Results of your Vasectomy : A guide to Vasectomy

This is the most important part of the process: has the surgery worked and are you now sterile?

It takes up to four months for any remaining sperm to be cleared out of your vas deferens. The reason for this is that some sperm do remain in the part of these tubes which is beyond where the surgeon made his/her incision.

You can be looking at up to 30 ejaculations to remove the last traces of these sperm.

So, you will still need to use contraception as there is still a risk of pregnancy during this time. It has been the case that couples assume that the surgery has resulted in complete sterilisation and so ditch the contraceptives only to find out there were still a few traces of sperm left. This then results in an unwanted pregnancy.

Continue to use contraceptives until you have two ‘all clear’results from semen testing. If the doctor says that you are sterile then you can take it as confirmation of the success of the surgery.

Semen test

The first test will probably take place eight weeks after your surgery. This will check if there is any remaining sperm in your tubes and to see if they have rejoined (in rare cases).

This test will be repeated at a later date. If your semen is ‘sperm-free’then the vasectomy has been successful.

One point to mention: there are a few men who have small numbers of ‘non-motile sperm’. These are sperm which are unable to move around but it is not certain as to whether they could result in a pregnancy. If this applies to you then your GP or medical professional will discuss this with you.

As regards sex: it’s a good idea to wait for a week before resuming your sex life.

One thing to bear in mind is that even though a vasectomy is permanent it does not confer protection against sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. So you will still need to use a condom even after surgery.

Most men are happy to do so due to the fact they are in a long term relationship e.g. marriage. But if you are looking to have a vasectomy purely to avoid wearing a condom then you may need to reconsider.