What Is Vasectomy Reversal
No doubt you are here because you want to learn a bit about vasectomy reversal surgery. If so, it’s most likely that you are now in a new relationship where the two of you want a child of your own. To do so, you must get your vasectomy reversed.
A vasectomy reversal surgery seeks to rejoin the tubes, the vas deferens, that carry semen and enable fertilization to take place. These tubes were cut in the original vasectomy and must be put back together so the seminal fluid, hopefully carrying adequate amounts of semen, can flow once more.
There are many things which must be considered before deciding to go ahead with this surgery. The foremost is probably the vasectomy reversal cost and whether or not there is any kind of financing for vasectomy reversal.
But what other factors need to be considered when thinking of a vasectomy reversal?
Factors Affecting Outcome of Vasectomy Reversal
One of the first factors which you should consider is how long it has been since the original procedure. The more time that passes the less are the chances that the vasectomy reversal surgery will result in the longed for pregnancy. The results of one study gave a 76% chance of pregnancy if performed in under three years, whereas more than 15 years lowered the probability to 30%. This is most likely due to increasing obstructions being formed and antibodies being created within the man’s own body against his sperm.
Age can also be a factor but not necessarily in the way you might think. An older man married to an older woman (we’re talking over 30, going to 40s) is running a sprint against time for the pregnancy to occur. It can take one year, and more likely two, before the sperm are “viable” enough in count or efficacy to fertilize the egg.
Another consideration is just how the original surgery was performed upon the patient. Was there enough tube left? Were the cuts done on straight portions of the vas deferens? Will the rejoined pieces be similar in size? The size of the tube varies along its length.
Additionally, there may have been damage done that could require more extensive surgery to remove obstructions created within the epididymis. Although palpitation before surgery may help to determine if there is such obstructions, your surgeon may not know until he actually “gets inside”. What would have been a simple one hour or faster reconstruction now becomes a three hour surgery.
Vasectomy Reversal Success
Even with an apparently successful vasectomy reversal, pregnancy still may not happen. This could be due to lowered amounts of a protein that enhances fertility. Or the body itself could create antibodies that end up sticking to parts of the sperm causing them to stick together and fail to pierce the egg. This happens to about 50% of men who have vasectomies.
But lest you think this is a totally negative article, the rate of couples who have positive results following a vasectomy reversal surgery among the 4-6% of men pursuing this is 50%. The younger you are and the sooner it is done, the better your chances. One other bright spot is that for couples that have previously had children, the vasectomy reversal procedure resulted in an 80% conception rate.
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Can You Find a Low Cost Vasectomy Reversal?
Maybe you are one of the 4-6% of men who have had a vasectomy and now want to reverse that decision. You have been looking around and are in shock at the costs of the vasectomy reversal surgery. You just want to find a decent low cost vasectomy reversal. How do you do this?
Vasectomy reversals can range from about $4000 to $20,000. The average cost in the US is about $10,000. Ouch! As you may know, the chances of your insurance paying for this, what they consider elective surgery, are almost nil. You can read our article about vasectomy reversal financing but your biggest concern now is getting one for the least cost. After all, who wouldn’t want an affordable vasectomy reversal?
We are not going to try to fool you. Researching this topic, we found at least one urologist that was offering the surgery for $3750. What you need to understand is the cost you are quoted at such a low fee usually only includes the surgeon’s fee. There are at least two other fees you need to be concerned with as well. It will be up to you to be sure just what costs and fees are included with any low cost vasectomy reversal you find.
Be On the Look Out for Other Costs in a Low Cost Vasectomy Reversal
These two other fees are the anesthesiologist’s fee and the hospital fees.
There are ways to minimize these fees. You can have a regional anesthetic given as opposed to a general or light general anesthesia. You could have the procedure done in the doctor’s office using macroscopic techniques to lower the costs.
However, given the delicacy of this reversal procedure, you might want to think twice about being given so little anesthesia that you can still move around during the operation. The tubes within the vas deferentia that must be joined again are only 0.2mm in diameter. In other words, it’s very small. Do you want to move at the wrong time? You really need a surgeon who has been trained in microsurgery as this will be your best bet for a successful reversal.
Make sure you know all the hospital costs for your stay under any types of conditions. Be aware of your room costs, food costs and pain medications.
If you have this done on an out-patient basis but had to travel to your low cost doctor, add in your travel and hotel fees as well. And if the procedure is done at the doctor’s office, you might want to find out just what type of “office” he has. Does it include a state of the art surgical room with all the appropriate equipment or a just a table with a set of optical loupes (being a bit extreme here but trying to get a point across).
With the above information, do you really want the urologist doing the job to use some type of magnifying glasses (optical loupes)? Or would you rather have the vasectomy reversal done with a surgical microscope under controlled conditions? Those are some mighty small sutures the doctor needs to use to put things back together. However, your surgeon may be extremely skilled and experienced with a high rate of success using optical loupes. Know your surgeon’s vasectomy reversal success rate.
Yet More Factors to Consider When Looking at a Low Cost Vasectomy Reversal
Another factor which adds to the cost is the education and experience of the surgeon. The more skilled the physician, usually the more he will charge.
Now you can find some doctors who will advertise a very low cost vasectomy reversal, but you need to know why they can afford to offer such low prices.How do they offer what may seem like an affordable vasectomy reversal? Perhaps you have been lucky enough to find a clinic that specializes in vasectomy reversals and has been able to negotiate lower costs due to this specialization.
Lastly, you need to know what the cost will be in addition if the doctor finds during the surgery (which is usually when he discovers this need) that he must conduct a vas to epididymis procedure. Some include this in the quoted cost and some surgeons will add to the cost if this type of vasectomy reversal is required instead. This could take your potential low cost vasectomy reversal and make it much higher priced than you expected.
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Can You Find a Free Vasectomy Reversal?
You had a vasectomy. Now you’ve changed your mind and want a vasectomy reversal. You’ve looked around and are astounded at the prices quoted by urologists and infertility specialists. How can they charge so much? Where can you find a free vasectomy reversal?
If you are looking for a free vasectomy reversal you had better have some kind of connection to a doctor to obtain one. You can find free initial consultations and maybe even free second surgeries on a vasectomy reversal if the first operation doesn’t succeed.
But if you think some physician who has years of training is going to give away his work for free, think again.
Take a Look at a Free Vasectomy Reversal from the Doctor’s Viewpoint
Look at it this way. You work at a job and presumably have some skill that may have taken you years of schooling and on the job training to gain. If a person off the street asked you to perform work for them, in your field of expertise, for free, simply because you know how to do it, you would most likely say, “No.”
You use your skill and experience, which has been hard won, to create an income for you to pay for your family, your housing, your transportation, the food you put on the table, your bills, and any extras you may have such as cable television and an Internet connection.
Why then would you think an urologist or fertility specialist should give you a free vasectomy reversal?
Most physicians spend much more time in schooling than “regular folks” running up huge education bills. Then there is more training within their specialties and the follow on experience that must be gained by performing the operations. It takes your potential vasectomy reversal surgeon years to gain the skill to perform such delicate surgery. Why should he receive no pay for his work?
What If You Do Find a Free Vasectomy Reversal – What’s the Catch?
Even if you were so lucky as to get a surgeon to waive his own fees, you would still be left with the medical facility fees, initial blood work and testing fees (which just might be paid for by your insurance company), anesthesiologist’s fees if a general is used, and any nursing staff’s salaries.
So the chances that you could find someone to give you a free vasectomy reversal is slim to none.
If you do look around online you will find one such offer of a free vasectomy reversal…at least free of the surgeon’s fees. But in his own words,
This sort of offer is rather extraordinary… But in every case it was something I initiated, rather than something the patient asked for. So if you’re out there thinking, ‘Wow! Free reversal surgery!’ think, David Spade: ‘No!’
The only way you will get a free vasectomy reversal is having someone else pay all your fees. Have a rich uncle?
One Last Shot at a Free Vasectomy Reversal
Over the course of creating this website, I have found some sources that might, maybe, possibly (notice the real hesitation there?) allow you to get a free vasectomy reversal. Rather than rewrite all the information, please check out the article on getting a free tubal reversal.
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