When families wish to undergo family planning in order to control their birth rate, it is usual for the couple to seek relevant advice from health care experts and at family planning clinics. In nearly all instances, the attempts at birth control focus on women. Men, for example, have been known to vehemently resist any attempt to persuade them to have a vasectomy. To worsen matters, their wives are often the more negative party to any such effort. The reasons for coming out strongly against such a procedure are deeply steeped in suspicion, superstition, mistrust and ignorance. These four emotions are rolled into one kind of explanation and that is known as a myth.
In this essay, we shall be looking at some of these myths in an attempt to persuade more men and their wives to consider the procedure, which can be swiftly performed under a local anaesthetic agent and is essentially an irreversible method of contraception. There is a fear among many men and women that this kind of procedure might negatively affect their hormonal levels or that they can even become impotent or better still, develop some form of erectile dysfunction. Nothing can be further from the truth. This is a hugely important topic for couples and we shall seek here to show why there is no need to be afraid of the method.
Vasectomy or male sterilisation is an operation that involves cutting or sealing the tubes that are responsible for carrying sperm into the seminal fluid, which bathes the sperm and provides them with a means of transport in which they can swim. By so doing, it prevents the seminal fluid or semen from containing any more sperm. The seminal fluid is what a male ejaculates during orgasm but when a man has undergone vasectomy, he will continue to ejaculate seminal fluid but it will not contain sperm. Therefore, it can be said that a vasectomy alters the plumbing work that enables pregnancy to be possible when semen is ejaculated into the vagina. This, however, does not affect the levels of testosterone in the blood or the man’s sexual function and does not cause any biological changes in a man. This appears to be the most important source of worry among the men who are offered a vasectomy. In Nigeria, this procedure is thoroughly disliked and is often not considered at all within the general scheme of family planning. Therefore, people who are advised to have a vasectomy worry a lot about whether their testosterone levels will drop and whether they will suffer a fall in their libido. Others worry whether they will suffer from erectile dysfunction as a result of which their sexual prowess will diminish. The irony is that the procedure actually could cause the opposite effects to be the case.
In contrast to some of the other myths that negatively affect many people, it is also not true that this procedure can lead to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer of the testes or, of the prostate and dementia. It is not even a risk factor for any of these conditions and many men should be relieved that these are things for which they have no reason to be afraid. It is also a myth that vasectomy adversely affects sexual function. In fact, the opposite effects have been demonstrated through research in which an increase in the frequency of having sex was actually the important finding. There was also an improvement in the strength of erections as well as increased self-confidence in their sex life. Many participants in the study also said their libido was better and as a result, they had an improved level of satisfaction with sex on the whole. It did not stop there; many of these people said also that the quality of their orgasms was better. It is thus clear from all of the above evidence that this procedure will not negatively affect the production of testosterone, which is the major hormone responsible for sex drive. That is not to say that a vasectomy is not without its own risks because it is an operation in the end and it will carry some degree of downsides even if that risk is an increased likelihood of suffering an infection at the operation site. However, we shall briefly discuss the risks that are most likely to result from this operation.
Vasectomy is generally regarded as a minor operation with a low level of risk. The preparation for it must be meticulous like any other operation. It is not true that it is a difficult and painful procedure. Most patients who undergo the operation can actually go back to their normal work schedules within two to three days and resume physical exercises within two weeks. In the end, once the wound has healed in full, even vigorous exercises are possible. These men can then have sex within one week of having the procedure done. Besides, there can be pain at the operation site and typically for a vasectomy, it will have to be performed on both sides of the groin. So, there will be minimal pain after the operation. There may also be some swelling around the operation site which can promote the condition that makes an infection more likely. The way to prevent these issues from occurring is to be meticulous in preparing the operation site and performing it in a proper theatre with a good lighting system. Over time, the procedure may be perceived to have failed if the person starts to have sperm appearing again in the seminal fluid. It is important, therefore, and helpful if the intending patient awaiting a vasectomy has proper psychological support and counselling in an attempt to allay some of his fear about this operation.
There are some other myths associated with this operation, which basically concern the length of time necessary for complete recovery from it. From the timelines we shared in the last paragraph, it should be clear that the period of recovery is actually a short one. On the opposite end of the patient spectrum are those men who do not mind undergoing the operation but with the notion that they can become immediately sterile and so do not need to observe any other protocols for family planning or prevention of pregnancy. The fact is somewhat different because it takes several months for the seminal fluid to become completely free of all sperm cells and it is crucial for the attending surgeon to confirm this fact to the patient before he throws every caution in this regard to the wind. However, once the absence of sperm is noted in the semen, it tends for the most part to be irreversible, thereby making this procedure the most effective means of birth control. On the whole, vasectomy has a low incidence of both short-term and long-term consequences in any man who undergoes the operation. Due to its permanent nature, it is a good procedure for those men who are confident that they do not want to have any more children. This is because while it is possible to reverse a vasectomy at some point in the future if the patient so desires, there is no guarantee that it would succeed.
As the Nigerian population continues to expand at an alarming rate that taxes government planners and the sociopolitical fabric of society, it is likely that men and their wives also will become less fearful of the operation and willingly submit themselves to have this done in an attempt to rein in our impressive population growth.
