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Contraception - Management
What advice and information should I give a man who is considering vasectomy?
- A man who is requesting sterilization should be given advice and written information about:
- The advantages, disadvantages and risks of vasectomy.
- Alternative long-term reversible methods of contraception, including information on the advantages, disadvantages, and relative failure rates of each method.
- Both vasectomy and tubal occlusion.
- The possibility of chronic testicular or scrotal pain after vasectomy.
- The success rates associated with reversal, should this procedure be necessary:
- Men should be informed that the NHS rarely provides reversal operations.
- The need to use effective contraception until azoospermia has been confirmed.
- A man requesting vasectomy can be reassured that:
- Vasectomy does not increase the risk of testicular cancer or heart disease.
- Vasectomy probably does not increase the risk of prostate cancer — any association between vasectomy and prostate cancer is unlikely to be causal.
In depth
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