Consequences of vasectomy: experience of men who underwent the surgery in Campinas (São Paulo), Brazil

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the experience of men who had a vasectomy at least one year before at public healthcare services at Campinas, State of São Paulo. Methodological procedures: descriptive study with a qualitative and a quantitative component. In the qualitative stage, 10 semi-structured interviews were performed with men selected according to purposeful criteria of level of schooling and number of children. Then, a structured form was provided for 202 men, drawn from the complete list of those who had had a vasectomy between 1998 and 2004. A thematic analysis of the content of the semi-structured interviews was carried out. The quantitative data were keyboarded and a descriptive analysis was conducted. RESULTS: It was observed that 97% of the men were satisfied because they had undergone the surgery and only a few of them mentioned undesired effects. Among the few dissatisfied men, only one had had vasectomy reversal because he lived with a new partner and wanted to have children; among the others, dissatisfaction was due to the pain caused by the surgical procedure. The majority of the interviewees attributed to vasectomy changes for the best in their health, body, general relationship with their families and wives, in their sexual life and economic situation. The idea that prevailed was that vasectomy had brought only benefits. The possibility of regret was mentioned by the interviewees as something that would not happen to them. CONCLUSION: The results of this study allowed to verify that men who decide to have a vasectomy tend to see the method as a factor of positive changes, mainly in the sexual life and in the relationship with the partner and family in general.