• Celebrity Infertility Spotlight: Chrissy Teigen and the Heartbreak of Miscarriage

    Some celebrities are deeply protective of their privacy when it comes to their personal lives. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend are one couple who have been extremely open about theirs. They’ve talked openly about their struggles with infertility and IVF, and earlier this year shared their joy over a surprise pregnancy. Sadly, that pregnancy has ended in a miscarriage. Teigen has been candid about her devastation over the end of the pregnancy as well, and there’s something very beneficial about someone being so willing to share her joy and pain. It helps other women going through the rollercoaster ride of infertility know that they are not alone.

    Infertility affects about one in eight people. Often, it’s difficult to even discern the problem, and certainly, Chrissy Teigen’s experience illustrates this. Young and healthy, with a healthy husband, she struggled for years before undergoing IVF. In vitro fertilization is emotionally stressful and physically taxing, involving lifestyle changes, medications, and seemingly endless procedures. It doesn’t always work and sometimes ends in miscarriage. What’s more, many women go through this experience feeling alone because infertility is a taboo topic.

    Something else that’s taboo is miscarriage, though it’s an experience shared by as many as one in four women. For Chrissy Teigen, it happened at the end of last month. When celebrities are open about their joys and pain, it helps open dialogue about difficult topics. If you’ve suffered a miscarriage, there are a few things to remember.

    • It’s ok to talk about it. Talking about it can be beneficial, not just for you but for others. It may surprise you to discover how many people you know have had similar experiences. The loss of a pregnancy is an isolating event but talking about it can help you heal.
    • Take the time to grieve. It can be hard to cope after a miscarriage, and some feelings of grief can resurface much later, particularly on the anniversary of the loss or what would have been the baby’s birthday. Doing something meaningful to honor your baby may bring you some peace.
    • Be gentle with each other. You and your partner will go through this together, even if you feel like you’re going through it alone. Men sometimes don’t want to talk about things like this, but it doesn’t mean they don’t feel them deeply. After their miscarriage, John Legend wrote of the experience, “What an awesome gift it is to be able to bring life into the world. We’ve experienced the miracle, the power and joy of this gift, and now we’ve deeply felt its inherent fragility.”

    At the Center for Vasectomy Reversal, we’re committed to helping people build their families. Under the direction of Dr. Joshua Green, our team provides state-of-the-art treatment for men who need a reversal of their vasectomy or have other fertility concerns. To learn more, contact us through our website, or call 941-894-6428 for a free consultation.

     

  • How late is too late to have children?

    There’s a lot of talk about women and their biological clocks, but you don’t often hear all that much about men in that context. Why is that? Do men have a biological clock? Men can father children at much later ages than women can get pregnant, it’s true, but should they? Are there risks inherent in being an older father? How late is too late to have children?

    In fact, reproductive aging is a reality for both men and women. Just because men don’t hit menopause, that doesn’t mean there are no consequences associated with their advancing age. Both men and women experience declining fertility and hormone levels as they get older. Worse, the risk of health complications for the child also increases. When a father is older, the couple is likely to have more difficulty conceiving, a higher risk of miscarriage, and a higher potential for health problems in the baby.

    Women’s reproductive capability begins to decline around age 35, while men experience a more gradual decline that begins around 40. When a woman does conceive after age 35, it’s referred to as a geriatric pregnancy, and there’s a lot of focus on what could go wrong. Over 35, women are at higher risk of miscarriage, gestational diabetes, chromosome issues, high blood pressure, low birth weight, and caesarean delivery. Perhaps because the woman is the one carrying the child and going to the prenatal appointments, this is all well-known and well-established. However, research indicates that the genetic quality of a man’s sperm degrades as he ages as well.

    Unlike women, who have a finite number of eggs, men produce sperm throughout their lifetimes. The existing sperm replicates its DNA and splits, over and over, until late in a man’s life. Unfortunately, all that splitting means the DNA can change a little bit every time the process is repeated. The result is that the number of genetic mutations in a man’s sperm increases steadily and gradually as he ages. These mutations make it more likely to conceive a child with conditions like schizophrenia or autism.

    The good news is that even for older parents, the chance of having a child with a genetic disorder is still low. Understanding the facts about male fertility should, however, encourage people to consider beginning their families earlier or taking measures like egg freezing and sperm banking to allow them to postpone conception. Of course, there are also advantages to being an older parent. When people take time to establish themselves before they have kids, they’re better educated and more financially stable when they do start their families.

    At the Center for Vasectomy Reversal, we love helping people build their families. Under the direction of Dr. Joshua Green, our team provides state-of-the-art treatment for men who need a reversal of their vasectomy or have other fertility concerns. To learn more, contact us through our website, or call 941-894-6428 for a free consultation.

  • What to Expect after your Vasectomy Reversal

    If you’re preparing for a vasectomy reversal, you’ve already been through the experience of undergoing a vasectomy. Thinking about the recovery period after that procedure can give you a reasonably accurate idea of the discomfort you’ll have after your vasectomy reversal. Fortunately, the recovery period for this minimally invasive procedure is brief.

    We perform each vasectomy reversal as an outpatient procedure, at an accredited Surgery Center with a Board-Certified anesthesiologist. You’ll go home shortly after your procedure, but you’ll need someone to drive you because of the after-effects of the anesthesia. Because you’ve been anesthetized, you may experience generalized aches, fatigue, a sore throat, or nausea, but these symptoms should go away within 24 hours.

    For many men, the discomfort after a vasectomy reversal is not as bad as they’d expected it to be. The day after surgery is usually the worst in terms of pain and swelling, and that’s also when your doctor will remove your drains. Most of the time, the pain only lasts for 24-48 hours, although in some cases, men report pain for up to a week. This pain can be alleviated with oral pain relievers, and ice packs will help reduce scrotal swelling. It’s best to stay off your feet and keep your legs elevated in these first few days, applying the ice packs for 10 minutes every half hour while you’re awake. Don’t get the incision wet for the first 48 hours, and follow your doctor’s post-operative instructions carefully. It’s important to wear snug scrotal support for 30 days after your procedure, to keep pressure off of the incision.

    It surprises many men to learn that they can go back to work within a week and, in some cases, as few as two days. If your job is extremely active or requires heavy lifting, you may need to take a little longer before heading back. You won’t be ready for intense physical activity just yet, though you’ll be able to resume most of your normal activities in three to four weeks. You’ll need to refrain from sexual activity for at least three weeks after the procedure, but this probably won’t be difficult because of your discomfort during the healing process.

    About three weeks after your vasectomy reversal, you’ll be asked to provide a semen sample for analysis. While the return of sperm to semen does not guarantee conception, it’s still good news that vasectomy reversals have a high success rate for returning sperm. Additionally, success in achieving pregnancy after the procedure ranges from about 40 to over 90 percent.

    At the Center for Vasectomy Reversal, we pride ourselves on providing optimal surgical results and uncompromising, concierge-level patient care. Under the direction of Dr. Joshua Green, our team provides state-of-the-art treatment for men who need a reversal of their vasectomy or have other fertility concerns. To learn more, contact us through our website, or call 941-894-6428 for a free consultation.

     

  • Different Vasectomy Reversal Surgical Options

    If you’re considering a vasectomy reversal, you should be aware that there are different surgical options used to complete the procedure. Vasectomy reversal is complex and detailed, requiring expertise and focus from the surgeon. That’s why it’s important to find a surgeon with the experience and knowledge necessary to choose the right one for you and perform it skillfully. Which procedure will you require, and what will it entail?

    The most straightforward type of vasectomy reversal is the vasovasostomy. This is what most men can expect when they go in for a vasectomy reversal. In this procedure, the scar tissue from the vasectomy is removed and the ends above and below the portion that had been blocked are sutured back together. The opening being reconnected is extremely small, between .7 mm and .4 mm in diameter, so extreme skill is required to perform this procedure.

    For some men, the time frame since their vasectomy might be so long or the blockage from the vasectomy might be so low that a vasovasostomy is not possible. In these cases, a vasoepididymostomy is performed. This is a much more technically challenging surgery, requiring microsurgical expertise, and only the most experienced, specially-trained surgeons can perform it. In this procedure, the upper end of the vas deferens is connected to a tubule of the epididymis, the structure that connects the testicle to the vas deferens. The opening connected in this procedure is about 1/10th of the one made for the vasovasostomy, so it’s a much more delicate microsurgery. In addition to the difficulty of the procedure being high, the success rate is lower than that of the vasovasostomy. For these reasons, this procedure is only done if absolutely necessary.

    There is a third done for men who have had a vasectomy and now wish to father a child. It’s called microscopic epididymal sperm aspiration (MESA), and it’s only an option for those couples who are choosing to undergo in vitro fertilization. Sperm aspiration, like the two kinds of vasectomy reversal, is done using an operating microscope. This enables the surgeon to successfully obtain sperm directly from the epididymis without contamination from blood and bodily fluids. Using the operating microscope, the surgeon is able to see the epididymal tubules clearly, so the success rates are extremely high and there’s very little risk of damaging adjacent structures.

    At the Center for Vasectomy Reversal, we pride ourselves on providing optimal surgical results and uncompromising, concierge-level patient care. Under the direction of Dr. Joshua Green, our team provides state-of-the-art treatment for men who need a reversal of their vasectomy or have other fertility concerns. To learn more, contact us through our website, or call 941-894-6428 for a free consultation.