Side Effects After a Vasectomy

A vasectomy is a method of male contraception. A vasectomy is a normal procedure and does not require an overnight stay at a hospital. In a vasectomy, the vas deferens is severed to prevent sperm from reaching the seminal fluid during ejaculation. This is reversible and considered to be generally safe. Only on rare occasions are there complications for vasectomy patients.

Pain

Most generally, vasectomy patients will experience pain and swelling in the scrotum, which should diminish within a few days. Pain medications may be purchased over the counter at pharmacies to assist with this problem. Bruising may take shortly thereafter, but is usually gone within 2 weeks. Bleeding under the skin may give the appearance of bruises to the penis and scrotum, but this is normal and frequently disappears without treatment.

Sperm Granuloma

Sperm Granuloma is a lump, approximately one millimeter to one centimeter in diameter, that results from the inflammation of scrotal tissues. This is a pocket of tissue designed by the body to catch the leakage of sperm from the vas deferens. A sperm granuloma may or may not be painful. In many cases, the patients do not know they have even developed a granuloma. When they are painful, sperm granulomas are treated with anti-inflammatory agents. If this does not work, they may be removed through surgery.

Infection

Most patients will experience some pain or swelling. However, persistent pain, swelling and fever may be indicative of an infection, and a medical doctor should be alerted. Only 4% of vasectomy patients experience infections. Infection is treated with antibiotics.

Epididymitis

Epididymitis is an inflammation of the epididymis, where sperm is made and stored. This often results in swelling of the scrotum, and may become mildly or significantly painful. Epididymitis is treated with inflammatory agents and sometimes antibiotics.

Cancer

In 1993, an article called "A retrospective cohort study of vasectomy and prostate cancer in US men", published by Colditz, et al, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggested that men with vasectomies had increased risk of prostate cancer. Some claim that the numbers produced from this study were not enough to be conclusive, however, and the methods for gathering the data (including mail surveys sent to third-parties) brought the results into question.
Other studies performed (one often cited example, "A Case Control Study of Prostate Cancer" by Newell, et al in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 1989) have suggested that vasectomies are not linked to increased incidences of cancer, but because these studies have never made the news, they are less well known and the rumors about the vasectomies persist.

Psychological Effects

Some men become angry or depressed at their loss of reproductive ability, and some go through mourning. Sometimes a maladjustment to the procedure can result in sexual dysfunction. Most of the time these issues resolve themselves over time.

Post Vasectomy Pain Syndrome

This is a general term that encompasses any painful affliction related to the vasectomy that persists for more than three months after the operation. This may be treated in different ways, depending on the cause. In over 80% of cases, vasectomy reversal is enough to fix the problem.