Vasectomies may not be as reversible as doctors had previously thought.
New research presented at a meeting of the British Fertility Society on Wednesday shows that the operation has a long-lasting effect on sperm count.
Men who have had a vasectomy, even if it has been reversed, produce less sperm and have poorer success rates when their partners have fertility treatments.
“We did not expect to see this reduction in sperm count or pregnancy due to previous vasectomy and ongoing studies are attempting to decipher the reasons for it,” said Dr Carmel McVicar, of Queen’s University in Belfast.
Vasectomy involves cutting and blocking the tubes through which the sperm pass into the semen so a man will not be able to father children. Reversing it can be difficult and it is not always successful, especially if it has been done many years earlier.
Impact seems permanent
In studies conducted at the university, McVicar and her colleagues found that men who had had the operation produced about a third less sperm than men who had not had a vasectomy.
Their success rate after a treatment for male infertility was also about 50 percent lower.
“In the past, a vasectomy was for life. Now men attend our clinic every week wanting to have a second family with a new partner,” McVicar told the meeting.
Professor Neil McClure, of the obstetrics and gynaecology department at the university, said how the surgery affects sperm count is unknown but the impact seems to be permanent.
“Men who are considering vasectomy certainly need to think very carefully about the long-term consequences to their future fertility,” McVicar added.
In a separate study presented at the three-day meeting researchers from the university said smoking cannabis damages male fertility by impairing the sperm’s ability to fertilise the female egg.
The findings confirm early research by American scientists who suggested that THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, impedes sperm motility, or ability to swim.
“Infertility already affects one in six couples across the United Kingdom and 40 percent of these cases are due to problems with sperm,” said Dr Lyn Whann, who presented the research.
