My husband went in for a vasectomy and afterwards was referred to a urologist. Is this normal? Should he be concerned?
My husband got a vasectomy. They started on the right side of his testicle and were having problems getting to the vas deferens because of old scar tissue. He completed the other side successfully. Now, he has been referred to a urologist and has to go through another procedure. The doctor was vague about what exactly the complication is and is only saying that there was an old injury. Is this normal or should he be concerned about possible long-term damage to other parts of his testicles?
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Answers from doctors (4)
Bed just on the above it is probable that the vasectomy could not be completed on the right side. I cannot be sure about that. Scar tissue, however, many times it makes a vasectomy difficult and that by itself is not unusual. The urologist should be able to answer these questions
Published on Jul 11, 2012
It is not uncommon for the urologist to have trouble finding one side of the vas deferens. It can be due to altered anatomy from a previous injury or surgery however sometimes there is only one vas deferens. What is unusual about your question is that usually it is a urologist who performs the vasectomy, so the referral to another urologist seems odd. In my experience in this situation, and I have only done this once in my career, is to recommend doing the other side under anesthesia with a slightly larger incision to better identify the anatomy. Of note, a renal ultrasound should be done as sometimes there is a situation where the patient only has one kidney and this is associated with not a having a vas deferens on that side.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
I'm not sure what the problem is. Did your husband have a a prior scrotal surgery or injury? A failed attempt at vasectomy is very unusual, even with prior scrotal surgery. But I agree with the the referral to the specialist who regularly performs this procedure.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
It sounds like the anatomy of one side made identification of the vas deferens (the vas tube) more difficult. Your husband could have been born with this challenging anatomy, or it could have been caused by scarring after a prior procedure.
In any case, cases like this come up from time to time and is an important reason to try to find someone experienced to perform the vasectomy in the first place. In general, urologists have more experience than any other specialty, as surgery of the scrotum is part of their training. Then, there are some urologists who perform many vasectomies. If one is lucky enough to have such a physician in their community, they can more easily take care of such a problem with the first procedure, when it arises.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
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