About two years ago my wife and I decided that we weren't going to have any more children. At least not the biological way. We still might adopt 1 or 2 kids. Benefits: we'll know we we'll get a baby girl and Islena won't practically die during pregnancy due to dehydration/malnutrition from vomiting. Anyway, we were looking at options to not have to deal with contraception for the next 20 years or whatever, and we wanted to compare vasectomies (where the guy is sterilized) and tubal ligations (where the girl is sterilized). Here's what we found out:
Picture of vasectomy from http://urology.jhu.edu/male/Vasectomy.php
Vasectomy Tubal Ligation
Length of procedure: 30 minutes 2 hours
Complexity of procedure: Very simple Fairly complex
Recovery time: 2-5 days 3 weeksImmediate complications: Few/rare Some/uncommon
Short-term complications: Few/rare Some/uncommon
Medium-term complications: Few/rare Some/uncommon
Long-term complications: Few/rare Some/uncommon
Cost: $500.00 $3,000.00
Chance of pregnancy after: Very low Fairly low
Picture of Laser Vasectomy from http://jrgrink.dancersblogs.com/vascetomymoral/
What is a Vasectomy? Two tiny holes are made in the scrotum, then a hook is put through. The lines connecting the testicles to the prostate are fished out, cut, and tied or sealed shut. This stops sperm from getting to the prostate. Sperm is actually only a small percentage of the semen that comes out during sex. No sperm, no babies. THIS IN NO WAY STOPS STDs!!! Men with vasectomies have a slightly higher rate of getting and giving STDs because there are idiots out there that decide they don't need a condom when sleeping with multiple partners or a partner that has multiple partners. As you'll note in a previous post, this can cause CANCER! So the Vas Deferens are cut and sealed and put back in. The holes in the scrotum are so small a bandaid would be more than enough to soak up any bleeding.
You can have sex again in about a week, and for the next couple of months, you'll send samples of semen to a lab every few weeks until they confirm a sample with no live sperm in it. Then you know you will never have any more children. Vasectomies are considered permanent, but there is a chance to reverse them if needed. I got on the internet looking for stories about the effects of vasectomies, and found a couple of websites with some horror stories on them. But really, the few guys that have complications will complain about it long and loud, and the many guys that are blaming their problems on a vasectomy even though they are unrelated will also post about it a lot. The 99% that have no issues with their vasectomies have other things in life to think about, and you probably won't hear them commenting about it much.
My experience was like almost everybody else. It really wasn't a big deal. My soreness was fading about two days afterwards. We went to Wheeler Farm on a family trip that Saturday, and there was this pig with mega-huge testicles that didn't fit between it's legs and so they stuck out the back. Kindred spirit I said, but really it wasn't bad.
Tubal ligation is actually pretty similar as far as cutting and then sealing tubes. It's just deep inside a woman's body. There's a lot more room for error. It's more expensive. Complications are more common and more serious. Etc. Basically, GO FOR THE VASECTOMY!!!
Web sites comparing tubal ligations to vasectomies: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080124174902AAeTpv4 and http://www.vascenters.com/tubal.htm
