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Medical Author:

Avi J Sklar, MD, FACOG, FACS, FRCSC

Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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If you feel you want a permanent solution to birth control, discuss your options with your health care professional. Many younger women who choose this procedure regret their decision later. The younger the woman, the more likely she will regret choosing this permanent form of birth control.

Your doctor will discuss your current number of children, your plans for your future and family, and will want to talk with your spouse. This is an important decision. Women with certain medical conditions may not be suited for this procedure.

Tubal ligation is surgery. Many couples, in looking at their birth control options, especially when they are ready to stop having children, weigh the benefits and risks of whether the woman would undergo tubal sterilization or the man a vasectomy.

Tubal ligation is not temporary. Do not think of it as a procedure to be easily reversed. When reversal is attempted, the operation becomes major surgery and is only successful about 50% to 80% of the time (meaning the woman is able to become pregnant after reversal).

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