Retirement from practice
Dr Woolcott is no longer accepting new patients as he is retiring from medical practice. Dr Gabrielle Dezarnaulds is taking over his practice. To arrange a consultation and operation please contact Dr Dezarnaulds office by telephone on 02 9557 1988 or by email: info@drdezarnaulds.com
Microsurgical Vasectomy Reversal
Vasectomy reversal is a highly effective microsurgical operation which has the capacity to restore an open vas deferens in more than 99.5% of procedures. The functional success rate of vasectomy reversal is impressive with the restoration of sperm over 95% of the time for the average man undergoing the operation under my care. Successful pregnancy occurs in up to 85% of couples when the female partner's age is less than 35 years and between 50% to 70% for the average couple having their vasectomy reversed.
Australia's only dedicated Vasectomy Reversal Specialist
The expertise and skill of your surgeon is crucial to achieving optimal results and pregnancy. The more vasectomy reversal operations a microsurgeon performs, the greater the liklihood of success. That's why with precision refined by performing more than 7000 vasectomy reversal operations over 30 years, you can have complete confidence in achieving best possible results with the highest standard of care. This huge number of vasectomy reversal operations is more than any other reproductive microsurgeon currently practicing in Australia. The knowledge and insight accumulated by discussions with thousands of couples considering the possibility of vasectomy reversal, provides you an assurance of making a wise personal decision.
It is only by continually performing large numbers of microsurgical procedures to reverse vasectomy that is it possible to obtain consistently high success rates. An extensive experience in dealing with the wide variety of surgical challenges of differing methods of vasectomy, means that regardless of your personal situation it is almost certain that I have seen a similar surgical challenge previously. Enabling the best possible outcome in any situation. This accumulated expertise provides you reassurance of being the wisest choice of reproductive microsurgeon to undertake the vasectomy reversal to either restore fertility or treat troublesome past-vasectomy pain.
Does experience matter? Absolutely!
More than 95% of surgeons who perform vasectomy reversal do less that 10 vasectomy reversal operations per year.. This extreme variation in the number of operations performed by the most experienced mircosurgeon and doctors who carry out the occasional procedure is a major influence on the prospect of having a surgically successful vasectomy reversal. Both experience and expertise matter - a lot - so asking your doctor how many vasectomy reversal operations they perform each year is very important.
You should also always ask about specialist qualifications of the doctor who actually performs the operation and be certain that they are recognised as qualified specialists by the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority.
→ Questions to ask your vasectomy reversal doctor
Cost of vasectomy reversal
Vasectomy reversal is provided at reasonable cost as a result of an agreement between my anaesthetist, assistant surgeon and myself that allows for control and limits on the expense of the procedure. If you have full health insurance the cost can be as little as $3,100 and for those without insurance $6,600. There are however a number of influences on your final out of pocket cost which include your level of health insurance cover and which hospital you wish to have your procedure performed.
→ Learn more about the cost of reversing your vasectomy
Deciding between vasectomy reversal and IVF ?
You may be trying to choose between vasectomy reversal or IVF. It is best to consider this decision not as an 'either-or' issue but rather a question of what order you should undergo each treatment. By this I mean which of IVF followed by vasectomy reversal or vasectomy reversal followed IVF is the wisest first choice.
→ Full explanation of vasectomy reversal success rates
The critical issue in this decision is that fact that sperm extraction for IVF either from the epididymis (PESA procedure) or testis (TESE procedure) runs a high risk of damaging the outflow path of sperm from the testis and therefore markedly reducing the prospect of future successful vasectomy reversal. On the other hand if vasectomy reversal is undertaken first then for the average case 95% of men will achieve the presence of sperm and so increasing the likelihood of future successful IVF should pregnancy not occur following vasectomy reversal.
The net result is that the cumulative pregnancy rates of the sequence vasectomy reversal followed by IVF is more likely to be successful than IVF followed by vasectomy reversal. So while IVF is an excellent treatment when undertaken at a high quality IVF clinic such as Genea it is my view that vasectomy reversal should be your first choice as it provides you the widest range of long-term options.
→ Decide whether IVF or vasectomy reversal is best for you
Predictors of successful vasectomy reversal
There are a range of predictors of successful vasectomy reversal which you should consider when making a decision to reverse your vasectomy. These include the length of time from your initial vasectomy to its reversal, your partners age and if you have had a prior IVF sperm extraction. It is very important to be aware of just how many vasectomy reversal operations your chosen surgeon is performing so that you can make a judgement about their likely results.
→ Read about the predictors of successful vasectomy reversal
Need more detail ?
I have written an article for the Australian Doctor journal which is intended for General Practitioners that describes in fine medical detail all aspects of microsurgical vasectomy reversal including information on pre-operative assessment, alternative surgical methods, post operative care and assessment of outcome.
→ Read medical journal publication on vasectomy and vasectomy reversal
