You may have general anesthesia to make you unconscious during the surgery. Or, your surgeon may use an epidural, spinal or local anesthetic. In any case, your anesthesia will need to keep you completely still because the surgery is so delicate. It's done using a microscope that magnifies the surgery area five to 20 times, and any movements are magnified by the operating microscope.

My wife is due to give birth any day now,and I'm going to get a vasectomy. Is there any place online where I can get a decent video of the procedure? Or if anyone would like to share their personal experience.

This is the question that many couples are beginning to ask themselves these days. After all, you went thru the trouble and discomfort to get a vasectomy in the first place, and now you’re thinking about undoing it? Are you sure? Here are some things to help you decide if a vasectomy reversal is right for you:

Although men considering vasectomies should not think of them as reversible, and most men and their spouses are satisfied with the operation, there is a procedure to reverse vasectomies using vasovasostomy (a form of microsurgery). It is, however, not effective in all cases, with the success rate depending on such factors as the method used for the vasectomy and the length of time that has passed since the vasectomy was performed.

My husband had a vasectomy six years ago and we are now discussing having another child. Please don't think terrible of us, but we've been discussing sperm aspiration and genetic predetermination so we may have a boy. We have 2 daughters and he would like just one more child. Is this feasible or would it make more sense to reverse the vasectomy?

Although the type of microsurgical technique is not critical to success, what is universally recognized as important is the degree of experience of the individual microsurgeon. The obvious question is what amount of experience is required? This simple question does not have an answer solidly based on surgical science, however, I am aware of one paper that attempts to approach the issue.

There are a variety of microsurgical techniques for connecting the two ends of the vas deferens (the anastamosis). No one microsurgical technique has been proven to be better than the others. Two different types of anastamosis have been extensively discussed in the urologic literature: