4 ms·

If you've been on the fence about getting this done, I highly recommend it! It's a quick procedure, you're in & out in less than an hour. Mine was so uneventful

If you've been on the fence about getting this done, I highly recommend it! It's a quick procedure, you're in & out in less than an hour. Mine was so uneventful I actually took the bus back home. Back at work the next day. Slightly sore for about two weeks, then totally back to normal. Aside from the other obvious benefits, just the peace of mind is great.

Clubber 3y ago
Are they able to make it reversible, similar to lap-band surgery, where they just pinch the tube, so to speak?
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  Reversibility goes down over time, and can cost $5k-$10k. You can put semen on ice with a cryostorage company for ~$1200, covering collection and some initial storage time, with cost of ongoing storage on a cadence. I recommend Reprotech, but there are several reputable providers in this space. Cheap insurance if your life changes and you change your mind.
  - Dig1t 3y ago
    Does the $1200 cover storage for a lifetime? Do you have to renew yearly or something?
    - toomuchtodo 3y ago
      About $350/year, but the cost per year goes down if prepaid. https://www.reprotech.com/fee-schedule/ https://www.reprotech.com/fee-schedule/
- coldpie 3y ago
  Talk to your doctor, but my opinion is, if you think you may want to reverse it in the future, then just don't do it.
farseer 3y ago
So uneventful yet you define your online persona with it. I don't think self mutilation should be taken so lightly.
- sho_hn 3y ago
  To be fair, voluntarily surrendering the ability to procreate seems life-altering and identity-shaping enough to qualify. Not something you'd do on a whim, no? Seems worth talking about.
- coldpie 3y ago
  My 11 years on this site has all been leading up to this very moment!!
- ska 3y ago
  > yet you define your online persona with it how do you figure?
- dang 3y ago
  Please don't cross into personal attack. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- ryanklee 3y ago
  I feel the same way about haircuts!
RjQoLCOSwiIKfpm 3y ago
Whenever I again consider getting one and start reading up opinions on the Internet, it is usually a mix of a lot of people who say they're absolutely OK now ... and then I run into someone who says it COMPLETELY destroyed their life and they're in pain all day every day. Some even say they've been fine for quite a bit of time and then suddenly the pain starts. Which in total makes me absolutely NOT want a vasectomy even though I have zero desire to reproduce. Because it does feel plausible that it can cause trouble to lock something up in the body which is meant to be released once in a while. I hope some day men too will have real and reliable (condoms fail a lot) self-determination in terms of reproduction, not only "suffer abstinence your whole life or risk getting financially gutted for decades."
- jimbob45 3y ago
  I hope some day men too will have real and reliable (condoms fail a lot) self-determination in terms of reproduction Period tracking is incredibly reliable. People will tell you that women will lie about when they have their periods. However, if you can't trust a woman to tell you when she's menstruating, then that's perhaps a sign that you're not ready for sexual conduct with that woman.
  - RjQoLCOSwiIKfpm 3y ago
    Uhm, what, reliable? Source? The failure rate of that is in the double digits percentage AFAIK !? Besides, as long as you are still fertile and relying upon someone else not being fertile that is not self-determination. Men can also be victims of violence. And as soon as multiple $100k in potential alimony payment (raising a kid for 18 years costs that much!) get involved some (not all!) people will lie to your face as much as humanly possible.
  - cassepipe 3y ago
    Indeed, we use condoms for the danger days. We have a window of four days before and after supposed ovulation. I wonder if this is enough. Do you use any other kind of tracking like temperature monitoring ? I'd love to read any resources. I know this isn't the best contraception but I live in a country where I have access to abortion and "tomorrow" pills.
throwaway3932 3y ago
Throwaway here. My vasectomy was quick and uncomplicated, but left me in constant testicular pain. Sex also became far less pleasurable. After a year and a half of no improvement, I had a reversal; this greatly improved my symptoms but I am still not as I was before. PVPS is known to be real, but there are very few studies on it. Nobody really knows the incidence, there is no way to predict who will get it, and all of the treatment options suck. Reversal is the best, but is very expensive and often doesn't work. The reversal cost me ~$14k out of pocket. It's often not covered by insurance because it is considered elective. I wish I had more to offer than an anecdote. There's some forums out there of people who got it much worse than me.
- StrangeATractor 3y ago
  Just out of curiosity, how active were you during recovery?
  - throwaway3932 3y ago
    Not active. Per the doctor's instructions I avoided both strenuous physical and all sexual activity for ~12 days. A footnote I forgot to add: the pain was only in my left testicle, while the right felt fine. This underlines the unpredictability of PVPS.
- BigRedDog1669 3y ago
  I was thinking about having it done. The doctor who was going to do it said that some people have pain afterwards. I asked him and he couldn't give me any stats or details on how many people or how long it lasts, etc. That made me think twice and after looking up people's stories online I decided not to do it. It seems surprisingly little studied. If it was temporary, I could deal with it, but a small yet significant chance of constant pain isn't worth it.
HDMI_Cable 3y ago
I've always wanted to get one done, but I've heard that doctors can just say no, and not let you get one. For reference, I know that I would want any of my children to be born through IVF (for genetic screening reasons), and since you can always have sperm frozen, might as well just reduce risk and get a vasectomy after having them frozen. But the only reason why I haven't yet is because I'm fairly young, and doctors don't like young people getting vasectomies for some reason.
- coldpie 3y ago
  I think this will be highly regional & medical system dependent. FWIW I got mine when I was 28 here in Minnesota, before I was married. Doctor just asked how certain I was, I said 9 or 10 out of 10, and he booked me for surgery. That was it. This was at a university-associated urology clinic.
- BrandoElFollito 3y ago
  In France there is a compulsory 4 months delay between the moment you ask for it and the day it is done. It is a standard procedure reimbursed by social security.
pengaru 3y ago
> Aside from the other obvious benefits, just the peace of mind is great. To say this without even paying lip-service to the well-known and common negative side effects strikes me as incredibly disingenuous. The few guys I've known well enough over the years to discuss such matters who had lived with vasectomies long enough all complained of testicular pain, granulomas forming, etc. One would so consistently walk bull-legged from the pain into our shared office I basically knew whenever he got stoned with his wife the previous weekend. He wasted numerous days on doctor visits to get it checked out and see if he had developed testicular cancer, since granulomas are easily conflated with tumors, especially when the area's too tender/painful to really probe yourself. Living with a vasectomy is not all sunshine and roses. And I say this as someone who feels strongly about the planet being overrun by far too many homo sapiens.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > The few guys I've known well enough over the years to discuss such matters who had lived with vasectomies long enough all complained of testicular pain, granulomas forming, etc. And of the several guys I know who had lived with vasectomies for a long time, none of them experienced any sort of long-term discomfort at all. We have dueling anecdata here. I have not seen any information, in data or anecdotes, that would make me even a little nervous about getting a vasectomy. However, there is risk with literally all surgical procedures, no matter how minor. Different people have different risk tolerances, and I am not diminishing your own personal risk assessment.
  - pengaru 3y ago
    > We have dueling anecdata here. I have not seen any information, in data or anecdotes, that would make me even a little nervous about getting a vasectomy. You're right, it's not like what my anecdata describes is common/confirmed by the data enough to have a medical term describing it with its own wikipedia page or anything... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-vasectomy_pain_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-vasectomy_pain_syndrome
    - 3y ago

Clubber 3y ago

Are they able to make it reversible, similar to lap-band surgery, where they just pinch the tube, so to speak?

toomuchtodo 3y ago
Reversibility goes down over time, and can cost $5k-$10k. You can put semen on ice with a cryostorage company for ~$1200, covering collection and some initial storage time, with cost of ongoing storage on a cadence. I recommend Reprotech, but there are several reputable providers in this space. Cheap insurance if your life changes and you change your mind.
- Dig1t 3y ago
  Does the $1200 cover storage for a lifetime? Do you have to renew yearly or something?
  - toomuchtodo 3y ago
    About $350/year, but the cost per year goes down if prepaid. https://www.reprotech.com/fee-schedule/ https://www.reprotech.com/fee-schedule/
coldpie 3y ago
Talk to your doctor, but my opinion is, if you think you may want to reverse it in the future, then just don't do it.

farseer 3y ago

So uneventful yet you define your online persona with it. I don't think self mutilation should be taken so lightly.

sho_hn 3y ago
To be fair, voluntarily surrendering the ability to procreate seems life-altering and identity-shaping enough to qualify. Not something you'd do on a whim, no? Seems worth talking about.
coldpie 3y ago
My 11 years on this site has all been leading up to this very moment!!
ska 3y ago
> yet you define your online persona with it how do you figure?
dang 3y ago
Please don't cross into personal attack. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
ryanklee 3y ago
I feel the same way about haircuts!

RjQoLCOSwiIKfpm 3y ago

Whenever I again consider getting one and start reading up opinions on the Internet, it is usually a mix of a lot of people who say they're absolutely OK now ... and then I run into someone who says it COMPLETELY destroyed their life and they're in pain all day every day. Some even say they've been fine for quite a bit of time and then suddenly the pain starts. Which in total makes me absolutely NOT want a vasectomy even though I have zero desire to reproduce. Because it does feel plausible that it can cause trouble to lock something up in the body which is meant to be released once in a while. I hope some day men too will have real and reliable (condoms fail a lot) self-determination in terms of reproduction, not only "suffer abstinence your whole life or risk getting financially gutted for decades."

jimbob45 3y ago
I hope some day men too will have real and reliable (condoms fail a lot) self-determination in terms of reproduction Period tracking is incredibly reliable. People will tell you that women will lie about when they have their periods. However, if you can't trust a woman to tell you when she's menstruating, then that's perhaps a sign that you're not ready for sexual conduct with that woman.
- RjQoLCOSwiIKfpm 3y ago
  Uhm, what, reliable? Source? The failure rate of that is in the double digits percentage AFAIK !? Besides, as long as you are still fertile and relying upon someone else not being fertile that is not self-determination. Men can also be victims of violence. And as soon as multiple $100k in potential alimony payment (raising a kid for 18 years costs that much!) get involved some (not all!) people will lie to your face as much as humanly possible.
- cassepipe 3y ago
  Indeed, we use condoms for the danger days. We have a window of four days before and after supposed ovulation. I wonder if this is enough. Do you use any other kind of tracking like temperature monitoring ? I'd love to read any resources. I know this isn't the best contraception but I live in a country where I have access to abortion and "tomorrow" pills.

throwaway3932 3y ago

Throwaway here. My vasectomy was quick and uncomplicated, but left me in constant testicular pain. Sex also became far less pleasurable. After a year and a half of no improvement, I had a reversal; this greatly improved my symptoms but I am still not as I was before. PVPS is known to be real, but there are very few studies on it. Nobody really knows the incidence, there is no way to predict who will get it, and all of the treatment options suck. Reversal is the best, but is very expensive and often doesn't work. The reversal cost me ~$14k out of pocket. It's often not covered by insurance because it is considered elective. I wish I had more to offer than an anecdote. There's some forums out there of people who got it much worse than me.

StrangeATractor 3y ago
Just out of curiosity, how active were you during recovery?
- throwaway3932 3y ago
  Not active. Per the doctor's instructions I avoided both strenuous physical and all sexual activity for ~12 days. A footnote I forgot to add: the pain was only in my left testicle, while the right felt fine. This underlines the unpredictability of PVPS.
BigRedDog1669 3y ago
I was thinking about having it done. The doctor who was going to do it said that some people have pain afterwards. I asked him and he couldn't give me any stats or details on how many people or how long it lasts, etc. That made me think twice and after looking up people's stories online I decided not to do it. It seems surprisingly little studied. If it was temporary, I could deal with it, but a small yet significant chance of constant pain isn't worth it.

HDMI_Cable 3y ago

I've always wanted to get one done, but I've heard that doctors can just say no, and not let you get one. For reference, I know that I would want any of my children to be born through IVF (for genetic screening reasons), and since you can always have sperm frozen, might as well just reduce risk and get a vasectomy after having them frozen. But the only reason why I haven't yet is because I'm fairly young, and doctors don't like young people getting vasectomies for some reason.

coldpie 3y ago
I think this will be highly regional & medical system dependent. FWIW I got mine when I was 28 here in Minnesota, before I was married. Doctor just asked how certain I was, I said 9 or 10 out of 10, and he booked me for surgery. That was it. This was at a university-associated urology clinic.
BrandoElFollito 3y ago
In France there is a compulsory 4 months delay between the moment you ask for it and the day it is done. It is a standard procedure reimbursed by social security.

pengaru 3y ago

> Aside from the other obvious benefits, just the peace of mind is great. To say this without even paying lip-service to the well-known and common negative side effects strikes me as incredibly disingenuous. The few guys I've known well enough over the years to discuss such matters who had lived with vasectomies long enough all complained of testicular pain, granulomas forming, etc. One would so consistently walk bull-legged from the pain into our shared office I basically knew whenever he got stoned with his wife the previous weekend. He wasted numerous days on doctor visits to get it checked out and see if he had developed testicular cancer, since granulomas are easily conflated with tumors, especially when the area's too tender/painful to really probe yourself. Living with a vasectomy is not all sunshine and roses. And I say this as someone who feels strongly about the planet being overrun by far too many homo sapiens.

JohnFen 3y ago
> The few guys I've known well enough over the years to discuss such matters who had lived with vasectomies long enough all complained of testicular pain, granulomas forming, etc. And of the several guys I know who had lived with vasectomies for a long time, none of them experienced any sort of long-term discomfort at all. We have dueling anecdata here. I have not seen any information, in data or anecdotes, that would make me even a little nervous about getting a vasectomy. However, there is risk with literally all surgical procedures, no matter how minor. Different people have different risk tolerances, and I am not diminishing your own personal risk assessment.
- pengaru 3y ago
  > We have dueling anecdata here. I have not seen any information, in data or anecdotes, that would make me even a little nervous about getting a vasectomy. You're right, it's not like what my anecdata describes is common/confirmed by the data enough to have a medical term describing it with its own wikipedia page or anything... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-vasectomy_pain_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-vasectomy_pain_syndrome
  - 3y ago