No! Sperm can remain in the vas deferens and seminal vesicles above the operative site for weeks or even months after a vasectomy. You will not be considered sterile until there has been a semen analysis demonstrating zero (0) sperm. The patient must continue with existing contraceptive methods until sterility has been reported.
The current practice in Dr. Fishman’s office is a semen analysis to be checked after twenty ejaculates. The patient will be given a specimen cup to transport the semen specimen to a designated lab. The delivery of this specimen is NOT emergent. It can typically be acquired the evening prior, refrigerated, and then brought to the lab the following day. On average, patients can be expected to clear twenty (20) ejaculates within six (6) weeks. However, this is NOT a race, and however long it takes to reach the 20th ejaculate is fine, so long as a contraceptive method remains in place.
Very rarely does a patient not achieve zero (0) sperm count after the 20th ejaculate. This is less than 3% of patients. This patient would be given a second opportunity to submit a regular post-vasectomy semen analysis.
In the even rarer event that a second semen specimen does not reach zero (0) sperm count, then Dr. Fishman would meet with the patient to review the next steps. Typically, a patient would then be advised to submit a fresh semen analysis on site at a reference lab. This would be a Total/Quantitative lab trying to determine if there are any motile sperm still remaining in the ejaculate, and what the overall sperm count. Urologists have agreed that a provisional diagnosis of infertility can define a patient with less than 100,000 sperm/ml that are entirely non-motile (i.e. dead sperm). That patient could then be allowed to resume unprotected intercourse without fear of impregnating their partner.
