Can his vasectomy be reversed? |
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Question
I am in a long-term relationship with a man who had a vasectomy 10 years ago.
We now want a child of our own and would like to know the chances of success – and also the costs – of a procedure to reverse the vasectomy.
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Answer
Currently, with budgets being severely ‘squeezed, I'm afraid that you're not very likely to get this done free on the NHS, though some urological surgeons – particularly at teaching hospitals – might be willing to take on the challenge.
If you went to a Harley Street urologist, you could well end up paying several thousand pounds for the operation, with no guarantee of success. One well-known West End surgeon charges £2750, which is actually quite reasonable.
Alternatively, you could ring the Action Line of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) on 08457 304030. Although BPAS ceased offering a vasectomy reversal service for a while, they are planning to restart it at just one of their clinics in March 2007. The cost will be £2690.
The results of vasectomy reversal are not really very good. Some surgeons have been known to claim an 'over 60 per cent success rate'. But this usually turns out to mean that over 60 per cent of men end up with sperm in their sex fluid. Actual pregnancy rates are much lower, and personally I would not put your chances of achieving pregnancy at better than 40 per cent.
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