With more than 23,300 interventions in 2021, this operation is part of a change in mentality of the French, now more inclined to share the burden of contraception.
Is vasectomy becoming more democratic? Previously taboo, this contraceptive surgical procedure is growing in popularity among French men.
According to Health Insurance figures, when this operation was authorized in the country in 2010, some 1,908 reimbursed vasectomies had been performed that year. In 2021, this figure was multiplied by 12 to now reach 23,300.
Societal change
Vincent Hupertan, urological surgeon and vasectomy specialist, explains the reasons for this success, which according to him espouses a profound change in mentality among men. “There is access to information, we can demystify received ideas: castration, virility, sexuality, we put that aside,” he begins.
“Secondly, it’s men, young people of the generation before 40, who are very feminist. It’s really the man who wants to take over, take his share of responsibility.” With BFMTV.com, several patients who had recourse to this intervention indeed confirmed their desire to “take (their) share of the mental load.”
On BFMTV, Florent, 38, justifies this choice. “I said to myself that I had to take matters into my own hands”, says this father of three children who advances “an accident of the pill that we experienced quite badly, we said to ourselves that it was not something that ‘we really didn’t want to suffer.”
Quick and painless
In fact, this operation exclusively reserved for adults consists of “blocking the passage towards the penis of spermatozoa produced by the testicles” by cutting or blocking the vas deferens, details the Ministry of Health. Thus, the semen is devoid of spermatozoa, a phenomenon called azoospermia.
“The procedure is simple, is generally performed under local anesthesia, and requires a short hospital stay”, we also learn. Due to the near-irreversibility of the operation, a reflection period of four months between the first appointment and the intervention is required.
“It was quick, painless, there are a lot of exchanges with the doctors to make sure that the anesthesia takes well and that there is no pain”, confirms Florent with BFMTV.
The Department of Health insists that vasectomy is not immediately effective following the operation is completed. Three months following this, it is advisable to carry out a spermogram in order to determine if the spermatozoa are indeed absent from the semen. During this period, it is advisable to use another means of contraception.
Some specialists, including Vincent Hupertan, also offer the possibility of carrying out no-scalpel vasectomyan even less invasive and innovative method, which tends to develop more and more.
