Welcome to the Intramed Calgary Vasectomy Clinic

Before the vasectomy, you will not need any sedatives. No-Scalpel Vasectomy is virtually painless. Afterwards some people may be sore for a few days, and may want to take a mild painkiller. (Compare to the discomfort you feel after a visit to your dentist when the freezing wears off). The discomfort is less with the no-scalpel technique, because there is minimal injury to the tissues.

The short procedure is pretty much painless once the anesthesia takes effect. You will only feel a little discomfort for a few seconds during the anesthetic application. Afterwards, you shouldn’t feel any pain, but you may experience sensations of pressure, pulling, and tugging. This is all normal—even a sensation of pressure in your lower abdomen, which is called a phantom sensation.

You should avoid doing any physical activity for one week (7 days) after the procedure. If you have physical work, arrange to take one week of rest at home. If you have a sedentary (office) job, you can return to work by the next day, provided your work is sitting down. If it involves walking and standing around, arrange to take a week off from work. Not adhering to the recommendations will increase your chance of complications, swelling, bleeding, etc.

The only thing that will change is that you will not be able to make your partner pregnant. Your body will continue to make male hormones. You will have the same amount of semen. Vasectomy won’t change your voice, beard, your muscles, your sex drive, your erections or your climaxes. Some men say that without the worry of accidental pregnancy and the bother of other birth control methods, sex is more relaxed and enjoyable than before.

No, after the vasectomy, there are still some active sperm left in your system. It also takes the body about 3 months to completely heal after injury or surgery. For that reason, you should wait at least 3 months before doing your post vasectomy semen analysis. Before doing the “3 month test” you are encouraged to ejaculate at least 20-25 times to get rid of all the dead sperm in the tubes. You and your partner should use some other form of contraception until post-operative semen analysis confirms the absence of live sperm.

As soon as you are comfortable after a minimum of 7 days, but remember to use some other kind of birth control until your semen analysis confirms sterility.

Most medical experts, including special panels convened by the National Institutes of Health and by the World Health Organization, have concluded that vasectomy is a safe and simple procedure. Vasectomy is surgery, and all surgery has some risks, such as bleeding and infection. Serious problems are uncommon.

Open-ended vasectomy is where, once the vas tube is cut, the end from the testicle is left open (i.e. uncauterized), while the end of the tube leading to the penis is closed. Studies have suggested that this could be the ideal way to block the vas end. There may be less post-operative discomfort because there is no sudden pressure back-up to the testicles. Vasectomy reversal may also be easier to perform later, if required.

Yes, but reversal operations are expensive and not always successful. If you are thinking about reversal, perhaps vasectomy is not right for you. Pre-vasectomy Sperm Banking (cryopreservation) is a good idea for almost anyone considering a vasectomy. An option other than reversal is to have a testicular sperm aspiration procedure (TESA). A needle is inserted in the testicle and tissue/sperm are aspirated. If sperm production is still good, then a sperm extraction procedure is generally highly successful in terms of obtaining enough sperm for use in fertility procedures; the success rate is 90-95%.

Whether sperm is obtained from a frozen banked specimen or from TESA, it is used through in vitro fertilization(IVF).

While we can easily perform your procedure without having you shave at all, we like other surgeons believe that this is an important step in performing a meticulous surgery. We believe it is important for optimal visibility and for hygienic reasons (keeping hair out of the surgical area during the procedure).