Birth control lets you take control of your reproductive health by timing when and if you want to have a baby. However, no form of birth control is 100% protective against an unwanted pregnancy except for two: complete abstinence and sterilization.
If you don’t want to be abstinent but also are 100% sure that you never want to have a baby, you can choose sterilization. For women, that means your doctor either severs and cauterizes your fallopian tubes or removes them altogether so that your eggs never encounter sperm.
At Florida Woman Care of Jacksonville, our caring and expert OB/GYNs, Daniel McDyer, MD, FACOG, and Julian Stephen Suhrer, MD, offer tubal ligations at both of our Jacksonville, Florida, offices.
Do you wonder if you're eligible for permanent sterility with tubal ligation? Answer the following questions to learn if it’s the right choice for you.
You must be over 18 years of age to get a tubal ligation. Once your tubes are tied (i.e., surgically disconnected and sealed), you can no longer have a baby. Tubal ligation is an important and life-altering decision, so you must be an adult to make it.
Unlike vasectomies, which we can sometimes (but not always) reverse, most tubal ligations aren’t reversible. The outcome for reversal is so poor that most women who change their minds and decide to become pregnant after tubal ligation decide to undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) instead of trying a reversal.
In addition to the increased success rates of IVF, sometimes a tubal ligation reversal is impossible. If you have your tubes removed, you have no choice other than IVF. In vitro fertilization is expensive and isn’t a guaranteed way to have a baby.
We can perform tubal ligation in one of two ways. In the first method, we remove a middle portion of each fallopian tube and cauterize the ends so they can’t join. In some instances, we can reverse this type of tubal ligation.
In the second method, we completely remove your fallopian tubes. That, of course, is not a reversible procedure, though it 100% protects against pregnancy.
If you don’t completely remove your fallopian tubes, there’s a slight chance that you could become pregnant despite tubal ligation. Approximately 2% of women with tubal ligations become pregnant within ten years. In a third of the cases, these are dangerous ectopic pregnancies that take place in the tube remnants.
Ectopic pregnancies can’t grow into babies because they can’t reach the uterus. We must remove it to save the mother’s life; otherwise, the tube could rupture and cause hemorrhaging.
Whether or not you have medical insurance may affect your eligibility for a tubal ligation. If you have private insurance or want to pay cash for your procedure, you only have to be over 18.
You may be eligible to have the costs of your tubal ligation partially or fully covered by Title X federal funding if you don’t have private insurance or you’re on Medicaid. However, you must meet more restrictive eligibility requirements to qualify, including:
Depending on your income, you may pay anywhere from $0 to $1,200 for a tubal ligation. To qualify for Title X funding, you must provide a photo ID and proof of income to the Department of Health in Duval County.
Before we agree to perform any surgical procedure, including tubal ligation, we conduct a thorough examination to determine you’re physically healthy enough to undergo the procedure. This examination may include a family and personal medical history, blood tests, and other evaluations.
Are you ready to explore permanent sterilization as your best birth control option? If so, contact our supportive team in Jacksonville, Florida, today by phone or use the convenient appointment form online.
