In your article (Scare stories give vasectomies the snip, 22 October), Genevieve Edwards’ comment that “there is no snipping at all” showed alarming ignorance of the procedure: how does she think the vasa are cut if there is no snipping? My own NHS vasectomy in 2011 was done with medical scissors that made a distinctive snipping sound that I heard in my mind for long afterwards.
Experience of vasectomies clearly varies, but in my case the bruising was serious and the discomfort lasted for weeks. And the operation did affect my sex life: my orgasms were less intense and accompanied by an uncomfortable sensation of constriction. I was given counselling before the operation, and blame no one else for my decision to go ahead. But that decision was informed by a public discussion of vasectomy that is far too glib, precisely because it is described as a minor, uncomplicated procedure. Having experienced it myself, I do not believe vasectomy should be permitted as a routine procedure, much less encouraged. I had my operation reversed, at great expense, because my circumstances changed and I wanted another child, but the difficulty of reversal is another major drawback. It is entirely unhelpful to cast this debate in terms of men seeking ways to elude responsibility for our own fertility. If a male implant was available, I would have one inserted; if a male pill had been developed, I would take it. But neither is an option, and unfortunately, nor should vasectomy be.
Name and address supplied
• I had my vasectomy 26 years ago. The worst part was the pre-op examination by a chain-smoking, Donald Wolfit look-alike doctor whose disappointment at his current status was savagely visited on his patients’ scrota. Within six hours of the operation itself I was pain-free in the pub, boasting about my manly achievement to anyone who’d listen. Subsequently, anxiety-free sex with no side-effects. I recommend it.
Paul Clements
Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan
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We need to talk about vasectomy drawbacks | Letters
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