There are several methods by which a surgeon might complete a vasectomy procedure, all of which occlude (i.e., "seal") at least one side of each vas deferens.

Because the procedure is minimally invasive, many vasectomy patients find that they can resume their typical sexual behavior within a week, and do so with little or no discomfort.

The procedure is not typically encouraged for young single childless people as their risk of later regret is higher as chances of biological parenthood are thereby permanently reduced, often completely.

[citation needed] After vasectomy, the membranes must increase in size to absorb and store more fluid; this triggering of the immune system causes more macrophages to be recruited to break down and reabsorb more solid content.

[citation needed] Within one year after vasectomy, sixty to seventy percent of those vasectomized develop antisperm antibodies.

Vasectomy is more cost effective, less invasive, has techniques that are emerging that may facilitate easier reversal, and has a much lower risk of postoperative complications.

Early failure rates, i.e. pregnancy within a few months after vasectomy, typically result from unprotected sexual intercourse too soon after the procedure while some sperm continue to pass through the vasa deferentia.

[10] Short-term possible complications include infection, bruising and bleeding into the scrotum resulting in a collection of blood known as a hematoma.

Complications not withstanding, many men express concerns regarding potential adverse effects of vasectomy, including Cancer.

Although extremely rare, damage to the blood supply could potentially lead to testicular loss, but this occurrence is unlikely with a skilled surgeon.

It won't increase the risk of heart disease: There is no established connection between vasectomy and heart-related issues.

Post-vasectomy pain syndrome is a chronic and sometimes debilitating condition that may develop immediately or several years after vasectomy.

[34] The putative mechanism is a cross-reactivity between brain and sperm, including the shared presence of neural surface antigens.

[35] The traditional incision approach of vasectomy involves numbing of the scrotum with local anesthetic (although some people's physiology may make access to the vas deferens more difficult in which case general anesthesia may be recommended) after which a scalpel is used to make two small incisions, one on each side of the scrotum at a location that allows the surgeon to bring each vas deferens to the surface for excision.

The vasa deferentia are cut (sometimes a section may be removed altogether), separated, and then at least one side is sealed by ligating (suturing), cauterizing (electrocauterization), or clamping.

Studies have shown, however, that the time to achieve sterility is longer than the more prominent techniques mentioned in the beginning of this article.

The British Andrological Society has recommended that a single semen analysis confirming azoospermia after sixteen weeks is sufficient.

Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at Sheffield University and secretary of the British Fertility Society, notes that those he sees for a vasectomy reversal which has not worked express wishing they had known they could have stored sperm.

Disadvantages include the need for procedures on the woman, and the standard potential side-effects of IVF for both the mother and the child.

Vasovasostomy is effective at achieving pregnancy in a variable percentage of cases, and total out-of-pocket costs in the United States are often upwards of $10,000.

There is evidence that those who had a vasectomy may produce more abnormal sperm, which may explain why even a mechanically successful reversal does not always restore fertility.

Of 54 African countries, only ten report measurable vasectomy use and only Eswatini, Botswana, and South Africa exceed 0.1% prevalence.

[65] Despite its high efficacy, in the United States, vasectomy is utilized less than half the rate of the alternative female tubal ligation.

[67] According to the research, vasectomy in the US is least utilized among black and Latino populations, the groups that have the highest rates of female sterilization.

The first to suggest vasectomy as an alternative to castration may have been James Ewing Mears (in 1890), or Jean Casimir Félix Guyon.

The first case report of vasectomy in the United States was in 1897, by A. J. Ochsner, a surgeon in Chicago, in a paper titled, "Surgical treatment of habitual criminals".

[74] Eugen Steinach (1861–1944), an Austrian physician, believed that a unilateral vasectomy (severing only one of the two vasa deferentia) in older individuals could restore general vigor and sexual potency, shrink enlarged prostates, and cure various ailments by somehow boosting the hormonal output of the vasectomized testicle.

[79] Vasectomy costs are (or may be) covered in different countries, as a method of both contraception or population control, with some offering it as a part of a national health insurance.

The procedure was generally considered illegal in France until 2001, due to provisions in the Napoleonic Code forbidding "self-mutilation".

[85] In 1990, Andrew Rynne, chairperson of the Irish Family Planning Association, and the Republic of Ireland's first vasectomy specialist,[86] was shot by a former client, but he survived.