Frequently Asked Questions (personal)

This part of the page was created having performed more than 1000 vasectomies. Patients can be very worried about this procedure and this page seeks to alleviate and discuss some of these worries.

Q: I am very worried about this, it has taken me 3 years to come forward and take the step even to look at your website.
A: You are not the only one this has happened to. Scores of other men have waited that long or even longer. Many cannot believe how easy the procedure is once completed. They don’t believe that they worried for such a long time and then it was so easy.

Q: I worry quite a lot about the injection. I hate needles and I don't want you to inject my testicles.
A: Don't worry, your testicles are safe. Virtually all patients worry about needles! All I do is put a little bit of local anaesthetic under your scrotal skin and then through this local (which already numbs the skin) put some around your tubes.

Q: I am worried about pain afterwards.
A: The pain is usually mild and lasts for only a few days. Nothing, simple painkillers like paracetamol or ibuprofen could not deal with.

Q: I find it humiliating lying naked in front of a doctor and having my testicles tampered with.
A: You will be partly covered. You keep your top on. Your legs and a small part of your abdomen are however exposed. Your penis is covered with operation theatre "greens". Only the part of your scrotum we need to work on is exposed. The room is well heated.

Q: I may meet you in the car park one day and you will remember me in a less fortunate position.
A: Quite unlikely. You will be lucky if I remember your face and after more than 2000 vasectomies it would it would be a miracle if I remembered your name.

Q: I am worried about bad after-effects
A: Quite unlikely. There are statistical risks, which I will discuss thoroughly during the appointment, but they are small and calculable.

Q: I am worried about impotence.
A: Some men think vasectomy will cure already existing impotence, which is wrong, obviously. However, vasectomy will in no way make you impotent (unless for psychological reasons). Testosterone is released by the testicles into the blood stream. This mechanism is left untouched. We only interrupt the tubes that transport the sperm to the semen (see next question).

Q: I am worried I won't ejaculate anymore.
A: Of course you will. You will just be firing blanks. 97% of the ejaculate is made in the prostate gland (the semen). Only sperm is produced in your testicles. The volume of your ejaculate will therefore reduce by 3%. Hardly noticeable.

Q: I am not worried about the dentist, but I am worried when somebody operates on my testicles.
A: Don't worry. People, who do well at the dentist rarely, fail to do well during a vasectomy. After all you can talk to me rather than having to mumble through the hands off a dental assistant, a drill and a sucker.

Q: But I hate dentists and I am even more worried, now
A: A not unsignificant number of people, who dislike the dentist, say after a vasectomy they felt it was easier than the dentist.

Q: You always seem to have an answer, is there never a patient you give up with?
A: I have never not finished or turned down an anxious patient. However, there were very few occasions I would rather not have been working in. But these stories are not for the internet.

Q: Whatever you say, I am still worried
A: Why don't you see me for an appointment first? It doesn't cost the world (£60) and if you decide to go ahead (within 2 weeks) it will be taken off the cost of the procedure. You can then have a chat with me and decide afterwards whether or not the two of us are comfortable with each other.