To men, vasectomies are often viewed as almost voodoo medicine – a procedure that comes with the threat of reduced masculinity, virility or even identity.
There’s also the fear of pain in a most sensitive spot for surgery.
For the women involved, on the other hand, a recent study found the procedure came with a perhaps surprising bonus: an improved sex life.
The first study of its kind
In what bills itself as the first study to chart the quality of women’s sex lives after their partner undergoes a vasectomy, researchers were surprised at how universally it was shown to improve their sexual experience.
The results, which appear in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, show desire and arousal responses improved for women, as did how they rated their own overall sexual satisfaction.
Conversely the same effect wasn’t seen in men.
According to the researchers, women are better able to enjoy a healthy sex life once the fear of pregnancy has been removed from the equation.
How researchers got their results
Their average age was 39 for men and 37 for women. They were tracked and surveyed in the months leading up to the procedure. The same was repeated following a full recovery.
Comparisons were made between the responses offered by each partner both before the surgery and again after.
All couples involved in the study had been married for at least one year and had two children per household on average.Vasectomies have a recognized success rate to be higher than 99 percent, with most complications arising (or not) from psychological issues rather than physical ones.
Even then, problems are typically seen in less than 3 percent of the cases.
Of the participants, 96 percent of the women and 93 percent of the men said they would recommend the procedure to others.
