TresSugar

What Do You Know About the Unloved Vasectomy?

TresSugar — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:00:00 -0700

USA Today recently discussed the challenge of selling male sterilization. A vasectomy, a quick operation that prevents pregnancy by blocking the tubes that carry sperm, is simpler and safer than female sterilization. Even so, they are much less common than female sterilization, since men are less comfortable with medical procedures, especially when, let's face it, it involves their penises.

Despite the PR problem, vasectomies are gaining in popularity during these tough economic times. Take this quiz to find out what you know about this form of birth control.

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Vasectomies: Good Form of Birth Control?

DearSugar — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:00:00 -0800

Women have many birth control options ranging from The Pill to the IUCs, but men can only rely on condoms to prevent pregnancy. There is another more invasive option though - a vasectomy. Although this seems like a procedure for older men, it turns out that more and more young men are opting for this minor surgery. The procedure is short, can be done in a doctor's office with local anesthesia, and the guy can usually go back to work within a day or two. Young men are into this as a form of contraception because they've heard it can be reversed. So is it a good form of birth control? To find out read more.

First off, let's chat a little about what a vasectomy is. This minor surgery involves making a small incision or hole in the upper part of the man's scrotum. His vas deferens tubes are tied off, so that when he ejaculates, there is no sperm is his semen - in other words, he shoots blanks.

This type of surgery is recommended for older men who don't want any more children, or those who are absolutely certain they never want to be a father. Doctors discourage young men from having a vasectomy because although the procedure can be reversed, it isn't always successful. Of the 10 to 15 percent of guys who change their mind about becoming a father, they'll have to deal with a much more involved operation than the initial procedure (three to four hours long) and there are no guarantees it will be successful.

A vasectomy doesn't prevent against STIs, so a guy will still need to wear a condom unless he's certain his partner is STI-free. I think it's better to be safe than sorry so in my opinion, guys should stick with condoms until there's a male pill!

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Group Therapy: I Want Kids But He Doesn't

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:00:00 -0700

I am asking for advice because I feel so stuck. I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for two years, and we have been living together for a year now. He is 45, divorced with three kids. I am 29 and have no kids. Two of the kids live with us; one lives with the mother/ex-wife.

We are doing really well: I love him, and I know he loves me, and the kids adore me and love having me around. We have a very perfect everyday family life and no problem whatsoever with the kids or anything. His ex-wife is OK and we communicate well, so no problem there either.

The one problem I have is that I want kids, but he doesn't at all. He was so sure about this that he got a vasectomy after his third child. When I entered this relationship, I was at a point in my life where I was so focused on my career that I used to say to him I would never ever have kids. But now things have changed. Even if I don't mean I want kids right now, because we have only been together for 2 years, I really know that I want kids with him sometime in the future. But he says no.

We discussed this issue, but he still says he is finished with kids. I can't help feeling rejected and getting depressed about it. It even hurts me sometimes to look at him cuddling his kids because it always reminds me of the fact that he doesn't want to have kids with me. I not only want my own biological kids; I want biological kids with him and with him only. I really love him and the kids and can't imagine my life without them, but I really don't know what to do.

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Dumbass Of The Day

GiggleSugar — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:13:00 -0700

I'm keeping a lobster in my purse from now on-- for dating purposes.

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News Anchor Can't Keep A "Straight" Face

GiggleSugar — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:00:00 -0700

While reporting on vasectomies, a news anchor gets visually distracted and can't keep his schoolboy giggles to himself. Soon thereafter, the camera person joins in on the fun and the report takes a surprising below-the-belt detour. So much for serious broadcast journalism!

My Boyfriend Had A Vasectomy and I Want Kids

DearSugar — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 13:00:00 -0800

Dear Sugar
I am currently in an extremely loving relationship with an older man. I am 26 and he is 45 years old. He is divorced and has two children with a crazy ex wife. We have been together for almost a year now and have basically been living together for the past ten months.

Everything between us is more amazing than I could have ever imaged but there is one major problem...he had a vasectomy and I want kids. We have both been very open about our future and I am not shy addressing my desire for my own children.

I know dating someone older, and with their own kids, is a gamble for someone younger but you can't help who you fall in love with. He loves me and wants to spend his life with me, so do you think it is out of the question to ask him to reverse his vasectomy? Is that even possible to do? Impregnate Me Irene

To see DEARSUGAR's answer read more

Dear Impregnate Me Irene
If you want children with this man, it is not out of the question to ask him to reverse his vasectomy. I understand your desire for bearing your own children with the man that you love and you are fortunate to have options in order to make your dream a reality.

Have you talked about the possibility of having children together or is he just aware that you want your own one day? Before you bring this idea to the table, make sure you do your research. If you are both on the same page about your future, ask away, but be aware this is not an overnight transformation.

Vasectomy reversal surgery is quite common and if you are in the hands of the right doctor, the surgery can be very successful, although it can cost upwards of $20,000. If sperm is not presented in the semen after six months of the surgery, the vasectomy reversal surgery is considered a failure.

Men have the option of having a second surgery, but you could also try a nonsurgical approach. Sperm can be extracted straight from the man's testicles or the epididymis then followed up by Sperm Injection (ICSI) and In Vitro. As you can see, the measures one has to take are not small, but they can be done. If you are both on board for a trial and error period to make another life, I wish you luck.

News Reel Keeps It Real

GiggleSugar — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:48:46 -0800

A news station had its hands tied (visually) when it came to a story about the man version of getting your tubes tied. So during a segment on vasectomies, they pulled out stock footage of people walking down the street. Thing is, those man-on-the-street news reels tend to be, uh, crotch-centric. Result? Mr. Cute Anchorman could not stop laughing. Nor could I.

Male Contraception Is on the Horizon

TresSugar — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:15:00 -0700

Imagine throwing away your birth control pills and asking your significant other to take on the burden of contraception.

Scientists are getting closer to making that a reality with their work on testosterone injections to temporarily block sperm production. (Six months after the injections, men's sperm counts return to normal.) Trials in China so far show promise: one man in a 100 fathered a child while on the injections.

The injections may be available in about five years, but for now, men's contraceptive options are condom use, vasectomy, and . . . withdrawal (obviously, the least safe method). Interestingly, only a third of men polled by the Family Planning Association said they were interested in hormonal contraception. And, even though there are no serious side effects to the injections, almost a third of the 1,045 men in the Chinese trials stopped participating, and none gave reasons why.

If hormone injections as male contraception became available and you knew they were as effective as the pill, would you want your significant other to try it? Would you foresee any problems in negotiating responsibility for birth control between you both?

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Politician's Idea: Paying Poor Women $1,000 to Get Tubes Tied

CitizenSugar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:51:16 -0700

One Louisiana politician's brainstorm for stopping generational welfare - welfare recipients having children who also end up on assistance - is giving birth to huge controversy. The idea? Offering $1,000 to poor women to get their tubes tied. State Rep. John LaBruzzo has a host of other controversial plans including paying poor men to get vasectomies and giving tax incentives to college-educated, wealthy couples for having children - and the plan is causing some medical professionals to point to its similarities to eugenics programs.

LaBruzzo says he's since modified his plan to include temporary forms of birth control, not just sterilization and argues criticism like this, "I don't know how it's eugenics if it's voluntary, and how can it be racist if the majority of people on welfare are white?"

Of the genesis of the idea, the crushing cycle of poverty, LaBruzzo says:

After this recent storm, we had some issues where these people were going into shelters and taking their cigarettes and welfare but didn't have diapers or insulin for diabetic kids, and they felt they were entitled to say, 'Give me, give me.' None of them didn't want to set up cots or do anything.

To see how incentive programs have worked, read more.

Local policy makers say that the number of welfare recipients in Louisiana have actually dropped since 1991, disputing the need for an incentive program - but Planned Parenthood has actually tried it. In 1989 the group ran a program in Denver paying teen mothers a dollar a day not to get pregnant again. The program seemed to work then, though a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood says now:

Such bribes don't work. It doesn't solve the underlying issues - access to health care and paying jobs. If he'd like to ensure that men and women aren't having too many children, then he should propose legislation to make sure that health care and education to prevent unwanted pregnancy is available to everyone.

Following on the heels of Liberty's post yesterday about the judge who ordered a woman to stop having kids, does the idea of providing an incentive not to have kids seem like a creative response to a big problem - or is it a little bit like a Modest Proposal for the modern age? Good idea or dreadful concept?

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