How To Shave For A Vasectomy

For men who’ve had all the kids they’d ever want, or who don’t want children at all, the vasectomy is a routine procedure that results in almost complete sterilization of the male. By preventing sperm from fertilizing an egg after intercourse, vasectomy is a permanent and almost failure-proof method of birth control.

When a man prepares to undergo this procedure, it’s common for his physician to ask him to remove much of the hair in this region. This facilitates the surgery by improving visibility around the scrotum. If you’re not in the habit of shaving around your groin, this may be the first time you’ve done so.

Here’s some background on how a vasectomy is performed and how a typical patient will prepare beforehand.

What is a vasectomy?

A vasectomy is a method of permanent birth control that prevents pregnancy by stopping sperm from fertilizing a female egg. For this reason, it is sometimes called male sterilization. Unlike other methods of birth control like condoms and the contraceptive pill, a vasectomy is generally considered irreversible.

For this reason, most men who choose to undergo a vasectomy are older and have already had children or have decided that they do not wish to have any. Younger men are typically advised to practice other methods of birth control in case they later decide to have children. Although a vasectomy can be reversed in principle, in reality this is not always successful.

What does a vasectomy involve?

Sperm are produced in the testicles and travel to the urethra through a tube called the vas deferens. During intercourse, sperm are ejaculated through the urethra in semen. Pregnancy is the result of a sperm meeting and fertilizing an egg.

If you’ve been following along so far, you may have guessed that a vasectomy has something to do with the tube that transports the sperm. During this procedure, a urologist who specializes in these practices makes an incision into the scrotum in order to access the vas deferens.

Having done so, this doctor will remove a short section of the tube. They will then either tie the loose ends together or insert some tissue between them. This is one of the most common methods of performing a vasectomy and has been practiced for many years.

More recently, other methods have been introduced that do not require as many incisions to be made. In such cases, a clamp is used to hold the vas deferens in place while the surgeon draws the tube out through a small cut in the scrotum. Once the tube has been cut or tied, it is reinserted.

What preparation does a vasectomy require?

A vasectomy is considered a routine procedure that does not require a hospital stay or extended recovery. Although some doctors may recommend general anesthesia, in most cases the surgery is performed in a specialist clinic under the supervision of an experienced urologist.

The entire process takes around 30 minutes and will be performed after a local anesthetic has been applied to the area. Most men are released from the clinic within an hour. From this point on, it may take 1-2 weeks to recover completely.

Vasectomy patients don’t do a lot to prepare in advance, but one common feature is removing hair from the groin. Here are some of the issues to keep in mind:

Trimming your balls

For obvious reasons, a urologist wants to have a clear, unrestricted view of your balls during a vasectomy. Whatever method of procedure is to be followed, your surgeon will tell you in advance to remove much of the hair in this region. Precisely how much to remove and when to do so varies from one doctor to another.

Some medical practitioners prefer to see all pubic hair removed and everything from the scrotum. Others take a more minimalist approach and will only suggest a light trimming of the area at the base of the penis and around the scrotum. These details can be confirmed with the staff of the clinic in advance of the procedure.

Timing

There is also some variation in the timing of this hair removal. In fact, some clinics will tell patients not to shave or trim at all because their staff prefer to do so immediately before the procedure is carried out. This offers the advantage of ensuring that the hair is as short as possible during surgery.

Other clinics will insist on patients shaving up to 2-3 days beforehand. Although this means that some regrowth will have occurred by the time of the procedure, it does allow a better opportunity for inadvertent cuts to have healed.

Tips for hair removal

If you’ve never removed hair from your pubic area or scrotum, this will be a new experience (and who knows, you may keep it up afterwards!). However apprehensive you may be, this is a simple and straightforward process so there’s no need to overthink it.

Just keep the following few guidelines in mind:

Trim before you cut

The hair in this region can be pretty dense, particularly if you’ve never trimmed it or if it’s been a long while since you last did so. Rather than taking a blade immediately to your pubic thatch, it makes sense to first trim the hair down to a more manageable length.

An electric trimmer will allow you to remove most of your pubic hair and reduce the effort required to shave off the remainder. One word of caution though: you may not want to take the clippers to your scrotum. The skin of your balls has many folds and does not readily offer taut skin for electric clippers to work on.

Soften up

Once you’ve clipped your hair down, it’s time to get in the shower. A hot, steamy shower will soften your hairs and make them much easier to cut. Shave the remainder of your pubic hair with a single-blade disposable razor.

Use a shaving gel that’s transparent and allows you to see precisely where you’re taking strokes. And take extra care around your balls by gently pulling the skin flat before you pass your blade over it.

Post-shave

If you’ve shaved to your satisfaction, take a few minutes to rinse off any stray hairs and residue of gel. Before you jump out of the tub, apply a nourishing post-shave treatment that’s suitable for sensitive skin.