Sterilisation is an operation to stop you or a partner from getting pregnant. It works by stopping sperm from meeting an egg.
Sterilisation is a permanent method of contraception. This means that once you’ve had the operation, it can’t usually be changed or reversed. It’s for people who are sure they don’t want to have children or don’t want any more children.
FPA’s sterilisation guides are for everyone considering a sterilisation procedure.
How sterilisation is done depends on whether you have a uterus (womb) and ovaries or a penis and testicles.
- Tubal occlusion (sometimes called female sterilisation) is done by closing or tying and cutting the fallopian tubes. These are the tubes which carry an egg from an ovary to the uterus (womb).
- Vasectomy (sometimes called male sterilisation) is done by sealing and sometimes dividing (cutting) the vas deferens (sperm duct). Sperm ducts are the tubes that carry sperm from the testicles to the penis.