We are delighted to offer a new service for couples seeking a state-of-the-art microsurgical vasectomy reversal. For men who prefer to not “go under” with general anesthesia, we have made arrangements for “conscious sedation.” Conscious sedation is an anesthetic approach where the man remains awake but medications are used to relieve a patient’s anxiety and discomfort to make him calm and comfortable. The medications may prevent him from remembering the procedure. For some men, this approach works well. Our last patient and I got to enjoy a nice conversation about green chile enchiladas as we performed his vasectomy reversal. In conjunction with our mini-incision approach, this can be a nice approach for some men. Obviously, “one size doesn’t fit all.” Some of my men also just want to go to sleep under general anesthesia and wake up when everything is done. Every man’s needs are different, and we just wanted to make the experience as comfortable as possible by offering all possible options for our couples.
Something to also consider in making the choice about anesthesia is that depending on how long it has been since the vasectomy, there may be an increased chance that you will require the more complex “bypass” vasectomy reversal on one of both sides (“vasoepididymostomy”). If those patient situations where the chances are high, then general anesthesia may be preferred to ensure that you do not move too much during the surgery to optimize the chances for success in performing the more technically challenging “bypass” vasectomy reversal (this more complex vasectomy reversal requires placing surgical threads that are 1/3 the diameter of an eyelash into a tube that is only a fraction of a millimeter wide) . Make sure you talk with Dr. Kuang about your situation so that he can help you make the best decision to optimize the chances for vasectomy reversal success while maximizing your comfort.