Currently, permanent birth control methods include surgical procedures that lead to permanent sterilization. People choose permanent birth control methods when they know for sure that they don’t want any more children or any children at all.
Things to Consider Before Choosing Permanent Birth Control
There are permanent birth control options for both women and men. These procedures are safe and effective. For women, they are non-hormonal. This means that permanent birth control methods will not affect your menstrual cycles. Male sterilization procedures are also non-hormonal, so they do not lower your sex drive. You can still have an erection and ejaculate just as you did before the procedure.
Are These Methods Truly Permanent?
Although all procedures have a risk of failure, they are meant to result in permanent sterilization. For women, surgical procedures to reverse sterilization are difficult, expensive, and often ineffective. However, some women are better candidates for reversal than others, depending on age and the type of tubal ligation done—sometimes they remove only small parts of the fallopian tubes or close the tubes using rings or clips.
Vasectomies are a bit easier to reverse, but they are also expensive and complicated procedures. Following a vasectomy reversal, your chances of getting someone pregnant may be lower than before.
Permanent birth control procedures are not a good option for anyone who thinks they may one day want children. So when making the decision to undergo permanent birth control, you should have the mindset that this is for good—that it is not a temporary birth control method.
What to Expect
Be prepared to read and sign an informed consent form. This is just a way that doctors can document that you understand that these procedures will lead to permanent sterilization, and this is something you really want. Some states and hospitals require a 30-day waiting period before a tubal ligation can be completed. This is to ensure no one rushes into the procedure without thinking about the consequences.
Vasectomies are often performed in a surgeon’s office. You are awake, and the doctor will use local anesthesia to numb the area. After the procedure, you will still produce semen, but it will be free of sperm and will not cause pregnancy.
Besides condoms, a vasectomy is the only other birth control method for men. An alternative to a traditional vasectomy is a keyhole (or no-scalpel) vasectomy, which is a quicker procedure that usually doesn’t require stitches.
The cost of a vasectomy can vary depending on where you live as well as in what kind of office the procedure takes place. Believe it or not, vasectomy rates rise during the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament, a time when many doctors around the country actually offer “Vas Madness” promotions.
This permanent birth control method is performed in a hospital or outpatient clinic while you are under anesthesia. During these procedures, one or two small incisions are made in the abdomen. The fallopian tubes may be clipped, tied, or cauterized (sealed shut). The incision is typically closed with stitches.
A mini-laparotomy (typically performed after childbirth) and laparoscopic sterilization are the two most common tubal ligation procedures.
Essure devices have not been available since 2019. They are no longer produced by Bayer, the device manufacturer, and all unused devices have been recalled. This means doctors no longer perform the procedure. The recall happened after a significant number of women reported serious side effects, like chronic pain, to the FDA.
You may have friends or family that had an Essure procedure in the past. These people can continue to use Essure as a contraceptive method if they are happy with the outcome. Surgical removal of the Essure device is a very difficult procedure and is only attempted when the side effects become too difficult to live with.
