My first TikTok Video:
How and where do men get information about vasectomy on the internet? And how do they find our offices or other places to learn about and obtain a vasectomy? I often thinks about these questions, and I’ll ask many of my patients. Most patients say they learned about His Choice Durham & Chapel Hill from the internet. They google “vasectomy near me” or “where can I get a vasectomy?” But that leads to other questions, like: Do men learn about vasectomy from common popular social media sites and apps? How accurate and helpful is this information? I recently collaborated with some researchers at Duke to look at these questions.
These researchers had their article published in the American Urological Association’s main news website: AUA news. What was found is quite remarkable. Many men do use popular social media resources like TikTok to learn about vasectomy. Unfortunately, this research found that much of the information on TikTok about vasectomy lacks medically accurate information and is NOT created by health care providers.
We took a step to address this lack of information. Although I’m not someone who has ever made TikTok content, I made the attached video (with a bit of help from my kids). I hope that this article and my video will help address the problem of limited information on TikTok by vasectomy providers.
Here’s my video.
Common myths about vasectomy:
In the video, I reviewed some key facts about vasectomy by dispelling common myths:
- Vasectomies are not painful. At His Choice Vasectomy Durham & Chapel Hill, we have a minimally invasive approach that uses no-needle and no-scalpel. Both of these innovations in vasectomy lead to less pain and a quicker recovery. We do not offer other pain medication
- Vasectomies do not impact sexual function. After your vasectomy, you will be able to have an erection and ejaculate normally. For some men, having a vasectomy improves their sexual function because they are no longer concerned about unintended pregnancy. After your vasectomy, you will continue to ejaculate, however the fluid won’t contain sperm. Most men (and their partners) don’t notice any difference.
- Vasectomies are NOT reversible. Vasectomies are intended to be permanent. While there are some providers who offer vasectomy reversal, there is no guarantee that the reversal will be successful, and it always requires out-of-pocket payment (because it is an elective procedure). Vasectomy reversals typically cost about 5 times or more what a vasectomy costs. You should not be getting a vasectomy if you think you are going to have it reversed.
What is true about vasectomies is that they are very safe and highly effective. The CDC cites a typical failure rate of about 0.15%, which is more effective than female surgical sterilization (having your tubes tied).
There is a lot more information about His Choice Durham & Chapel Hill vasectomy process, including a 9-part video series that also includes a video of a patient actually undergoing a vasectomy. There is also information on the other aspects of our process, including our single-visit process and transparent payment process.
Please contact me if you have any questions about the His Choice Durham & Chapel Hill Vasectomy process. Also, if you have other ideas for what would be helpful about vasectomy to put on TikTok, I can make more videos – let me know.
