The Scalpel Vasectomy is a minor surgical procedure that takes around 30 minutes to complete. Here you will be asked to lie on an examination table and a local anaesthetic will be injected into the skin of your scrotum with the help of a syringe to make the area numb to pain. Once the area is numb, incisions are made on either side, over the upper part of the scrotum to locate the vas deferens in each testicle. The vas deferens in one testicle are cut and a small piece is removed and a gap is left between the two ends of the vas deferens. The ends of the vas deferens are cut and can be tied together, using heat, applying surgical clips, or by inserting a tissue between them. The same procedure is done on the other vas, through the same cut or a new cut is made. Finally, the cuts on the scrotum are closed with dissolvable sutures (stitches).

The no-needle vasectomy is performed without a surgical cut. This procedure takes about 20 minutes. Here, your doctor will use a local anaesthetic to numb your scrotum. Then, a tiny puncture hole is made in the skin of the scrotum to access the tubes. In this procedure, the skin is not cut with a scalpel. The vas deferens on each side are located at cut and sealed in the same manner as in the conventional method. The advantages of this procedure over the conventional method include less blood loss during the procedure. The procedure time is also shorter. It has fewer complications and is comparatively less painful for the patient.

In this procedure, a small clip is used to clip the vas deferens. Here, the scrotum is made numb by local anaesthetic, and a cut/ hole is made on the scrotal skin to reach each vas deferens. Once the vas is located, it is clipped instead of cutting or sealing it. This stops the movement of sperms through the vas. Vas clip vasectomy is not a permanent method of birth control as the clip can be removed in the future if the patient wants to father children. The disadvantage with a clip vasectomy is that the surgeon performing this procedure should place the clip accurately. As the clip is adjustable, if it is placed too loose, the flow of the sperms may still occur and if the clip is placed too tight, it will cause damage to the vas deferens, which can make the reversal difficult if required.

In the laser vasectomy technique, a laser is used by the doctor to seal the vas deferens. However, Laser Vasectomy is not the preferred treatment as it does not have any advantages over the no-scalpel approach. The laser vasectomy does not offer increased reversibility that could improve its position as a contender to the no-scalpel method. Lasers could have a future in vasectomy when it allows for a “no-touch” approach that would avoid both local anaesthesia and surgical manipulation of the scrotum.