the slide should show live sperm.

If live sperm and normal seminal fluid are seen, the chances of a successful outcome are close to 99%. However, not all patients will have the same results; in some men, there may be thin fluid with little to no sperm or abnormally thick seminal fluid with an absence of sperm, which is a sign that there has been a rupture in the epididymis. This fourteen foot coiled structure within the testicles stores sperm and can rupture under too much pressure, which can result from a blockage caused by scar tissue. If there is an epididymal blockage, the surgeon will have to bypass the epidymis or the reversal will be unsuccessful.

If the vasectomy reversal goes as planned, the patient will be have fully restored fertility as soon as they have spent a brief period recovering from the procedure. Like other surgeries, the outcome of the procedure is more likely to be successful if it is performed by a skilled surgeon and when done by a vasectomy reversal expert, almost all men who undergo a reversal will regain the ability to help conceive a child.




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