For more information: www.indiegogo.com/projects/world-vasectomy-day, www.thevasectomist.net

On October 18, 2013 men all over the world, whose families are complete, will dedicate their vasectomy to Planet Earth in a world-first vasectomy-athon to launch the inaugural World Vasectomy Day (WVD). The goal is to raise awareness about the environmental impact of rising population on the planet, men’s role in family planning and vasectomy as a solution to prevent unintended pregnancies.

1,000 men in 25 countries will take the ultimate snip to show they care about the growing strain that population is placing on the planet’s resources, their families and themselves.

Why World Vasectomy Day?
WVD is a chance for men all over the world to make a very personal choice that has a profoundly public impact on our present and our future. We are asking men who do not want more children to join forces to shoulder the burden of family planning and in so doing, fight for their family, their community, their country and our planet.

WVD will be a world-class knowledge-sharing forum addressing critical science related issues within the context of a highly innovative and ambitious multiplatform public event. But we need YOUR HELP to get there.

What will Happen on World Vasectomy Day?
vasectomies performed: The world’s most prolific vasectomist, Dr Doug Stein will perform vasectomies in front of an audience at the Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) – Australia’s national science hub – to launch the inaugural World Vasectomy Day.

Streamed live: The event will be the world’s first live-streamed vasectomy-athon. Dr Stein will field questions from both the live Adelaide audience and an international online audience.

Discussion: There will be a gathering of diverse thought leaders including population expert and author of The Population Bomb Professor Paul Ehrlich who will weigh in on the social, political, cultural and ethical issues raised by the event and Dr Stein’s mission to save the planet… one vasectomy at a time.

Multiple locations around the globe: While Dr Stein performs vasectomies live from the RiAus in an unorthodox ‘operating theater’, doctors around the world will also perform vasectomies, connected to the event via Skype and social media platforms.

Two decades ago, several studies showed conflicting results on the correlations between vasectomy and prostate cancer, which received media attention at that time. The current conclusion is that there is an insufficient basis for recommending any change in the current clinical practice on vasectomy.

You should know these three important concepts on this issue.

• The validity of a study depends on how well the study is designed. Researchers have to consider all possible compounding factors that affect the results.
• Since the causes of prostate cancer remain unknown, it has been impossible to assure that the risk factors for the illness were equally distributed between the vasectomized and nonvasectomized men.
• There is an absence of a biological explanation of how vasectomy might lead to prostate cancer.

In 1991, the World Health Organization (WHO) expert meeting concluded that a causal relationship between vasectomy and prostate cancer was unlikely. In 1993, the NICHD expert meeting concluded that the positive associations between vasectomy and prostate cancer found in some studies may or may not be valid. Most physicians in Minnesota have been guided by NICHD’s expert panel of 1993 which concluded there is an insufficient basis for recommending any change in current clinical or public health practice. Providers should continue to offer the vasectomy procedure. It has a long track record as a safe and effective method of male contraception.

No scalpel vasectomy is a simple, quick and safe method for male sterilization. The recovery period is very short, and patients in Minnesota can return to work and their regular lifestyle within a few days. Sexual activity, penile sensitivity and male hormone production are not affected by vasectomy.

There are a variety of benefits to have a no scalpel vasectomysuch as the ones listed below:

• The number one good benefit is an obvious one – you won’t have any more kids!

• Once the procedure is done, there is no need to constantly think about contraception; in other words, after vasectomy, couples in Minneapolis and St Paul can stop thinking and worrying about this issue altogether.

• Some patients in Minnesota find that freedom from the fear of producing an unwanted child improves the mutual enjoyment of sexual relations, sometimes making it more spontaneous and frequent.

• Women should not take all the responsibility for birth control. Female contraceptives can be associated with more risks than a vasectomy. Birth control is something that most women have thought about a lot longer than most men for the simple fact that they are the ones getting pregnant. It may be time that middle aged men take it upon themselves to practice birth control. In addition, your woman will love you for it, isn’t that reason enough?

• One great and indisputable benefit of having a vasectomy for some men in Minnesota is that you will never be asked to wear a condom again. A comic once said that “having sex with a condom is like eating ice cream with a balloon stretched over your tongue” which is something everyone can agree on!

• Another ancillary benefit to a vasectomy is that you can get a few days off of work.

Men in Minneapolis and St Paul sometimes believe that the is a vasectomy painful surgical procedure. However, this is just a myth. Here are some other myths about vasectomy.

1. MYTH: A vasectomy is a surgical procedure that requires hospitalization and sedation.
FACT: A vasectomy is usually performed in an outpatient setting. In our procedure clinic, all vasectomies are performed in our office. Like many other office procedures, the patients in Minnesota usually don’t need any sedation. The procedure takes approximately 20 minutes.

2. MYTH: A vasectomy is a painful surgical procedure involving scalpels and sutures.
FACT: At One Stop Medical Center, we use a revolutionary no-scalpel technique that doesn’t involve scalpels or sutures. No scalpel vasectomy is a less invasive procedure with a quicker recovery. The whole procedure is painlessly done through a single tiny skin puncture. If you are afraid of needles, we also offer the no needle approach with a “jet” injector to deliver the local anesthetic which provides maximum in patient comfort.

3. MYTH: Most men in Minnesota don’t consider a vasectomy to be viable form of birth control.
FACT: A vasectomy is an acceptable and effective form of birth control for couples that have completed their family. Each year, more than half million men in the US choose to get a vasectomy. About one out of six Minnesota men over the age of 35 have had a vasectomy.

4. MYTH: A vasectomy really isn’t permanent, as the vasectomy reverse is easy and quick.
FACT: A vasectomy is a permanent male sterilization. The patients in Minnesota should only have a vasectomy if they are certain that they do not want any more children. While a vasectomy can be reversed with microsurgery in many cases, the procedure is more complicated and quite expensive with a relatively low success rate, nor does it guarantee restored fertility.

5. MYTH: Vasectomy works immediately after the procedure.
FACT: A vasectomy may take up to 3 months to completely free your semen of sperm. Therefore, couples are advised to use another form of contraceptive until the doctor can confirm that the man’s semen no longer contains sperm.

6. MYTH: A vasectomy will negatively affect a man’s enjoyment of sex .
FACT: A vasectomy simply interrupts the passage of sperm during an orgasm. Erections, climaxes, and ejaculations should continue after a vasectomy. Normal hormones are still produced. Some men in Minnesota may experience difficulty with erections or ejaculations, but this is usually a psychological problem rather than a surgical complication. In fact, many couples in Minnesota experience an improvement in their sexual relations because they are no longer worried about pregnancy.

If you are considering having a no scalpel vasectomy, you are definitely not alone. Every year, about five thousands Minnesotans choose to have a no scalpel vasectomy as a permanent male contraception.

No scalpel vasectomy is performed in an office under local anesthesia. It takes only 15 minutes for each vasectomy.

Here is the detailed description of how no scalpel vasectomy Procedure is performed.

• NUMBING THE AREA AROUND THE VAS DEFERENS
With the patient lying down, the scrotum skin is cleaned with alcohol and a small amount of local anesthesia is placed into the scrotal skin with a fine needle or needleless pressure spray applicator around the vas deferens. Then the scrotum and its surrounding areas are prepped with Betadine.

• HOLDING AND EXPOSING THE VAS DEFERENS
Dr. Shu begins the procedure on the right side by gently bringing the vas deferens to a position just under the scrotal skin. A tiny puncture is made in the numbed area of scrotal skin. The vas deferens are then secured and pulled out with a ring clamp through the small opening. The surrounding fascia is stripped with a sharp instrument to expose the vas deferens.

• INSURING COMPLETE OCCLUSION
Dr. Shu uses 3 steps to insure complete occlusion: he cuts the vas deferens and destroys the lining of the tube on each end with cautery (scarring it) and places small titanium clips in the vas fascia to separate the opened ends of vas deferens. The vas deferens are then placed back into the scrotum in its normal anatomic position.

A similar procedure is performed on the left side vas through the same puncture hole to complete the no scalpel vasectomy. No suture is placed in the puncture hole in the scrotal skin. A scrotal support is applied and the patient can then walk out the office. The local anesthesia will keep the area numb for two hours after the procedure.

Vasectomy is a minimally invasive procedure that can be done safely in the office. The procedure is performed painlessly under local anesthesia. The patients in Minnesota feel mild discomfort and/or aching in the first couple days after the anesthetic wears off, however most patients don’t take any pain medications after no scalpel vasectomy. Fear of pain is still the number one reason for men in Minnesota to resist getting a vasectomy because they don’t want to have surgery near their genital organs. A good consultation before vasectomy the helps to relieve anxiety.

Another concern related to pain in the vasectomy ischronic scrotal pain. Pain continues in 3 months or more after the procedure. The old literature suggests that approximately 20% of men will have “chronic pain” following the vasectomy. This surprisingly high rate is probably caused by traditional surgical technique which closes the ends of vas at the surgery or influenced by other compounding factors. Men in Minneapolis and St Paul continue to produce sperm at about the same rate as before, so the sperm have to go somewhere. They typically build up in the epididymis, which is a 16-foot-long tightly coiled tube behind each testicle. Some men become sensitive to the buildup of pressure in the duct and begin to experience pain.

The urologist Dr. Turek in San Francisco in California did a survey in his patients to examine the issue of chronic scrotal pain in his practice. Overall, 7% of respondents said they had pain, much lower than the rate in the literature. In addition, no man in the survey was self-medicating for pain. He also surveyed healthy medical students who had not had a vasectomy and found almost identical findings: 5% had chronic pain, sometimes in the scrotum, but often elsewhere – and without a vasectomy! He concluded that: 1) normal, healthy men occasionally have scrotal and other kinds of pain, making the scrotum a “hot spot” for men, 2) the prevalence of this pain in his patients is no different from that found in healthy men without vasectomies, and 3) the men at highest risk for having pain after vasectomy are men with pain in the scrotum or even elsewhere before the vasectomy. This data has been reassuring information for all patients in Minnesota to know. We believe that no scalpel vasectomy has very low rate of chronic scrotal pain, and we haven’t had any reports on the chronic scrotal pain from our vasectomy patients in Minnesota yet.

Women in Minnesota truly carry significant burden of responsibility for birth control. After you learn the fact that no scalpel vasectomy is a safe, minimally invasive and highly effective male contraception, and that most insurance plans in Minnesota cover vasectomy, some of you may wish that your husband could share responsibility in contraception. How do you talk to your husband about it?

1.You should not force our husband to do the vasectomy, after all, it is his body and his vas. He should feel the freedom to say yes or no.

2.Explore all options with your husband first, then discuss the pros and cons without bias. People are most able to take in information when they can let their guard down. In other words, have this part of the process be as neutral as possible. If your husband feels pressure, he is less likely to fairly weigh the options.

3.Find a good time to discuss the birth control issue.

4.Take your time, and be patient. Let your husband to do his own research online or talk to friends who have had vasectomies.

5.After finding out more about the no scalpel vasectomy, he will probably discover that the procedure is actually quick, easy, and has a smooth recovery. When men make the vasectomy decision, they can feel a great weight lifted off their shoulders that they no longer worry about future pregnancy. They might also feel proud of themselves for sharing the responsibility in the family planning.

Many women in Minnesota do not enjoy taking birth control pills. Some of them forget to take them every day. This is one of reasons why birth control pills fail. Other people suffer from the side effects. But many women still take it because they and their partners have to use something for birth control.

If a couple in Minnesota choose to use a condom, the failure rate will be much higher than other birth control methods. It also affects their passion and dynamic during the love-making process. “Honey, I have to put it on first”.

If women in Minneapolis choose IUD, they would have to do a small procedure in the doctor’s office. Some women may develop excessive bleeding, ectopic pregnancy or increase the chance of pelvic infection. Otherwise, IUD is a reliable and reversible birth control method, but it is not very popular in the US.

If women in St Paul choose to get a tube ligation, they would have to go through a surgical procedure under general anesthesia in the hospital with significant expense. The tube ligation surgery has a higher complication rate than other birth control procedures. Other tube blocking methods are also options with slightly higher failure rate.

Many women in Minnesota know that no scalpel vasectomy is a very safe and simple office procedure for male sterilization. and it is a better birth control option for many couples in Minneapolis and St Paul. They prefer their husbands to share birth control responsibility. The question is, if women want their husband to get a no scalpel vasectomy, how do they talk to them about it? We will give you the advices in the next blog.

• Sexual dysfunction – A deeper psychological reason men in Minnesota have against vasectomies is that they are worrying about their sexual function and masculinity. The psychological issue is that if men cannot impregnate a woman anymore that makes them less of a man.
Reality: A vasectomy does not reduce a man’s sexual drive or his ability to have an erection or enjoy sex. The procedure only blocks sperm and simply prevents the possibility of conceiving a child. There’s no effect on “masculinity”. The man’s body continues to produce hormones as before and testosterone continues to be produced and released into the bloodstream.

•Worries about permanency – Men in Minnesota know that a vasectomy is a male sterilization and a permanent method for birth control. This becomes another reason for men to resist vasectomies. With a divorce rate of more than 50% and deadly accidents and diseases, the chances of remarriage are much higher than decades ago. What if you get remarried, and you and your new partner want to have another child?
Reality: You want to have a vasectomy now because you don’t want to anymore kids, period. We cannot predict the future. But if you truly change your mind, or if your new wife wants to have kids, you may consider a vasectomy reversal (60% success rate) or vitro fertilization, however both are fairly expensive. Also, the reversible vasectomy with a plug may be in the market in the near future.

• Procedure failure – Men also worry about a vasectomy failure , as many of them really don’t want kids any more. They may have heard stories of how a vasectomy failure changed his friend’s life.
Reality: Vasectomies are almost 100 percent effect and very reliable. The traditional vasectomy failure rate was about one to three per 1000, while a no scalpel vasectomy with fascia clip technique had a significantly decreased failure rate (less than one per 2000). There has not been a single case report from the hundreds of vasectomies performed in Dr. Shu’s office over the past 10 years.

• Complications – Any procedure could have potential complications. Men in Minnesota are afraid of vasectomy complications which may affect their sexual organs.
Reality: There are few risks involved with vasectomies. The most common complications are bleeding and an infection, it can be easily controlled with an evacuation and antibiotics. We have not seen a single case with large hematoma or infection in the past 10 years.

Thanks to the Internet, men in Minnesota are getting more education on male birth control. They are more comfortable to make the biological decision and get a vasectomy done.

There are many reasons men resist getting a vasectomy, even no scalpel vasectomy.

Pain: Almost all men in Minnesota fear the idea of having surgery anywhere near their genital regions. This is probably the number one reason on the list. Fear of pain causes anxiety and makes it hard for men to make their decision.

Reality: Local anesthetic is given gently with a hair-sized needle or jet spray without causing any significant pain which completely numbs the area, so there should not be any discomfort or sensations during the procedure. If patients feel mild discomfort and/or aching in the first couple days after the anesthetic wears off, medications or ice packs can be used. It is important to understand that vasectomies are generally much less invasive and painful than surgical options for the woman. Moreover, no scalpel vasectomy is even less invasive with a tiny skin puncture and causes much less pain than traditional vasectomy. Patients in Minneapolis and St Paul are recommended to ask questions and consult doctors about any risks and concerns in order to relieve anxiety. We constantly get positive feedback from all patients, and they say that it was much simpler than they thought.

Last week, TIME reported that the Royal Institution of Australia in Adelaide is looking for a few incredibly bold men to undergo vasectomies in front of a live audience. Why? To get people talking about it. That’s right, the institution is planning to hold a number of public vasectomies later this year. According to TIME, the institution’s program manager, Lisa Bailey, said the organization was hoping to encourage wider and more open discussion on male contraception and population control.

Over the past decade, several concepts of non-hormonal male birth control were developed. Researchers use the molecular biology technology to target the sperm.

These ideas include:

• paralyzing sperm by blocking Cs protein in the sperm. Cs protein is related to the mobility of sperm’s tail.
• blocking sperm maturation by turning off a trigger protein
• stopping the sperm production by medication or compound

Blocking the vas deferens with implants or plugs is another approach for male birth control. One of the most promising male birth control options under investigation is reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance (RISUG), also known as VasalGel. It was developed by Indian scientist Sujoy Guha. The procedure is very simple; a gel form of nontoxic polymer is injected into vas, and the gel coats the interior of the vas deferens and immobilizes sperm. An injection is able to sterilize men for 10 to 15 years. It is also completely reversible with a follow-up injection that dissolves the gel.

As of right now, no scalpel vasectomy is the best bet for Minnesota men, as it is safe and effective!