Urologists in Wilmington see an increase in people seeking vasectomies
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) – A little more than two weeks after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, local doctors’ offices are seeing an increase in people showing interest in other forms of contraception, including vasectomies
WWAY spoke with Dr. Kaitlin Ridder with Urology Associates of Southeastern North Carolina, who say the number of patients seeking vasectomies has significantly increased.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned more than two weeks ago, Urology Associates of Southeastern North Carolina says they’ve seen more than three times the number of people scheduling vasectomies.
“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the amount of people requesting information about and scheduling procedures. On a normal week, we’d usually get about 5 to 10 requests for procedures, and in the last 2 and a half weeks, we’ve seen about 50 a week, and at least 30 of those would be scheduling procedure,” said Dr, Kaitlin Ridder.
Dr. Ridder says a majority of patients are in their thirties and forties, but patients as young as eighteen and as old as sixty-nine have been getting the procedure. The vasectomy takes under 30 minutes and requires only a local anesthetic, but nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas is also available.
Ridder shared what she believes could be driving the increased interest.
“A lot of men are thinking, well this is our chance to step up and help with the birth control, if that’s what we’re ready to do with our family and our lifestyle. The procedure itself, you are awake, so you’re kind of like oh this is nerve wrecking, but for the most part men do great and their always like ‘oh this was not half as bad as I was thinking,” said Ridder.
The birth control procedure for men is considered reversible in most, but not all cases. Many people are pleased with the results of the form of contraception.
“It’s not immediate right after the procedure, you have to heal, and it does take a little bit of time after the procedure, before you’re sterile, we make sure that happens, but it’s 100% reliable once that has occurred,” said Ridder.
Dr. Ridder says the recovery time for most patients after a vasectomy is one week at most.
