Patient Instructions After Vasectomy
Our team is available to you anytime for questions or concerns you may have after your no-scalpel vasectomy procedure at our Toronto free vasectomy clinic.
Please read the information below to know what to expect after your procedure.
Do’s and Don'ts After a Vasectomy
Please follow your doctor’s instructions for post vasectomy care in order to speed healing and recovery.
Key points include:
- Avoid alcohol 48 hours before and after surgery.
- Wear loose fitting clothing on the day of your surgery.
- Wear underwear with good support coming in for your surgery, not boxers.
- For the next few days continue with the supportive underwear, including when sleeping.
- No strenuous activity for one week after the operation. That includes no heavy lifting, cycling, going to the gym, bending, etc.
- After surgery, go home and take it easy. Apply an ice pack to the scrotal area and if uncomfortable, take Advil, 400 mg every 6 hours if needed.
- You can take a shower 24 hours after your vasectomy. Avoid bathing, hot tubs, swimming pools for a week until the small opening in the scrotum created during surgery is sealed. This will help prevent infection to the operative area while the small hole made for your no-scalpel procedure heals over.
- No sex or ejaculations for one week.
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Detailed Patient Instructions After Vasectomy
After your vasectomy, you should go home and rest for the remainder of the day and evening. Minimize any kind of activity.
Some men have no pain at all while many others have aches in the groin. That’s because the testes originate from the abdomen as an embryo and share some of the same nerve supplies. Anything in the scrotum may be perceived in the abdomen as well.
Please plan on being a couch potato for the first two days after your vasectomy procedure. Even if you feel OK to walk around the very best thing for your speedy return to your regular routine is to rest and maximize the rate of healing.
After your vasectomy, you should go home and rest for the remainder of the day and evening.
The First 48 Hours
- Take your medication as ordered.
- Stay off your feet as much as you can for the first two days.
- Use an ice pack on your scrotum for 20 minutes every hour (except when you’re sleeping) for the first two to three days after your vasectomy. You should repeat the icing as often as you can in the first week. You can make your own ice pack by putting ice in a plastic bag and wrapping it in a dish towel, or use a bag of frozen peas. Gel packs also work well.
- There may be a small amount of bleeding from the skin opening. This is normal.
- Wear the scrotal support over your underwear for the next 7 days.
- You may take a shower 24 hours after your procedure. Avoid taking baths for 72 hours after surgery.
- For the first 24 hours take 1 or 2 tablets of Advil or Tylenol every 6 hours if needed, and ice the area regularly.
The First Week
- Do not strain yourself. Do not have sex or lift anything heavier than 20 pounds.
- Keep the incision clean and dry, although it is acceptable to take a gentle shower after your surgery.
- Wear your supportive underwear for the entire week.
- Leave some clean gauze with antibiotic ointment applied at the opening in the scrotum for a day or two. It is possible that this practice may further reduce post-operative infection rates.
- Call our doctor if you notice ongoing bleeding.
- Call our doctor if you get a fever, your scrotum gets very red or you notice any unusual discharge.
- Remember no sex or ejaculation for a week.
- Light blood in the semen is normal in the first few ejaculations after your vasectomy, and no cause for concern.
- For the entire first week, avoid any exertion, exercise, extensive walking, climbing, jogging, or sports, etc.
- When pain and tenderness are minimal, you may return to your usual activity but on the first day back start off at ½ your usual workout if you feel up to it.
- In general, avoid lifting more than 20 lbs in the first week.
- It is normal to have some discoloration of the skin (blue and black) around the puncture site a few days after your vasectomy. This will gradually go away.
- You might notice a lump on each side of your scrotum after your vasectomy for the new few weeks. That is a scar where we cut and sealed your vas. It usually feels like a knot the size of a pea and may swell to the size of a marble and be tender for a few weeks after the procedure but then becomes smaller and non-tender.
Post-Vasectomy Semen Testing
Because you are not sterile right after your vasectomy, temporary birth control is needed until a follow-up semen analysis confirms that no sperm are present. You will be given instructions on how to get your sperm tested.
It is critical that you get tested as instructed so that you know for sure that your vasectomy worked as expected.
Your test results will be reviewed with you once we receive them.
Confirm Vasectomy Effectiveness
After a minimum of three months, you must get your semen tested.
The chance of a sperm passing through the blockage in the sperm tubes is extremely small, especially once the sperm tubes are cut, cauterized and then separated by the fascial sheath barrier, but failure is possible. The incidence of failure varies with the skill and experience of the surgeon and with the approach used to block the tubes. It is for this reason that testing semen samples is essential.
We are pleased to report that the vasectomy technique we use, over many thousands of surgeries, has demonstrated an outstanding success rate with a very low complication rate. At Gentle Procedures Clinics the incidence of failure is 1 in 1000 vasectomy surgeries performed. This can be compared to the failure rate quoted in medical literature ranges from 0.5 – 5.0%, with the range being attributed to factors such as experience and the technique employed. There are two definitions for vasectomy success – no sperm or rare non-motile sperm with a sample taken under appropriate conditions 3 months post-op.
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Important information on post-vasectomy semen analysis
- Please abstain from having sex or ejaculating for two days before you collect your specimen.
- Collect the semen by masturbating directly into a sealed, sterile specimen container. If you lose a portion of the semen, throw the container out and collect your specimen at another time.
- If you’ve misplaced the container, please get another one – ask for a urine analysis container. Please do not use any other type of container.
- Close the container tightly. Label it with your first and last name, date of birth, plus the date and time you produced the sample.
- You can produce the specimen at home, and then deliver it to the lab, keeping the container warm in your pocket or next to your body en route.
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