Vasectomy and your health
Vasectomy is a very safe procedure with low health risks, but it can cause some pain in the testicles. Some people experience hard lumps in their testicles after the procedure. These are usually temporary.
Complications of the procedure
There is a very low risk (1–2% of people) of getting an infection in the surgical wound or a haematoma, which is like bruising but painful, raised and hard.
This risk has got even lower now that most procedures are done using the minimally invasive technique.
Longer-term health risks
1 in 300 people who have a vasectomy experience persistent pain in their testicles. This pain is significant enough to affect their daily activities – the cause of this is not understood but it can usually be treated with painkillers
hard lumps, called sperm granulomas, can develop after a vasectomy – these form where sperm has leaked from a cut tube, causing a reaction – they’re not harmful but can sometimes be painful (up tp to 40% of people develop a sperm granuloma and most heal by themselves)
Vasectomy and cancer
There’s no evidence that having a vasectomy increases your risk of testicular cancer.
Research has shown a weak statistical association between vasectomy and prostate cancer, but the evidence suggests vasectomy is unlikely to play any part in causing this.
Everything you wanted to know about sexual health and wellbeing - your questions answered by our expert team.
