Babies after vasectomy? It’s possible in old age

After a painful divorce in 2005, Bruce gave up on the institution of marriage and decided that he would henceforth refrain from the union.

“I just felt like I needed a clean slate in life. I didn’t want any other relationship. I wanted to be alone and try to rediscover myself again, after losing myself through the struggles and suffering I experienced, as our marriage was breaking into pieces,” he says.

His ordeal aside, Bruce notes that the impact of the troubled marriage on the children was devastating. It caused him intense pain.

“As a parent, you want the best life for your children. And even though some things are out of your control, you always feel guilty and blame yourself if you fall apart as a couple and end up disrupting the lives of your children,” he says.

According to Bruce, seeing his children go through emotional and psychological turmoil following the divorce really took a toll on him, driving him into depression.

When he recovered, he decided to undergo a vasectomy to allay any chances of getting more children in future, should he decide to get back into the dating world.

A vasectomy is a surgical procedure or small operation that prevents pregnancy by blocking sperms from leaving the body when men ejaculate.

This was in line with Bruce’s aspiration when he underwent the minor operation, which took less than an hour in 2005. And he was happy with the decision.

But as fate would have it, he ended up dating a lady 10 years later that made him believe in love once more.

The two got married three years later. However, it was not long before they both desired to have children.

“This relationship feels different. I feel like I have finally found the one who was meant for me. I have also learnt from my mistakes and feel comfortable having other children,” he says.

For this dream to become a reality, Bruce needs to have a vasectomy reversal procedure that will make it possible for him to sire children.

As he is in his mid-40s, Bruce is concerned that his age may impede the success of the operation and subsequently his chances of having more children.

This has been a cause of worry for many older men seeking to have vasectomy reversals. But there is now hope at the end of the tunnel.

A new study published in the Urology Journal indicates that age is not a factor when it comes to the success of vasectomy reversal operations.

Indeed, the study shows that men over 50 who undergo the procedure have the same rate of pregnancy with their partners as their younger counterparts.

“These results are exciting for men looking to start families later in life who have had a vasectomy,” said Dr Mary Samplaski, a male infertility specialist and lead author of the study from Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California.

She notes: “This research is especially timely because fertility doctors are seeing an increase in the number of men interested in vasectomy reversals as couples focus on family planning.”

After a vasectomy operation has been performed, couples intending to have babies usually have two options.

They can either have the vasectomy reversal surgery or choose to undergo a sperm extraction procedure that will enable them to have children through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

“The IVF option can come with unique risks, such as psychological distress and multiple births. Plus, it typically costs more than a reversal. This makes the reversal the best choice for some couples,” says Dr Samplaski.

Past studies have shown that after undergoing the vasectomy operation, some men usually prefer to have it reversed later in life, based on their desires at the given time.

But up until now, little data has existed regarding the effect of paternal age on reversal outcomes.

During the study, the researchers analysed the results of 3,000 men aged over 50 and 350 men below 50 who underwent a vasectomy reversal at two separate locations, including Keck Hospital of the University of Southern California.

The mean age was 39 and 54 for the ‘under-50’ group and ‘over-50’ group respectively.

advanced age

The results of the study showed that there was no statistical difference in the success rate of the vasectomy reversal procedure between the two groups.

“When we did a statistical analysis and examined all these other factors involved, the data showed that age had no bearing on success,” said Dr Samplaski.

The study also looked at several other factors such as how many years ago the man received the vasectomy, the age of the female partner and if the man smoked.

The research revealed that when the woman was under 35-years-old, and the man had the vasectomy less than 10 years ago, the chances of getting pregnant were higher.

As such, one reason older men were statistically less successful than younger ones in siring babies was that men with advanced age tended to have older female partners.

Besides, the study revealed that bad habits, such as smoking decrease the odds of pregnancy.

Looking forward, the researchers hope that men of a certain age will not be discouraged from having a vasectomy reversal.

“The bottom line is, men over 50 can have successful outcomes in achieving pregnancy after a vasectomy reversal, and it should be considered a very viable option,” said Dr Samplaski.