Quebecers are the world champions of vasectomies: around 13,000 men are sterilized each year. But according to the authors of the book Vasectomy, several prejudices still persist around this medical intervention, hence the idea of writing this funny and informative work.
“A vasectomy is as short as preparing a latte,” write the authors of Vasectomy, Laurence Atkins-Beaupré, Sébastien Hurteau, Étienne Marcoux and Maude Paquette. They believe that there are many urban legends around vasectomy, such as losing one’s virility, no longer being able to ejaculate or feeling less pleasure during sex.
“There is absolutely nothing that changes physically, nothing at all,” assures Étienne Marcoux, co-author of the book, himself a vasectomized patient and father of two children, in an interview. “Vasectomy is still taboo. There is still a fear that we feel among many men, even though it is a very simple, painless medical procedure that lasts seven or eight minutes under local anesthesia. You get over it in 24 hours, after putting a little ice or a bag of frozen peas on the genitals,” he confides.
“This book is designed to provide good information about vasectomy, with humor and lightness. The important thing is to talk about it openly, to be able to make the right choice, and to start the discussion on the subject. », Indicates Étienne Marcoux.
Dr. Michel Labrecque, professor emeritus and professor of medicine at Laval University, has practiced vasectomy since 1981 and oversaw the medical content of the book Vasectomy. He was the first Canadian doctor to perform it without a scalpel in Canada in 1992, and has more than 40,000 vasectomies in his career. He classifies patients into three broad categories: “There are 10% who are ultranervous, 10% for whom vasectomy is a walk and 80% who are somewhere in between, in whom we feel a slight nervousness, a bit like a appointment at the dentist ! »
He explains that patients are quickly reassured, because the procedure is easy and 99.9% effective.
In Quebec, the typical clientele of vasectomy clinics is made up of men aged 35 to 40 who have an average of two children. “My girlfriend made an appointment for Father’s Day two years ago, I had just turned 40,” explains Étienne Marcoux, also co-host of Debout les musicales at CKOI. “Our family was complete and it took the pressure off us, that of contraception, it was a liberation for our couple. » It was normal in his eyes to make his share of efforts, because the issue of contraception is still too often managed by women. Whether it is taking the contraceptive pill or the IUD, the side effects are sometimes significant, and vasectomy is a gesture of male-female equality in the couple, he emphasizes.
We learn in the book Vasectomy that countries where there is a higher vasectomy rate are also countries where there is greater equality between the sexes. In the UK, 21% of men are vasectomized, a figure roughly equivalent to Canada. Vasectomy is common in New Zealand (19%) and Australia (14%) while in the United States the rate is around 5%. As for France, where vasectomy was illegal until 2001, we are talking about a small boom, since in 2010, 1940 French people had recourse to it, and in 2022, it is 30 288 vasectomies were performed, or 15 times more, but only 0.8% of men were vasectomized.
Vasectomy is considered irreversible, so the decision should be carefully considered. “There is a pre-vasectomy consultation where we discuss with the patient the irreversible side of the vasectomy. We make sure that men are well informed, because even if vasovasostomy exists, it is a complex operation that lasts three hours and is not always effective. It consists of connecting the vas deferens that have been cut,” explains Dr. Labrecque. “The vast majority don’t change their minds, but I have had patients who regret it. It is rare, it would be between 2 and 6% of vasectomized patients who wish to regain their fertility,” specifies the doctor.