Permanent

If you feel your family is complete but are still sexually active, you may wish to consider a permanent method of contraception. In female sterilization, the fallopian tubes are cut, sealed or blocked in a surgical procedure. The fallopian tubes are necessary for pregnancy because they allow the egg to get from the ovary to thewomb. It is 99% effective but cannot be easily reversed. The failure rate is 1:200, meaning that during a year, one woman out of 200 would become pregnant. The surgery can be performed at Caesarean section, or with keyhole surgery through your tummy button, or through a procedure carried out inside the womb itself (hysteroscopy). It usually requires a general or spinal anaesthetic. For male sterilization (vasectomy), a surgical procedure is conducted whereby the tubes that carry the sperm from the testes to the urethra (the tube which carries urine and the semen out of the penis) are cut to prevent sperm being present in the semen. It is difficult to reverse but a man can store (freeze) some sperm as a back-up before having the procedure. It is more than 99% effective. This procedure can be carried out under local anaesthetic, and the risks to the person’s health are fewer compared with female sterilisation. It is also more effective than female sterilisation.