THE number of men having vasectomies reversed in Nottingham has soared.

Marriage breakdowns and men beginning new relationships, often with a younger partner, has attributed to the rise.

Last year surgeons performed 160 operations compared to ten to 15 a decade ago at the private BMI Park Hospital in Arnold.

Consultant urological surgeon Duncan Harriss said: "The NHS doesn't fund this unless there has been a tragedy in your family with the loss of a child.

"In most cases we are seeing men who have remarried, in their early 40s, although someone was 65.

"They have had the operation in their 30s when they felt they had completed their family only for the relationship to break down."

An estimated 16% of men in the country have had a vasectomy – a quick, simple operation carried out under local anaesthetic, often at a GP centre on the NHS.

Reversal is more complex. It costs nearly £2,500 and takes an hour under general anaesthetic.

"This is a much more involved operation using a microscope to do the surgery," said Mr Harriss.

Up to 90% of men will achieve a positive sperm count after vasectomy reversal but it does not guarantee conception.

Mr Harriss said: "If it is less than ten years since the vasectomy then there is a 90% chance of restoring sperm counts on the three month post op test which falls to 50% if it is ten to 20 years since the vasectomy."

The chance of pregnancy decreases by ten per cent for every year that has elapsed after the original vasectomy so after one year there is a 90% chance which falls to 20% after eight years.

Ten years on the success rate is much lower but it does happen.

A 43-year-old man, who had a vasectomy 15 years ago, and his second wife, 34, had a son a few weeks ago having it reversed at the Park Hospital.

The man, who has two children from his first marriage, had the snip two years after his second son was born when he thought his family was complete.

But he got divorced and he and his second wife accepted they wouldn't be able to have a child together until he explored the possibility of having the operation reversed.

"I was told my chances were very slim because of the length of time that had elapsed since my vasectomy – from 1992 to 2007," he said. "If my wife had been 35 instead of 34 he (the surgeon) might have drawn the line because the duration of my vasectomy combined with her age meant a pregnancy would have been highly unlikely. My response was that I am a big believer in fate and if it is meant to work it will."

lynette.pinchess@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk