A common question for the couple having had a microscopic vasectomy reversal is, “When should we check for the presence of sperm?” (As discussed elsewhere this will tell you two things: one that the testicles are now producing sperm and that the vas deferens is open i.e. the repair was successful.)
Although is a patient who had a vasectomy a relatively short time before the reversal may have sperm on the first ejaculate, the most fruitful time to check for sperm is in the three to four month range. In some it may take longer than that. The time frame depends on the time between the vasectomy and the reversal with the longer time interval resulting in a longer time for sperm to return.
Because most of our patients are from out of town, we often get calls as to how they check for the presence of sperm without having to come back to Gainesville. The two options would be to submit a specimen to the local hospital lab to be examined under a microscope which can quickly and easily be done but at some expense or a couple could use the kit provided by spermcheck.com. This kit has become a nice alternative to the post vasectomy patient who wants to assure sterility but would prefer not to have to give a specimen and then take it to the doctors office to be examined.
Even though the kit is to check for successful vasectomy, the presence of sperm for the post reversal patient would indicate things are on the right path to pregnancy. It would not indicate a specific number just presence or absence of sperm. A formal semen analysis would be required for the sperm parameters of count and motility. The minimum number of sperm to achieve pregnancy is usually 20 million with at least 40% having good forward motility.
