What are the chances of becoming pregnant after tubal ligation reversal? Is reversal of a tubal ligation even possible?
You may be surprised at the answers to these two common questions.
Tubal ligation is reversible. The chances of getting pregnant after tubal ligation reversal are much better than you think.
Many women will regret their tubal ligation. The chance of regret is about 30%… or 1 out of 3. That is a high number. Tubal ligation regret is very common.
If you are like most women and regret your tubal ligation you will seek advice from your doctor.
Most doctors, even Ob/Gyns, are unfamiliar with tubal reversal surgery. These doctors will refer you to a reproductive specialist… or an IVF doctor. These IVF specialist will be familiar with reversal surgery but most of them will not recommend reversal surgery.
The better IVF specialist will be honest and encourage reversal.
Most IVF specialist will have more experience with in vitro fertilization (IVF). They will recommend you have IVF treatment. Ironically IVF is more expensive and often less successful than tubal ligation reversal surgery.
If you want to learn more about reversal and your chances of getting pregnant after tubal reversal surgery then keep reading.
Why do most doctors recommend IVF?
Most general Ob/Gyn doctors have no training or exposure to tubal reversal surgery. They do not think tubal reversal works.
Most of them are only familiar with IVF. So when you see your local Ob/Gyn and ask about tubal reversal they are going to automatically refer you to an infertility specialist.
Over the last several decades the practice of female infertility has drifted away from tubal reversal and more towards in vitro fertilization (IVF).
You may be surprised but most IVF infertility specialist have very little training in tubal reversal surgery.
Infertility specialist train in large hospitals. The cost of performing a tubal reversal in a large hospital could be as much as $20,000 to $30,000. Most people will not be able to afford such a costly surgery. So…during their training, most infertility doctors do not get to perform many tubal reversal surgeries. Many of these training doctors will find it easier and cheaper to convince their patients to have IVF. Once they get out in the real world they will only feel comfortable with IVF treatment.
Because of limited training… both Ob/Gyns and infertility doctors are going to automatically recommend IVF.
You may be amazed to learn this but the National US Society of infertility doctors actually recommends considering tubal ligation reversal surgery for women who want more babies after tubal ligation!
Tubal anastomosis for the reversal of tubal sterilization has a significantly higher cumulative pregnancy rate than that of IVF.
~ The Practice Committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine American
If you don’t believe IVF doctors are advised by their own professional society to be supportive of tubal reversal surgery and recommend it as a treatment to their patients then review the research for yourself!
You can view their Committee Opinion here…if you do not want to read the entire research paper just skip to page 1148 and read the bullet points under the “Summary” at the end of the article: Role of tubal surgery in the era of assisted reproductive technology: a committee opinion
So…now you know what the facts are!
Essentially the data suggests it may take longer to get pregnant after tubal reversal than after IVF treatment but over time you may be more successful.
If you want to hear what Dr. Monteith says about the failure of doctors to recommend tubal reversal surgery then watch this video:
What are the chances of pregnancy after tubal reversal?
A Personal Choice Tubal Reversal Center is the only reversal specialty center collecting data on the success rates of the reversal surgeries performed on patients. The data shows that most of our patients become pregnant after tubal reversal. The surgery does work!
How do we know this? Evidence based medicine.
Over a 10 year period, we collected extensive statistics on the chances of getting pregnant after tubal ligation reversal.
Our pregnancy statistics show approximately 70% of all patients will report pregnancy. To put this another way…approximately 2 out of every 3 of our reversal patients will become pregnant! Those are decent odds.
More information: Chances of getting pregnant after tubal ligation reversal
The success rate can be as high as 90% depending on the type of tubal ligation and age of the patient.
In comparison, IVF pregnancy success is on average 30-35% for each IVF cycle.
Chances of becoming pregnant depend on two factors
The chances of becoming pregnant after tubal reversal mostly depend on two factors:
- Age of patient at time of reversal
- Method of tubal ligation reversed
Age. Unfortunately…and we alll know it… age is a big influence on the chances of getting pregnant.
Pregnancy puts big deamands on a woman’s body.
She has to support a life for 9 months. Her metabolism increases, she gains weight, she gains fluid and blood volume, and, in the end, she must give birth. This is … to say the least… a ‘stressful process.’
Sometimes there are complications like gestational hypertension (high blood pressure of pregnancy) or gestational diabetes (increase blood sugar) and these complications add further to the stress on the woman’s body.
Younger women can handle this…but older women cannot. A 60 year-old woman may not be able to survive a pregnancy.
As women age, pregnancy becomes more risky. This is one biologic reason women over the age of 50 cannot get pregnant. Women have evolved over time to become less fertile as a survival mechanism.
Many people are reading this and think age 35 is too old to become pregnant. Not true.
After age 35 doctors call this Advanced Maternal Age (AMA) and this is probably a bad term to use. The AMA term has nothing to do with the ability to become pregnant…it mostly refers to the concept of women being at higher risk for certain pregnancy associated medical illnesses.
A woman’s age is a strong predictor of the chance of successful conception and pregnancy. In general, as age increases the risk of miscarriage increases and, therefore, the chance of a successful pregnancy decreases.
Pregnancy chances based on age after tubal reversal at A Personal Choice are approximately 70% for women under the age of 30 and 30% for women over the age of 40.
Method of tubal ligation. The type of tubal ligation can has a big impact on your chances of getting pregnant after tubal ligation reversal. The less damaging tubal ligations provide a better chance of pregnancy.
Best methods for reversal are tubal clips/tubal clamps and tubal rings: chance of pregnancy could be 80% to 90%.
Tubal tying and cutting and even tubal burning are good methods for reversing as long as your doctor did not tie or cut too much tube or burn too much: chance of pregnancy could be 60% to 70%.
We specialize in Essure reversal. Essure is one of the hardest methods to reverse but we can reverse Essure sterilization: chance of pregnancy 30% to 50%.
If you want to know if your tubal ligation procedure can be reversed then watch this video:
How long does it take to get pregnant after reversal?
Many of our patients ask, “How long does it take to become pregnant after a tubal reversal?”
The monthly chance of becoming pregnant after tubal reversal is approximately 5 to 10%. Since tubal ligation reversal provides a chance each month, the cumulative chance of pregnancy increases over time and surpasses the pregnancy rate associated with treatment by IVF.
Most of our patients become pregnant within 12 months of having tubal ligation reversal at our center, but for some patients pregnancy may not occur until one or more years after their reversal procedure.
Want the best chances of becoming a mom again?
If you want the best chances of getting pregnant after tubal reversal surgery then you should have reversal surgery with the best reversal center in existence: Dr. Monteith of A Personal Choice Tubal Reversal Center in Raleigh, N.C
Visit our website for more information: A Personal Choice Tubal Reversal Center
For a free consultation or just to ask questions visit: Contacting A Personal Choice
If you do your research you will find your best place for tubal reversal will be with A Personal Choice. You will be taken care of in a supportive environment and you will be provided with the best chance for becoming a mom again!
