Empowering Choices: The Vital Role of Pre-Vasectomy Reversal Counseling

If you are considering a vasectomy, it is important to understand the procedure and all the factors worth considering. Storing sperm before you undergo the procedure is a good idea, because nearly 20 percent of men change their minds after having a vasectomy, deciding that they do want to father a child (or another child) after all. Cryopreservation of sperm is available, and can facilitate sperm storage. Still, many men decide they want to undergo a vasectomy reversal, and this option is not only viable, but much more successful than it has been in years past. Here, we offer some information to help improve your understanding of vasectomy reversal options and the importance of pre-reversal counseling.

The Process of Vasectomy Reversal

Somewhere between two and six percent of American men will undergo a vasectomy reversal. Vasectomy reversal is done using microsurgery, and there are two different types of reversal used: vasovasostomy (VV) or vasoepididymostomy (VE). These procedures were first used in the early 20^th century, but have improved by leaps and bounds since then, and have a much higher success rate now than they had even a few decades ago. So, why is counseling for vasectomy reversal so important?

Importance of Pre-Vasectomy Reversal Counseling

Vasectomy reversals are safe and effective, but they are not something that patients should enter into without careful consideration. Rather, the process should be thoroughly discussed with a qualified vasectomy reversal surgeon, to ensure that the patient understands the procedure. Pre-vasectomy reversal education should start with statistics regarding success rates, and should also involve explanations of the different surgical techniques that could be used. For a VV, the surgeon makes a small incision in each side of the scrotum, then removes scar tissue, flushes the vas deferens, and checks for sperm. If the fluid is clear, or sperm are present, the surgeon will then carefully connect the ends of the vas deferens, which was cut during the vasectomy. If the fluid is not clear, but is pasty and thick, the surgeon will switch gears and perform a VE procedure instead. This typically happens when the vasectomy happened over 10 years prior to the vasectomy reversal, or there is scar tissue blocking the epididymis. In a VE procedure, the vas deferens is connected to one of the tubules on the epididymis, located behind the testicles. This is a more complex procedure, because the epididymis is attached to the testes, so the testes will need to be removed from the scrotum before the epididymis and vas deferens can be connected. It is a technically demanding surgery, requiring the skills of an experienced microsurgeon.

Evaluation Before Vasectomy Reversal

In addition to counseling the patient on the types of procedures, the doctor will need to evaluate the patient’s baseline fertility, because if a man had difficulty with conception before the vasectomy, infertility is likely to remain a problem. If the patient has a history of hernia repairs or other pelvic surgeries, the doctor may need to perform an intraoperative vasogram. Patients should also be made aware of the option of intraoperative sperm extraction and cryopreservation, especially for couples who have lower fertility potential. If a man requires a bilateral EV, cryopreservation with intraoperative sperm extraction may be the right option.

Commonly Asked Questions Pre-Vasectomy Reversal

• What is the likelihood that the vasectomy reversal will be successful? The success rate for a VV procedure is fairly high. It drops somewhat if you have to have a VE procedure, or if your vasectomy is more than 10 years old. Still, the success rate is between 60 and 95 percent.
• Does a vasectomy ever result in nerve damage? Sometimes, pain from nerve damage can happen after a vasectomy, so it is important for a patient to have a full workup before a vasectomy reversal, to determine whether the pain can be resolved.
• How is vasectomy reversal surgery performed? Typically, vasectomy reversals are performed as outpatient surgery, under general anesthesia, though you and the anesthesiologist will determine the best option for your anesthesia together. The surgery will take between two and three hours, and when you wake up, you will probably not have too much discomfort, because you will have been given a long-lasting local anesthetic.
• How long does it take to recover from a vasectomy reversal? It can take anywhere from five to 14 days to feel like yourself again after this procedure. It is recommended that you avoid sexual intercourse and heavy lifting for the first four weeks after the surgery.
• Is there anyone who shouldn’t have a vasectomy reversal? Some patients are better candidates than others. If the patient’s partner has had a tubal ligation, though, it is probably better to try surgical sperm retrieval and IVF, rather than trying to have a vasectomy reversal and a tubal ligation reversal.
• Does a vasectomy reversal cause any side effects? Usually, side effects from a vasectomy reversal are minimal, and include swelling, pain, or bruising. Neither the vasectomy or the reversal should impact potency or urinary function.
• Does vasectomy reversal carry a cancer risk? While there was a report several years ago linking vasectomies with prostate cancer, but this report has been largely disproven. There is no evidence connecting vasectomy reversal to a higher cancer risk.
• Is there an age limit for a vasectomy reversal?
• How can one find the right surgeon for this procedure? Look for an experienced surgeon who performs reversals regularly and has special training in male fertility and men’s health.

Center for Vasectomy Reversal Cares About Men’s Health

At the Center for Vasectomy Reversal, men’s health is our priority. We pride ourselves on helping men improve their health and fertility through uncompromising, concierge-level patient care. Dr. Green and his team provide state-of-the-art treatment for men who need a reversal of their vasectomy or have other fertility concerns. Having had extensive training in urology, microsurgery, and vasectomy reversal, Dr. Green founded the Center for Vasectomy Reversal to provide the highest level of patient care while delivering optimal surgical results. To learn more about how our experienced team can help you reach your reproductive goals, contact us through our website or call 941-894-6428.

Unlocking Fertility Secrets: How Lifestyle Impacts Your Reproductive Health

How Lifestyle Impacts Your Reproductive Health.

Optimizing Fertility through Lifestyle

If you have been trying to conceive without success, consider this: when it comes to fertility, lifestyle factors can have a major impact. There are some elements of fertility that are beyond your control, of course, like your genetic makeup and your age. However, there is a lifestyle and infertility connection to indicate that changing your habits may be helpful in improving your chances of conception. Here, we offer some suggestions for adopting healthy habits for fertility.

Improve Your Diet, Improve Your Fertility

When you eat a nutrient-dense diet, filling your plate whole grains, healthy fats, lean proteins, and plenty of multi-colored fruits and vegetables, you are doing something that supports both male and female fertility, benefiting sperm production and ovulation alike. Consuming essential nutrients like folic acid, iron, zinc, and antioxidants can protect the body from inflammation and cellular damage, and help promote a healthy pregnancy. Trans fats should be limited or avoided entirely, as they are linked with higher risks of infertility. Strive to maintain a healthy weight, as being underweight or overweight can impede fertility.

The Right Amount of Exercise Can Improve Fertility

Regular moderate to vigorous exercise is good for the fertility of men and women alike. Strive for physical activities that elevate your heart rate, like brisk walking, because this kind of activity is linked to higher-quality sperm and better maternal and fetal health outcomes. It is important for women to avoid workouts that are too intense, though. While exercising in moderation promotes reproductive and overall health, excessive exercise can inhibit ovulation and disrupt a woman’s hormonal balance, decreasing a woman’s chances of conceiving. A sedentary lifestyle is just as bad for a person’s health, and can lead to obesity, which can diminish fertility. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, women should be encouraged to participate in aerobic and strength conditioning exercise before, during, and after pregnancy. Finding the right balance can be tricky, so if you have concerns, speak to your doctor.

Reducing Your Stress Can Benefit Your Reproductive Health

Stress, on its own, does not cause infertility. However, it is one piece of the puzzle, and there is evidence to suggest that people with a long history of anxiety or depression may have trouble conceiving, both naturally and with IVF. This issue needs to be studied further, but it does help to try and manage your stress when trying to conceive. Of course, properly managing your stress is important for your overall health, as well.

The Reproductive Health Impact of Substance Use

As is evidenced by the impact of dietary options on your fertility, what you put into your body matters. Women have long been told to completely avoid alcohol when trying to conceive, and there is evidence to indicate that consuming alcohol when attempting IVF lowers the chance of conception by as much as 16 percent. However, what is less well known is that men should avoid alcohol when trying to conceive, as well. Excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to reduced testosterone levels, and can also make it difficult to maintain an erection.

Cigarette smoking also reduces fertility in both men and women. If you needed another reason to quit smoking, in addition to the long list of reasons that already exist in regard to your overall health, smoking damages eggs and sperm, decreases motility, is harmful to the lining of the uterus, damages DNA, and impedes essential hormone production. Quitting smoking should be high on your list of lifestyle changes if you are trying to conceive.

This may not even need to be said, but illicit drug use is not something you should be participating in when trying to conceive. Drugs like marijuana, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, and methamphetamines can disrupt menstrual cycles as well as lowering sperm count, testosterone levels, and total seminal fluid. For the sake of your fertility, and for many other reasons, recreational drugs should be avoided, particularly when trying to conceive.

Center for Vasectomy Reversal Cares About Men’s Health

When you are trying to achieve pregnancy, it is important to understand the impact your lifestyle choices have on your reproductive health. Of course, it is also vital that you partner with healthcare providers who can help you improve your reproductive and overall health. At the Center for Vasectomy Reversal, men’s health is our priority. We pride ourselves on helping men improve their health and fertility through uncompromising, concierge-level patient care. Dr. Green and his team provide state-of-the-art treatment for men who need a reversal of their vasectomy or have other fertility concerns. Having had extensive training in urology, microsurgery, and vasectomy reversal, Dr. Green founded the Center for Vasectomy Reversal to provide the highest level of patient care while delivering optimal surgical results. To learn more about how our experienced team can help you reach your reproductive goals, contact us through our website or call 941-894-6428.

Breaking Ground: The Latest Innovations in Infertility Research

Lab technician conducting infertility research

Advances in Infertility Research

The first successful in vitro fertilization took place in 1977, and since then, technology has improved dramatically, leading to a wealth of cutting-edge infertility solutions. This is wonderful news for the millions of Americans affected by infertility struggles, which impact about 12 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 44. While there is no easy fix for male or female infertility, advanced reproductive technologies are available to help improve couples’ chances. Here, we look at some of these advances in the field, and how they can help patients achieve pregnancy.

What is Involved in Infertility?

There are many factors that influence fertility, including age. About a third of people over age 35 struggle with infertility, and the risk of miscarriage increases with age. Lifestyle factors also play a role, and smoking, excessive alcohol, a poor diet, too much or too little exercise, and weight issues can all contribute to difficulty conceiving. Infertility can be caused by ovulation difficulties, uterine issues, blocked fallopian tubes, fibroids, low sperm count, low sperm quality, and other male factors. Male factors account for as much as 40 percent of fertility issues. There is no cure for infertility, but doctors can treat underlying problems and develop strategies to help overcome these problems, in order to help couples achieve pregnancy.

Innovative Fertility Treatments

Sometimes, pregnancy can be achieved through intrauterine insemination, a relatively simple fertility treatment in which sperm are inserted into the uterus, in conjunction with medication. Other infertility treatments may seem almost like science fiction.

• In vitro fertilization has become even more innovative. There have been many improvements to in vitro fertilization over the years. One such improvement is the development of ISCI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection), one of the more revolutionary IVF techniques which allows an embryologist to inject a single, healthy sperm into the egg, instead of just exposing the egg to sperm. With healthy eggs, this method can be a much as 99 percent effective. Additionally, pre-implantation genetic screening and studies to determine if the embryo will be received by the endometrium can improve the chances of successful pregnancy.
• Letrozole is not used for infertility treatments. Used for breast cancer treatment in post-menopausal women, Letrozole inhibits estrogen production, affecting how the pituitary and hypothalamus function as relates to ovulation. This medication can help women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to conceive. If the pituitary gland is not functioning properly, it can cause the ovaries to stop releasing eggs or to release eggs that are not fully developed, and Letrozole addresses this issue.
• Gonadotropins are used to help women ovulate. These work with the pituitary gland, adjusting when ovulation occurs, to make sure the ovum is mature before it is released. Sometimes, Letrozole and gonadotropins are used together during in vitro fertilization.
• Clomid is another medication used to treat infertility. This also works with the pituitary gland, inducing ovulation in women who don’t develop an egg and improving the way ovaries respond to FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). This results in improved rates of live births.
• There are also groundbreaking vasectomy reversal procedures. While vasectomy reversal used to be minimally successful, the success rates are now as high as 80 to 90 percent, because of innovations in the surgical procedures. Now performed by microsurgeons, vasectomy reversals are more precise than ever before.

What Does the Future Hold?

As science continues to find more innovative ways to help people conceive, and research and development of infertility treatments continues to be one of the most rapidly developing parts of the health care industry, we can expect to see exciting developments going forward. As IVF improves and we gain further control, we will see fewer multiple births, and there will be more options for donor and surrogate reproductive options. Stem cell research continues to evolve, and there could be a time, perhaps even in our lifetime, when pluripotent cells can be developed from bone marrow or skin cells. As the science improves and research continues to find new innovative approaches to the problem, we may well reach a point at which infertility is a thing of the past, and couples who wish to conceive can do so without the difficulty and heartbreak so many experience today. By working with experienced doctors who are experienced in treating infertility, many couples are finding their way to overcoming fertility, even now.

Center for Vasectomy Reversal Cares About Men’s Health

At the Center for Vasectomy Reversal, we stay up to date with the latest innovations in fertility treatment and work to create strategies that help our patients achieve healthy, successful pregnancies. We pride ourselves on helping men improve their health and fertility through uncompromising, concierge-level patient care. Dr. Green and his team provide state-of-the-art treatment for men who need a reversal of their vasectomy or have other fertility concerns. Having had extensive training in urology, microsurgery, and vasectomy reversal, Dr. Green founded the Center for Vasectomy Reversal to provide the highest level of patient care while delivering optimal surgical results. To learn more about how our experienced team can help you reach your reproductive goals, contact us through our website or call 941-894-6428.

Preserving Fertility: A Deep Dive into Modern Methods

Reproductive Health Innovations

If you are struggling with infertility, working with a specialist can help you determine which treatments are right for you. As science progresses, more and more treatments are available, both in terms of achieving pregnancy and fertility preservation options. Both male and female infertility issues can be overcome with the correct strategies when you work with an experienced reproductive specialist. Here, we look at some modern IVF techniques, along with other treatments available to overcome infertility.

Overcoming Obstacles to Fertility

Certain physical barriers to fertility can be treated by specialists, like a blocked fallopian tube. Tubal blockage is overcome using IVF, which allows fertility specialists to retrieve eggs without the help of the fallopian tubes, allowing fertilization to occur. This is not the only way to deal with blocked fallopian tubes, as there are also medications that can encourage ovulation if only one side is blocked, and procedures that can help unblock a tube. There is also medication to help overcome male infertility, and ICSI allows sperm to be directly introduced into an egg, for higher success rates with in vitro fertilization.

Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening

One of the most amazing advances in modern fertility treatment is the ability to genetically test embryos before attempting to transfer them into the uterus. Preimplantation genetic testing allows doctors to choose a genetically healthy embryo to transfer, reducing the rate of failed embryo transfers and miscarriages. This also reduces the risk of multiple pregnancies, because the fertility specialist can find the correct embryo to transfer, rather than transferring several at once in the hope of successful implantation. Preimplantation screening also helps detect genetic disorders and reduce the risk of birth defects.

Vitrification

This fast freezing method is used to cryopreserve embryos and eggs, so that they can be preserved for years in glass-like structures. This is one of the most popular fertility preservation techniques available, allowing women to postpone pregnancy when battling cancer or for some other reason. Sometimes young women want social egg freezing, so that they can delay pregnancy until they are financially stable and emotionally able to raise a child. When compared to the older slow freezing method, vitrification has doubled pregnancy rates. It helps women receiving fertility treatments to avoid ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, and enables preimplantation genetic screening.

Ovarian Tissue Freezing

Sometimes, especially for women and girls facing cancer treatments or undergoing gender affirmation surgery, ovarian tissue freezing is the best option for preserving future fertility and hormone production. In this procedure, the egg-producing portion of the ovary is removed, frozen, and stored, until years later, when it can be transplanted to make pregnancy possible or resume natural hormone production. Ovarian cryopreservation success rates are at about 30 percent right now, and as technology leads to improved methodology, that rate is expected to increase.

Freeze-all strategy

This approach is a combination of IVF, vitrification and preimplantation genetic testing, in which healthy embryos are frozen to be implanted at a later date. This way, patients can us the frozen embryos when they are ready to resume IVF treatment. This avoids the risk of hyperstimulation from fertility drugs and hormones, by allowing the woman to take a break from fertility treatment for a time. It also allows the fertility specialist to help correct hormone levels that may not be conducive to a successful pregnancy. Once the hormones are in balance, the embryo can be transferred.

Center for Vasectomy Reversal Cares About Men’s Health

All of these advances in fertility preservation are very exciting, and the best way to assure your best chance at conceiving is to work with experienced fertility specialists who care about the health of everyone involved in the pregnancy. At the Center for Vasectomy Reversal, men’s health is our priority. We pride ourselves on helping men improve their health and fertility through uncompromising, concierge-level patient care. Dr. Green and his team provide state-of-the-art treatment for men who need a reversal of their vasectomy or have other fertility concerns. Having had extensive training in urology, microsurgery, and vasectomy reversal, Dr. Green founded the Center for Vasectomy Reversal to provide the highest level of patient care while delivering optimal surgical results. To learn more about how our experienced team can help you reach your reproductive goals, contact us through our website or call 941-894-6428.