Pregnancy - Here Comes the Family

If you have had your tubes tied and want another baby now for whatever change in circumstances precipitated the desire, you are left looking at a tubal reversal or at in vitro fertilization. But before you make up your mind which one to go for, there are usually a few questions you want to ask. Some of those questions are answered below.

1 - Usually a big one is why has my doctor never heard of tubal reversal? Why does he push in vitro fertilization? The answer to the second question is partially the answer to the first. He pushes IVF because he does not know about tubal reversals especially if he was educated and trained in the last 15 years or so. You just don’t find this surgery being done in hospitals so doctors can’t be trained in it. If they aren’t trained, then many think that means it’s not possible. Tubal reversals used to be the new and upcoming technique. Then IVF became the new and upcoming fertility technique and reversals fell out of favor. Why? Just look at the price tag difference and you’ll know the answer to that.

2 - How does a tubal reversal compare to IVF? On average, a cycle of IVF treatment will cost between $10,000 and $12,000 with a success rate of 10 - 30%. That success rate depends upon the number of eggs implanted. A tubal reversal will cost $8,000 - $9,000 on average though you can find it for less. In fact the premiere tubal reversal doctor in the U.S. and quite possibly in the world, only charges $6900, but that’s because he does it in a clinic and not a hospital and it’s all he does. Once the tubal reversal is done the success rate, which depends upon many factors, averages 69%…at least at the leading surgeon’s center. You will need to ask the surgeon you are looking at for his particular success rate.

3 - How does my age affect things? Well, the older you are the less likely you will get pregnant. After 40, it starts really going downhill but that doesn’t mean it’s a total wipe out. Using that leading doctor’s published statistics, even a woman over 40 has a 41% chance with a tubal reversal. That still beats an IVF cycle. But if you’re under 30, the chances are 82%.

4 - Will how long it’s been since the tubal ligation matter? It matters in where that length of time puts you on the age scale. Take a look at the last question and you should see what I mean. Does the time put you over 40? Yes, then your chances are less than if it keeps you under 30.

5 - How long is the surgery? This will depend upon the experience of the doctor you select. If you have one that has done maybe two surgeries in the last three years, it will probably be done in a hospital at greater expense and take longer. However, if you select a doctor like Dr. Berger, then your operation will be done as an outpatient procedure and you’ll only be in the operating room about an hour. But then he has done over 7000 surgeries and that’s all he does.

6 - Does my doctor do only tubal reversal? This is a question you should ask if you aren’t. Why? Because if he does IVF as well, you only need to look above at 1 and 2 to understand what he wants to do regardless of your situation. And if he does other types of surgeries as well, how experienced and practiced is he? When you have the choice of the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center where tubal reversals are all that is done, just think of all the experience they have.

Let’s stop here and we’ll address more questions in another article. Just know that these are some of the questions that most women ask before getting a tubal reversal. They are questions you will want answers for from the tubal reversal doctor you have do your surgery.

Tags: child birth