“Tight scrotum” and vasectomy
May 15th 2009adminGeneral questions
From Dave:-
I am 48 and went to a urologist to schedule a vasectomy appt today. He said that my scrotum was tight and my testes were “riding high”. My scrotum gets tight when nervous, cold, etc. (It is back to normal now for instance). He said this would be a problem and require general anesthetic in hospital. He also said I should consider having my wife’s tubes tied instead. Does this sound right?
He also scheduled an ultrasound to check things out. Thanks
Most experienced surgeons will be able to perform a vasectomy in a man with a tight scrotum in the typical office setting without requiring general anesthesia. The scrotum will tighten up with stressful or cold situations. The scrotum can be relaxed by applying a warm compress to the scrotum for a few minutes prior to the procedure and performing the procedure in a warm room. In fact, the only time that I have done a vasectomy in the operating room under general anesthesia is when I have had to perform the surgery after a failed attempt by another surgeon and the thought of re-doing the procedure awake was too traumatic for the patient. Anecdotally, I did not find those re-do vasectomy procedures any more difficult than a first time vasectomy. The only time that tubal ligation should be considered a better alternative to vasectomy is if the tubal ligation can be performed simulatneously at the time of the woman’s C-section procedure. Otherwise, the risks of tubal ligation are significantly higher than with vasectomy.
