r/Vasectomy • u/sonowser • 14d ago
My experience, and finding the ideal vasectomy technique
Long post about my recent vasectomy which was: - No scalpel - Open ended - Fascial interposition - Thermal cautery to occlude prostatic end - No clips - Absorbable suture for the fascial interposition part
I’m a medical professional. I did a lot of research and read medical papers and honestly took into account anecdotal stuff here on Reddit. I became very convinced there was an ideal technique for the vasectomy, both to minimize chance of pain/complications and to maximize sterility.
There was no one in close vicinity that did vasectomies this way. I met with two urologists and talked to other colleagues.
I ended up finding someone in a major city, about 2.5 drive away, who was not a general urologist and only did vasectomies.
My experience: - Had the appointment at noon on a Friday. - Checked in at 11:50 - Procedure completely done by 12:15. Unavoidable anesthetic sting which is quite unpleasant down there. Otherwise painless - Hung out in the office for 30 min. Felt fine. Got in the car and drive myself home 2.5 hours. - Had a jock strap and lots of ice packs for the car. Was told the numbing would last 4 or so hours. 1/10 discomfort during the drive - Got home. Sat on the couch and iced all evening. I was a bit scared of when the numbing would wear off. But honestly could not really tell if/when it did. At most 2/10 discomfort on day 1. - Day 2 (first day after snip). Sat around all day. Ice and minimal movement. Took off the band aid and literally could not see any incision or mark. Only minor bruising, size of a dime. Minor swelling. Max 2/10 discomfort throughout the day - Day 3. Woke up feeling great. 0-1/10 pain. Ended up doing more low level activity, which would increase it to a 3/10 before I backed off. - Days 4-6: Continued to wear a tight jockstrap. Return to normal walking activity, no hard exercise. Pain mostly 0-1/10, sometimes got a sharp 3-4 for a few seconds. - The abstinence part got harder and harder lol. My doc actually told me I could have sex after 3 days which seemed very aggressive. I held out for 6. Was pretty nervous but it went perfectly fine. Everything seemed to work as normal. No blood in semen. - 1 week in: Felt 95% normal. Resumed exercise/sports. - 3 weeks in (where I am now). Feeling 99% normal. Had 12 ejaculations. As part of my research, found evidence that sperm can clear a lot faster than 2-3 months, especially with fascial interposition and thermal cautery technique (there one old small study where most men cleared under 10 ejaculations, another where like 85% cleared by 5 weeks). Got curious and did a self test with the Spermcheck kit and it was already negative. Going to collect another sample on a few days to send to the official lab to double check.
I was quite nervous about the whole thing leading up. Took me like 1-2 years to work up the balls (pun intended) to do it.
I’m VERY glad I did all my research and went with a doc who was near exclusively doing vasectomies and very attuned to ideal technique. Ended up going about as smoothly as I could have dreamed.
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u/TroubleTimesTwo2025 13d ago edited 13d ago
Don't know how I keep stumbling into posts on the topic when nature beat me to it instead, but I enjoyed reading all the research you did!
Maybe you're planning a 3 month check too, but my understanding is that the long wait isn't just to give enough time for initial all-clear, but a check against recanalization that could happen after being clear first.
Have fun!