It's about that time of the year it's march madness and did you know that more and more men
are getting vasectomies right before march madness so they can sit back relax and enjoy the weekend
I'm Dr. Rena Malik urologist and pelvic surgeon and today we're going to talk all about the
benefits and risks of vasectomies what to expect before and after the procedure and
bust some major myths also I have a little surprise to get your family and friends
involved in your vasectomy experience so make sure you stick around to check it out as always if you
enjoy this content make sure you subscribe and share this channel with your friends the vasectomy
a vasectomy is a procedure where the vas deferens or the tube that connects the
testicles to the ejaculatory duct is cut so that you can effectively be sterilized it is considered
a permanent form of sterilization and so if you want to proceed with the vasectomy you need to
be sure that you absolutely do not want to have any further children in the united states about
500 000 vasectomies are performed a year they're about 99.5 effective and they're safer less
invasive and have a quicker recovery than the female counterpart which is tubal ligations
you make a small incision in the scrotal skin isolate the vas and isolate the fast and then you
hold it in position with a towel clamp then you snip the fibrous tissue so when you're getting a
vasectomy what's gonna happen well that day you're going to show up for your vasectomy sometimes you
may get a medication from your doctor that helps calm the nerves a little bit so if you are nervous
about it make sure you ask your doctor if they can offer you something that will help relax you
before the procedure and then you come into the procedure room and the area is shaved and washed
and while this seems like a very kind of invasive thing we do it all the time so there's no reason
to feel nervous and don't try to shave yourself because actually that can cause a higher risk for
infection if you use a regular shaver compared to clippers that we often use then the urologist will
drape off the area so you'll get some blue towels and blue sheets that are covering you that will
help kind of keep the area clean and sterile you want to make sure that you're not going to touch
down there try to scratch or help or anything at all you're going to keep your hands underneath
the drape and try your best to relax then the urologist will proceed to find the vas deferens
and this will be on both sides so they'll start on one side and they'll find the vas deferens so
they'll feel around the scrotum to feel this tube and actually it's pretty easy to identify in most
cases because it feels like a piece of spaghetti in people who have normal anatomy it's pretty
quick to find and then we inject a numbing agent into the skin where we're going to make a small
incision and along the vas deferens so that the nerves to that area are also numbed this is the
only part that you should really feel any sort of prick and a burn from the numbing medication
after that you should feel nothing more than tugging or pulling in the area so as i mentioned
there'll also be an incision so after you get numb they'll then either incise the area where the vas
deferens is or use a small instrument to open up the area where the vas defense is called a no
scalpel technique ultimately both techniques are great and you shouldn't worry too much
they'll then find the vast deference they'll cut a small piece of the vas deferens and essentially
either burn clip or suture off the ends of the vas deferens it doesn't really matter which way they
do this as long as the urologist is experiencing the technique the outcomes are very very similar
and then they put a small suture in the area where they made the incision and that's the whole
procedure it takes about 15 to 20 minutes and you're off after surgery what is recovery gonna be
like well when you recover you'll need about two to three days where you're really kind of taking
it easy it was kind of fine for the first you know like three days i was like this is not a big deal
no heavy lifting no strenuous activity hence why a lot of men do this right before big
sporting events so they can relax for a couple days you'll need some sort of ice packs
or frozen peas to help kind of reduce the swelling in the area which is usually the most bothersome
part of the recovery and ladies this is a great time of year to encourage your partner if you
are both done having children to go ahead and get a vasectomy all right the other important
thing that you need during recovery is a good pair of underwear so time for your surprise fellas i'm
sure you've all been there when your wives have gotten baby showers and gifts for their baby
registries well now it's your turn saks underwear is launching a ball registry yeah you heard that
right a ball registry where you can register for things like underwear pajamas socks and get your
friends and family involved so that they can buy you something to help you during your recovery but
the biggest and most exciting part of what saks underwears offers is their underwear with their
patented ballpark technology guys if you haven't tried their ballpark technology you are going to
want to check it out it's got a breathable hammock that keeps your scrotum in place to avoid chafing
friction and the most annoying balls getting stuck to the leg or bstl this underwear is made for
every guy whether they're undergoing a vasectomy or not but the bonus is it can really help prevent
discomfort during your recovery and help give it that support that it needs the saks ball registry
is so cool not only can you register for all these amazing things but you can unlock additional
surprises like beer fridges ball grooming kits and so much more check out the link in the description
to start your ball registry today your balls will thank you later so we've covered you need
scrotal support some sort of elevation of the scrotum as well as ice packs during your recovery
you can expect that for two or three days you'll be down and out but after about seven days you'll
be able to resume normal activities and go back to having normal sexual activity so in addition to
the recovery there are some risks you need to be aware of there's a risk of bleeding swelling and
bruising so afterwards you can get some scrotal swelling and some discomfort afterwards which is
why again wearing a supportive underwear or even taking a rolled up towel and putting it underneath
the scrotum when you're sitting or lying down can really help prevent that swelling if you're
noticing that your scrotum is getting very very enlarged and purplish in coloration please call
your urologist immediately you may have what's called a hematoma or blood underneath the skin
another thing is you may notice some blood in the semen and this is completely normal after a
procedure like this if you're having this outside of having a vasectomy make sure you check out my
video where i talked about blood in the semen previously and lastly there's a less than one
percent chance of having chronic scrotal pain after a vasectomy again this is really really
rare but it does happen all right now that we've covered the procedure let's talk about some myths
that hold people back from going forward with the vasectomy but what about like uh creativity
see i write music for a living will i still be able to do that do you write with your testicles
a lot of guys are concerned that having a vasectomy might impact their sex drive or
the amount of ejaculate they have there is no data to suggest that vasectomy is
correlated with developing any sort of erectile dysfunction and also only five to ten percent of
the ejaculate volume comes from the sperm itself so it really shouldn't make a huge
change in your ejaculate volume one way or the other i just have a couple of pre-sniff
questions shoot which by the way you'll still do post snip if that was one of your questions
myth number two sterilization happens right away after the vasectomy and that is absolutely not
true it takes about 20 ejaculations for you to clear out any sperm from the system after having
a vasectomy so as a rule we always recommend that men who undergo a vasectomy have a post-vasectomy
semen analysis to ensure that they're completely sterile before having unprotected sex with their
partner so during that time sorry guys you gotta use a condom and if you hate condoms make sure
you check out my video about condoms and how to pick the right condom for you so that you
can find one that's more comfortable number three now that you've had a vasectomy you never need to
use any other sorts of protection at all well if you're in a committed monogamous relationship and
you've both been tested for sexually transmitted infections yes that is true but if you're planning
to have other partners or you're not sure about your partner's sexually transmitted infection
situation then you'll still need to use a condom to protect against any sort of infections number
four vasectomies don't work well in fact they really do only about two in one thousand people
who get a vasectomy actually have a pregnancy after the vasectomy is over this again stresses
why it's so important to get a semen analysis after you complete your vasectomy so that you can
be sure that you are completely sterile before you go ahead and have unprotected intercourse
and lastly getting a vasectomy reversal is no big deal and so go ahead and get a vasectomy
and that's not exactly true while vasectomies can be up to 95 successful they are much more
invasive and more complicated surgeries than the vasectomy itself also depending on how long
it's been since you had your vasectomy and other specific characteristics of how you healed from
the vasectomy it may be as low as 50 success rate so if you're deciding to get a vasectomy please
consider it a permanent form of sterilization and the last myth is that vasectomies cause a
drop in testosterone and in fact there's no data to suggest that after vasectomies your
testosterone levels change at all in fact your testes will still produce sperm but that sperm
will be resorbed by the body rather than coming out with the ejaculate i hope this answers a lot
of your questions and as always remember to take care of yourself because you're worth it