Vasectomy Recovery Guidelines

Immediately after your vasectomy, everything you do or don’t do can mean the difference between a simple, painless recovery and a sore, miserable experience that lasts for days, weeks, or even longer. Here are six easy-to-follow suggestions to give you the best probability for a quick recovery.

1. Most importantly, stay off your feet for several days. The delicate tissues will swell up and hurt if you spend time standing for the first days of recovery. This means you cannot go out to dinner somewhere in St. Louis, a movie, or any activity where you're standing a lot. It's best if you sit around for several days, taking it easy.

2. Avoid lifting of heavy items or straining for around a week or two. If it’s heavier than a gallon of milk, then don’t pick it up. Needless to say, everyone knows you can move that fridge or pick up that keg but immediately after a vasectomy is not necessarily the time to prove it.  And this means if you work out, no squats, crunches, or leg presses for a couple weeks. Your core and muscles will be just fine without the heavy lifting and exercises.

3. You should ice up down there (20 to 30 minutes on, 10 off) for a couple of days following the vasectomy.  You can use frozen peas. This will reduce inflammation and swelling, and give you a more comfortable recovery. And be sure to put the ice outside of your underwear, never right against the skin.

4. Wear an athletic supporter or bike compression shorts, outside your underwear, to offer support during the first week or two following the vasectomy. Gravity and movement aren't best for recently traumatized tissues within your scrotum.

5. Take anti-inflammatory medications like naproxen or ibuprofen, as directed by your physician, for the first few days to minimize swelling, inflammation, and discomfort. Of course, don’t take these if you have had issues with upset stomach or stomach ulcers.

6. No sex (all definitions) for one week to let the area heal. And then, after one week, just with birth control until you are told it's safe to go without. The vasectomy doesn't immediately sterilize you! It only blocks the resupply of fresh sperm into the pipes, so it will take two months or more to flush out the sperm in your system. That's why you have to check and make sure you are cleared out with a sperm check at eight weeks. Don't ever assume you're sterile, as sometimes it takes a lot longer and so you could still be fertile.

The good thing is that for most men, recovery following a vasectomy is relatively easy and painless, especially when you follow these simple guidelines. If you think that you might want to get a vasectomy or want to know more about the procedure, visit Metropolitan Urological Specialists. They help men all around St. Louis, Creve Coeur, Florissant, and Kirkwood, MO with these procedures.