Permanent Methods - Vasectomy & Tubal Occlusion

Sterilisation is a permanent way of preventing pregnancy. It involves having an operation. The method used for women is called tubal ligation or occlusion. For men it is called vasectomy.

Anyone having a sterilisation must see it as a permanent step.
Reversal operations are difficult to do and there is no guarantee of success. In other words, do not have the operation if you think you may come to regret it.

Tubal occlusion is an operation that blocks, seals or cuts the fallopian tubes; this means that your eggs can no longer be fertilised by your partner’s sperm through sexual intercourse.

Vasectomy is an operation that blocks, seals or cuts the tubes (known as the vas deferens) which carry sperm from your testicles to your penis. Although you will still be able to ejaculate, your semen will no longer contain any sperm, so you cannot make your partner pregnant. The sperm in your testicles are naturally reabsorbed back into the body and do not build up.

There is a slight risk that the operation will not work. Although it is rare for fertility to return, the tubes do sometimes rejoin. You can get pregnant immediately or at any time (even several years) after a failed operation.

There is less chance of a pregnancy after a vasectomy than after a tubal occlusion. The failure rate is about one in 2,000 who have been given the all-clear after their vasectomy (that is, after tests have confirmed there are no sperm in their semen).

The main risk after a vasectomy is that your partner gets pregnant because you stop using contraception too soon after the operation; that is, before you have been told that it is safe to do so or before you have had a negative sperm test.

The failure rate for female sterilisation is about one in every 200 procedures carried out, depending on the procedure used.

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