Vasectomy semen testing 

Semen testing 

To make sure that your vasectomy procedure has been successful, we need to test your semen in a laboratory. You need to provide one semen sample 16 weeks after your vasectomy. Before you give your sample, you need to have had at least 20 ejaculations since the vasectomy (then abstain for 2 to 7 days before providing the sample). This is to make sure there is no sperm, or very few sperm remaining in the tubes.

If your test results are not clear, you may need to give further samples. Our results team will discuss this with you.

We will write to you to confirm that your vasectomy has been successful.

Until you receive confirmation, you should use another form of contraception to prevent pregnancy.

Important information:

If anything is missing from your pack, or if you have any questions about your semen testing kit you can contact our dedicated team by email testresultsadmin@msichoices.org.uk or you can call us on 0345 120 3641 (available 8AM to 4PM, Monday to Friday).

When ready, your sample can be dropped in the post box. Please note for your sample to be considered valid for testing, there can’t be more than 5 days between the sample date and the delivery to the laboratory. To ensure that your sample is delivered to the laboratory within the correct timeframes for testing, we would recommend posting at the beginning of the week to avoid potential delays.

Getting your results

• We will contact you by email (or we will send you a letter if we don’t have an email address on your record), to let you know your results.
• Please allow up to 10 working days (from the day the sample is received by the laboratory, which can be checked using the tracking number) for our teams to contact you with the results of your semen sample test.
• You can contact our dedicated Test Results team by email testresultsadmin@msichoices.org.uk or you can call us on 0345 120 3641 (available 8AM to 4PM, Monday to Friday).
• You will receive a clearance result if the test shows that your semen is free from sperm.
• Occasionally, you may have persistent sperm. This means that a very low number of sperm continues to be present in your semen and you need to provide further samples 22 weeks and then 28 weeks after your vasectomy. In rare cases, you may need to have a fresh semen sample test (analysed within an hour from ejaculation) to obtain a special clearance, if you have not been given clearance through postal samples, >+ 28 weeks after your vasectomy. Please note, this is usually arranged in collaboration with your GP.
• If we need you to produce further semen samples, we will send you additional kits. The kit will contain further instructions and we would encourage clients to carry on with 2-3 ejaculations per week until the date of sample collection. We will then contact you again when all additional samples have been received and analysed. 

Semen testing costs  

Semen testing is included as part of your procedure as we need this to confirm that your vasectomy was successful.  

For re-assurance in the future we can offer a re-check semen postal test for £40, whether you had your procedure with MSI Reproductive Choices or elsewhere.