Men can be very concerned about what happens during, and after, a vasectomy \u2013 specifically how it will affect them personally. Dr. Jesse Mills, a clinical professor of urology and director of The Men\u2019s Clinic at UCLA, says the many myths surrounding the procedure can make men rethink what is often a smart choice for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things I get all the time, questions in my clinic, are men who ask about vasectomies,\u201d he said. \u201cThey want to know what\u2019s going to happen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here, he debunks the common myths about vasectomies.
\nMyth #1: Men stop ejaculating after a vasectomy.
\nA man\u2019s ejaculate, or semen, is made up of three organ system fluids \u2013 testicular fluid or sperm, which makes up 1 percent; fluid from seminal vesicles, paired structures that contribute the sugar and fluid component that keep sperm healthy and alive; and prostate gland fluids, which help propel the semen into the urethra. In a vasectomy, doctors disconnect the sperm tubes only.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo 99 percent of your ejaculate that you had before the vasectomy will not be affected,\u201d Mills said.
\nMyth #2: Men stop making sperm after a vasectomy.
\nSperm are still made, but because they\u2019re not used, they get absorbed into the body and remade again later. Nothing happens to sperm production after vasectomy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just hanging out, waiting for their day in the sun,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n
Myth #3: It\u2019s easier for a woman to undergo surgical birth control than for a man.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really is time to man up here, guys,\u201d Mills said.
\nTubal ligation, the permanent birth control option for women, is much more invasive. Vasectomy is a 10- to 15-minute procedure that, most of the time, requires only local anesthetic. Usually, men fully recover within a week.<\/p>\n
Myth #4: Vasectomy causes cancer.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve had men come in and ask me to reverse their vasectomy because they\u2019re worried about getting prostate or testicular cancer,\u201d Mills said.
\nIn reality, hundreds of thousands of men get vasectomies in this country every year, with no correlated increase in cancer risk.<\/p>\n
Myth #5: Vasectomy is going to kill my mojo.
\n\u201cThis is what guys are so worried about, that vasectomy is going to get rid of their testosterone, and they won\u2019t have any interest in sex anymore,\u201d Mills said.<\/p>\n
However, the opposite is true. Vasectomy has very little to do with testosterone production. Testosterone is made in the testicles and gets secreted into the blood stream, which physicians don\u2019t alter during vasectomy. All blood vessels present before vasectomy are present afterward. What vasectomy does for most men is liberate them. They can relax and enjoy sex more without worrying about pregnancy.<\/p>\n
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Men can be very concerned about what happens during, and after, a vasectomy \u2013 specifically how it will affect them personally. Dr. Jesse Mills, a clinical professor of urology and director of The Men\u2019s Clinic at UCLA, says the many myths surrounding the procedure can make men rethink what is often a smart choice for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}