When it comes to a vasectomy…”We cater to cowards.”

Our office made T-shirts a few years back with “We cater to cowards” on the front. They were a big hit, however it happened on more than one occasion that someone asked, “Aren’t you making fun of men? Aren’t you going to make them mad at you?” Well…here’s the dirty little secret…it is no secret that men don’t make good patients in general and they don’t make good vasectomy patient’s in particular. They are unabashedly honest about not liking the idea of “being cut on down there.” So… no it doesn’t embarrass them “a tall” and the more things we can do to make the process pleasant and yes, less painful, the better.

For our vasectomy patients we offer a wide array of options to neutralize this “pain concern issue.”

• A pre-med prescription of a sedative and a pain pill one hour before the procedure
• If done in the office we use the No-needle No-scalpel technique (This means one small incision the size of a piece of rice that does not require a suture).
• We have a fan in the room moving air around and this helps any anxiety.  We play music in the room louder than normal as a distraction. These are small things but part of a bigger plan to decrease any nervousness the patient might be experiencing…without voicing it. That’s right, not every anxious male patient is going to tell you he is anxious or worried. He may not tell us…but we know.
• For the patient who “doesn’t want to know nothing” and just fall asleep and then wake up and it’s done…we have an accredited surgery center where the vasectomy can be done under I.V. general anesthesia.  Easily 65% of our patients prefer this if they are not significantly affected by cost.
• We have special pricing that is fair and matches up with what the expense would have been if they had insurance for patients who are self pay or have high deductibles.
• We mention “fair” because often times non insurance self pay patients, at some practices, are asked to pay more than what an insurance would allow.  We don’t do that.
• It doesn’t hurt, no pun intended, that we have done thousands of vasectomies over our thirty years in practice and  continue to perform 12-15 a month at both our office and our surgery center.

A recent testimonial from a vasectomy patient:

I was very pleased with the entire process. Dr. McHugh fully educated me on the vasectomy and then performed the procedure perfectly. He made the entire experience easy and painless.