What is the chance of an infection after vasectomy?
With a no scalpel minimally invasive vasectomy procedure the chance of infection is extremely low. If you have an old-school scalpel vasectomy your chance of infection after vasectomy will be higher.
The newer more modern techniques result in less pain with less risk of infection.
Not only is the type of vasectomy important but your chances of infection after a vasectomy could also be lower if you have a skilled vasectomy provider performing your vasectomy procedure.
Providers who are more skilled and perform vasectomy frequently, in general, have lower complication than providers who do not do many vasectomy procedures. Would you rather a 10 minute ‘in and out’ vasectomy or a 45 minute vasectomy with an unskilled doctor ‘rooting around in there’.
If you have a His Choice No Cut minimally invasive vasectomy, the chance of getting a scrotal infection after vasectomy is rare. The infection rate after a His Choice vasectomy is so low that routine antibiotics are not required.
Infections are a complication of any surgical procedure. Surgery usually requires going through the skin. The skin serves many functions but is the natural protective barrier of the body. Any procedure that creates an opening in the skin can can increase the risk of an infectious complication.
Most surgical procedures require going through the skin. The larger the skin incision the higher the risk of infection . The smaller the skin incision the lower the risk of infection.
Minimally invasive vasectomy requires a small skin opening. This smaller opening results in a less painful vasectomy with a lower risk of infectious complications. This is why the chance of infection after vasectomy is much lower with the no scalpel single minimally invasive vasectomy.
Chance of infection after vasectomy: The type of vasectomy maters
If you are thinking about having a His Choice No Scalpel Vasectomy, you can be reassured the chance of infection is low.
Older conventional vasectomy techniques require the use of a scalpel to make two skin openings on each side of the scrotum. These incisions cause full thickness skin damage. The larger skin opening during scalpel vasectomy result in more pain and a higher risk of bleeding and infection complications.
Medical studies have demonstrated traditional scalpel vasectomy procedures can have an infection rate after vasectomy that is four times higher than no scalpel vasectomy procedures.
Minimally invasive vasectomy procedures like His Choice No Scalpel procedure only require a single, small opening in the center of the scrotum. Not only is the skin opening smaller but there also less internal scrotal surgical instrumentation during the vasectomy procedure.
A smaller opening, less internal surgical instrumentation, and less digital manipulation are the reasons why minimally invasive vasectomy can provide a chance of infection after vasectomy of less than 1%.
Signs of infection after vasectomy
The signs of infection after vasectomy are expanding redness around the scrotal incision, increasing pain, discharge from the skin opening, and fevers and body aches. A fever is usually a late sign of an infection.
Most vasectomy infections will start with erythema (redness) around the scrotal opening.
Erythema is a direct results from the inflammatory system recruiting white blood cells into the skin in an effort to fight the infection. The redness will slowly expand outwards as the infection travels in between the skin layers. As the redness expands, the skin will become thicker and more painful due to the inflammatory process. In the later stages of infection, fever, body aches, and drainage from the skin opening can occur.
It can be common to have a small amount of redness and swelling around a normal vasectomy scrotal skin opening. It usually improves within the first week. If you have an infection the redness and swelling will get worse… not better.
Contrary to what most people may think, infections are not obvious or symptomatic within the first several days of a surgical procedure. It takes time for an infection to develop. Most infections take 5 to 7 days after a procedure to become clinically obvious.
Infections can occur within anytime within the first 30 days of having a surgical procedure. It would be very rare to get an infection more than 30 days after any surgical procedure.
Infections after vasectomy are rare. Infections after vasectomy are most commonly diagnosed between 7 to 14 days after vasectomy. When an infection is diagnosed patients will usually require oral antibiotic treatment. In some very rare cases, IV antibiotics and hospitalization may be required.
Where do you get infection after vasectomy?
Infections after minimally invasive vasectomy are rare but can occur in the scrotal skin, superficially underneath the skin, deep inside the scrotum, in the epididymis, or higher up the genital tract in the prostate. Most infections after vasectomy are in the scrotal skin and around the skin opening(s).
Scrotal skin. Scrotal skin infections are either from the patient’s normal skin bacteria, from bacteria introduced during the vasectomy procedure, or bacteria from the patient’s environment (ie showers, bath tubs, etc). These infections are easily diagnosed after observing expanding skin redness, fluid drainage from the opening, and/or fevers and chills.
Superficial scrotal abscess (underneath the skin). These are infections caused by bacteria that gain access to the scrotum during or after the vasectomy procedure. This bacteria may collect underneath the skin and form an abscess. An abscess is a collection of infection. An abscess may feel like a large tender mass the size of a grape or larger. Usually these will continue to grow until they spontaneously drain or they are drained by a medical professional.
The symptoms from a vasectomy abscess do not usually begin until about 7 days after a vasectomy procedure. Once they are detected, they gradually increase in size. As the size increases, the symptoms increase. Once they are drained rapid improvement is experienced. Drainage and antibiotics are usually required for treatment of an abscess.
Deep scrotal abscess (deep inside the scrotal space). These are collections of infections that are deeper in the scrotum. They are not just underneath the skin but deep inside the scrotum in the same area where the vas deferens and testicles reside. These infections may feel about the size of a third testicle or larger. They are usually very symptomatic.
A scrotal abscess can cause severe pain, fevers, chills, and body aches. A testicular abscess usually is a deep scrotal infection that also involves the testicle.
Deep scrotal abscess are serious and often require hospitalization, surgical drainage, and intravenous antibiotics.
Bacterial epididymitis. Bacterial epididymitis is inflammation in the epididymis caused by bacterial infection.
The epididymis is a structure that is below the vasectomy site and low in the scrotum. The epididymis is a soft “C” shaped structure that lies on the back of each testicle. If bacteria are able to gain access to the epididymis then you can get bacterial epididymitis.
- Bacterial epididymitis after vasectomy is extremely rare.
- Inflammatory epididymitis after vasectomy is extremely common.
Most cases of epididymitis after vasectomy are misdiagnosed as bacterial epididymitis. The term epididymitis simply means ‘inflammation of the epididymis’.
Most cases of epididymal inflammation after vasectomy are not caused by bacterial infections. Instead, most cases of epididymitis after vasectomy are caused by back up of sperm that causes congestion, distention, and inflammation in the epididymis. This is ‘inflammatory epididymitis’. This is very common after vasectomy.
If you go to an urgent care after vasectomy complaining of scrotal discomfort there is almost a 100% chance you will be diagnosed with the generic term ‘epididymitis’, given antibiotics, and asked to follow up with your vasectomy provider. In almost all cases the antibiotics are unnecessary because most patients do not have a bacterial infection in the epididymis after vasectomy. The symptoms are due to sperm back up and inflammation.
Inflammatory epididymitis usually occurs between one week and three months after vasectomy. This condition is best treated with over the counter non-steroidal medications (ibuprofen or naproxen). These medications provide immediate relief. With time your body can adapt, heal, and the symptoms will gradually go away.
Bacterial prostatitis. This is an uncommon complication after vasectomy. It is caused when bacteria travel upstream from the vasectomy site and enter into the prostate. Bacteria in the prostate cause bacterial prostatitis, which is an infection of the prostate gland. Symptoms occur later than other vasectomy infections and usually occur 10 to 28 days after a vasectomy procedure.
Usually patients report difficulty peeing, pain in the area where the penis inserts into the abdomen, and flu like symptoms. Sometimes they may have fevers. This condition is best treated with a prolonged (3 weeks) treatment with oral antibiotics.
Many vasectomy providers do not agree that prostate infection is a risk of vasectomy; however, in our experience we have observed this infection in about 1 out of every 1000 of our vasectomy patients.
What is the chance of getting an infection after vasectomy?
We evaluated the chance of infection after vasectomy in our first 8,000 patients.
We diagnosed approximately 13 patients with infection after vasectomy…or 0.2%.
Most of our patients had minor skin infections. Some had infections of the prostate and one patient had a scrotal abscess.
Minor skin infections. Approximately 5 patients were diagnosed with minor scrotal skin infections after their vasectomy procedures. These infections became obvious about 7 days after the vasectomy procedure. These patients noticed spreading redness in the scrotum, increased thickness of the skin, and increasing pain. None of these patients had fevers.
The scrotal infections all responded to a short course of oral antibiotics.
Prostate infections. Approximately 7 patients were diagnosed with bacterial prostatitis.
Patients experienced the classic symptoms a prostate infection: pelvic pain where the penis inserts into the abdominal wall, fevers, and difficulty urinating. In all cases, patients were treated with three weeks of oral antibiotics. All patients achieved full resolution of their symptoms.
Superficial abscess. One patient had a superficial abscess beneath the skin. This is a collection of infection that can be about the size of a golf ball or larger. The patient had spontaneous drainage of the abscess. Oral antibiotics helped the infection dissolve quicker. The patient did not have any long lasting complications.
Chance of infection after His Choice Vasectomy?
His Choice Vasectomy is a minimally invasive technique with a low risk of infection. The chance of getting an infection after a His Choice Vasectomy is less than 1%.
Developing a scrotal infection after a vasectomy procedure is always possible but not very likely.
You can be reassured getting an infection after having one of today’s modern, minimally invasive vasectomy procedures is a rare outcome.
If you would like to have one of our minimally invasive vasectomy procedures done in a single visit then visit: Scheduling your vasectomy procedure
The infection rate is so low that routine antibiotics are not indicated when having a vasectomy with our office.
Not only are frozen peas and ice not required…but thankfully neither are antibiotics when having a vasectomy with our office.
