: The patients in Minnesota offer ask how long after a vasectomy they become completely sterile and how they can get cleared faster for unprotected sex after a vasectomy. This blog will address these two questions.
Every man produces the sperms that are reabsorbed back into the body. In fact, it is estimated that up to 50% of sperms a man produces is reabsorbed. Sperm travels to the epididymis for storage and maturing. While maturing in the epididymis, some sperms die and break down and reabsorbed through the membranes of tubules by macrophages.
Sperm continues to be produced in the testicles after the procedure. The sperm continue to be stored in the epididymis and are eventually dissolved and absorbed by the body. With the increase of stagnant sperms, the membranes of the epididymis increase in size to absorb more liquid. The immune system increases the amount of macrophages to handle an increase of solid waste.
The life cycle of sperm is 63 days. 80% of men will be sterile after 15 ejaculations or 6 weeks after a vasectomy. By 10 weeks, 85% of men will have no sperm in the ejaculate. Therefore, a safe time period to say would be approximately 3 months (12 weeks) after vasectomy with about 20 ejaculations.
It is important to have a semen analysis after vasectomy to confirm absence of live sperm before stopping contraception. Keep in mind, there is a small chance of re-canalization even after no sperm is seen after 12 weeks.
Should the patients be ejaculating a lot in order to clean the pipes out? That’s what some doctors recommended.
The policy in our clinic is that all patients need to do semen analysis in 3 months after vasectomy with about 20 ejaculations.
