Family Planning Tips Post-Vasectomy

Vasectomies are growing more common, with an increase of over 25% in a recent seven-year period. Many men are opting for vasectomy because the procedure simply makes sense for their lives. It’s a convenient office-based procedure, requires very little downtime, and is virtually worry-free when it comes to birth control. 

However, a vasectomy doesn’t take effect instantly, so you do need to take some family planning steps afterward. Here at Urology Specialists of Cypress, our experienced board-certified urologist Dr. James Stocks believes that educating patients about vasectomy is just as important as performing the procedure. 

We take the time to explain how you can reliably prevent pregnancy, both immediately after your procedure and long term. Our April blog covers the top family planning tips for the post-vasectomy period.  

Continue using birth control 

A vasectomy involves severing the vas deferens, the tubes that sperm travel through. Long term, the sperm can’t travel into your semen anymore, and they’re reabsorbed by your body. 

But, short term, some sperm still linger within the vas deferens. Those sperm can make it into your ejaculate and cause pregnancy.

After your vasectomy, avoid ejaculation for about a week. When you resume sexual activity, use birth control just as you did pre-vasectomy. This can help carry you through the period in which you could still cause pregnancy — usually a few months. 

Wait for the all-clear 

Continue using birth control until you have a semen analysis to confirm that there are no sperm remaining in your semen. In general, we schedule your semen analysis at 6-12 weeks post-vasectomy. You must ejaculate a minimum of 20 times before your semen analysis to fully flush sperm out of your vas deferens.

We test your semen to make sure there’s no sperm left and after that, you can get the all-clear to stop using birth control. If your test shows that there is still sperm in your semen, you need to continue using birth control for a while longer and have a follow-up semen analysis. 

Know the odds of pregnancy after vasectomy

While there’s an extremely low pregnancy risk post-vasectomy (less than 1%), pregnancy is technically possible. But, it’s important to realize that all methods of birth control have some failure rate. Other than abstinence, a vasectomy is as close as you can get to ensuring you won’t be able to get anyone pregnant. 

If you follow recommendations to prevent pregnancy after vasectomy, you can relax and feel confident about your procedure. We’re proud to offer the most minimally invasive vasectomy possible at Urology Specialists of Cypress — it only requires tiny punctures and local anesthesia. To learn more, call us today at 281-304-2521 or contact us online.