Tubal Reversal - Answers to 6 Common Questions
July 19, 2008
Like many women who have had a tubal ligation, you may find yourself wanting a new baby. To change things you have to choose between tubal reversal and in vitro fertilization. No matter what made you change your mind, you have to decide which one is going to be the best for you. Following are some of the most asked questions.
1 - Why does my doctor say tubal reversal won’t work? Why does he want me to do IVF? To answer these, you need to know a little about the training doctors receive. Check out this post and you will see what I mean: http://www.tubal-reversal.net/blog/2008/tubal-ligation/doctor-cold-tubal-reversal.html The title of that post is: Is Your Doctor Cold on the Idea of Tubal Reversal? The reason why your doctor is probably pushing IVF is because he is more familiar with it and because of the cost. See question two.
2 - What are the cost and success rates of tubal reversal vs. IVF? Most doctors say to expect to need an average of 3 cycles of IVF at an average cost of $10,000 to $12,000 per cycle. Each cycle has a success rate of 10 to 30% and it depends upon the number of eggs implanted with the inherent problems to that. That doesn’t even consider what IVF cycles do to your body. However, a tubal reversal averages $8,000 to $9,000 for a one time surgery. The best and most experienced tubal reversal doctor charges less than that. And the success rate averages 69% but that’s from that doctor’s website. You need to know what your surgeon’s rates are.
3 - Does my age matter? Yes, age does matter. Even without having had your tubes tied, the older you get, the harder it is to have a baby. After 35 there starts to be some decline and after 40, it starts getting dicey. So, your age does matter in your chances. You can check at the statistics here - http://news.tubal-reversal.net/pregnancy-study-2007-pregnancy_rates.htm - to see how age affects outcome for the leading tubal reversal doctor in the U.S.
4 - It has been X years since my tubal ligation. Does that matter? Here’s an example. Suppose two women had their tubes tied 11 years ago. One was 21 when it was done and is now 32. The other was 32 then and is now 43. The one who is now 32 will definitely have a better chance of getting pregnant after the surgery than the 43 year old. See the last question.
5 - How long will my tubal reversal surgery be? Depends upon the surgeon you select. How often has he done the surgery in the last two years? Once? Then you can expect it to take a few hours. Or you could select someone like Dr. Berger who pioneered the outpatient procedure and who does it four times a day, five days a week. Can your doctor say that? It takes Dr. Berger, or his new associate Dr. Monteith, about one hour.
6 - My doctor does lots of other stuff (IVF or surgeries). How does that affect things? The simple answer is do you want a sometime tubal reversal doctor or one who does nothing but tubal reversals? Who is going to be more experienced at it and have seen everything under the sun? The one who does nothing but the one surgery. He has the experience and he has the knowledge. Do you want a part-timer?
There are more questions but this article is long enough. Get the answers to these questions for yourself. Then you can decide if IVF or tubal reversal is best for you. You can also decide which surgeon will be best to go with as well.
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