• the right doctor
• basal fertility testing
• female symptoms
• additional tests for women
• female diagnosis
• male symptoms
• additional tests for men
• male diagnosis
  • sperm problems
  • azoospermia
  • occlusion
  • bilateral absence of the vas deferens
  • klinefelter's syndrome
  • cryptoorchidism
  • retrograde ejaculation
  • vasectomy reversal
  • varicocele
  • epididymitits
  • immunological infertility (antibodies)
  • hormonal imbalance
• unexplained subfertility

vasectomy reversal

Sterilisation of the man is called a vasectomy. In a vasectomy, both vas deferens are severed under a local anaesthetic so that sperm are no longer present in the ejaculate. If a man subsequently decides he wants to have a child, he can try to have a reversal operation performed, in which the outer ends of the severed vas deferens are reconnected.

• symptoms
• cause
• treatment

symptoms

None

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cause

Although vasectomy should be regarded as an irreversible method of contraception, circumstances do change. Some men who have had a sterilisation (vasectomy), change their minds later and want to have the vasectomy reversed.

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treatment

Two treatment options are available for men: vaso-vasostomy or vaso-epididymostomy. In both cases these are out-patient procedures in which the patient’s vas deferens are reattached or attached directly to the epididymis.

Sterilisation reversal in the man is not always successful; it depends on how long ago the vasectomy was done. It may be the case that no or very few sperm cells are found despite the reversal operation. Besides the quantity of sperm cells, motility following reversal may also be an issue.

For example, it is not unusual for men to develop anti-sperm antibodies in the years following a vasectomy.

Depending on the quality of the remaining sperm, fertility treatments such as intra-uterine inseminations or even IVF with ICSI may be necessary.

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