The Snip

The snip? You're not still on about circumcision.

No. The snip is a vasectomy — a medical procedure in which the tubes carrying the sperm from the testicles to the seminal vessel are cut and heat sealed. As a result when semen is ejaculated from the vessel during sex, it contains no sperm. It takes just twenty minutes (the operation, not the sex.)

Heat-sealed. Gulp. Why would I want that?

90,000 men have a vasectomy every year making it one of the most popular forms of male contraception as well as the single most effective. No more babies and no more fiddling with condoms. Moreover, the modern vasectomy need not involve a snip at all. The non-scalpel method uses a clamp and produces little bleeding.

Now you're talking. But are you sure it won't affect my sex life?

It makes you infertile not impotent. Most men enjoy the same sex life after their vasectomy as before.

That's what's I'm afraid of.

Vasectomy is carried our routinely but it is surgery nonetheless and all men respond differently. Don't be forced into something you don't want by anyone including your partner or doctor. Despite everything, a lot of men report pain and other continuing problems with sex, pain, bruising and even bleeding - as the other articles on this website can testify.

Isn't there an easier way? A male pill?

Vasectomy is 99.8% effective. Used properly, condoms can be 98% effective. Your call.

As for the as-yet non-existent male pill, would you take it, given the side-effects caused by that one-time miracle contraceptive, the female pill?

Any other side-effects?

Swollen or tender testicles can result, particularly in the first year.

What, of taking the pill?

No, dozy, of having the snip. Some research also suggests a correlation between vasectomy and a slightly increased risk of prostate or testicular cancer but the link, if there is one, is not something we're yet able to explain.

What if I change my mind?

Although about 60% of vasectomies can be reversed, it's best seen as a once and for all solution. Non-essential surgery might be justified once but twice? What would your mother say?

Jim Pollard