At a certain point in your life, you were sure you wanted to end your ability to father children, and you underwent a vasectomy. Today, your circumstances have changed, and you want to enter the world of fatherhood again. Is it possible?
The short answer is, “Yes, we can reverse a vasectomy.” Each year in the United States, about half a million men get vasectomies while a small percentage of men — around 30,000 — go in the opposite direction and undergo vasectomy reversal.
At our men’s health practice, Dr. Robert J. Cornell offers no-scalpel vasectomies, and he’s helped many men to put an end to their ability to have children. Dr. Cornell has also helped patients who’ve had a change of heart through a vasectomy reversal, which we discuss here.
When Dr. Cornell performs a vasectomy, he blocks your vas deferens tubes, which deliver sperm into your semen. This form of birth control is extremely effective and offers near-perfect protection against impregnating a woman.
And Dr. Cornell accomplishes all of this during an outpatient office visit that takes less than an hour.
While your original vasectomy was relatively easy with little downtime, the same can’t be said of a vasectomy reversal.
A vasectomy reversal is much more complex, as we have to unblock your vas deferens to reestablish a passageway for sperm to enter your semen.
There are two ways we can reverse a vasectomy:
Vasovasostomy — Dr. Cornell reattaches two ends of your vas deferens to create a lumen, or open tube.
Vasoepididymostomy — Dr. Cornell attaches one end of your vas deferens directly to your epididymis, which is where your sperm mature.
In either case, the vasectomy reversal is far more complex and requires that you be placed under general anesthesia. Unlike a vasectomy, which we perform in mere minutes, the reversal can take several hours of microsurgery.
After your vasectomy reversal, you can count on a number of months before sperm start to enter your semen. In fact, it can take 6-12 months for sperm to get back into your ejaculate, but most men have sperm in their semen after three months.
When it comes to success rates, they’re fairly impressive. The vasovasostomy boasts an impressive success rate that falls between 90% and 95%. For those who have a vasoepididymostomy, the success rates fall between 65% to 70%.
Moving away from numbers, we want to underscore the importance of patience after your vasectomy reversal, as it can take time to get your sperm going where you want them to go.
If you’d like to learn more about reversing your vasectomy and whether you’d make a good candidate for this procedure, please contact our office in Houston, Texas, to set up a consultation.
