Scrotal Envy

I like to look at other surgeon’s videos online and at the Urology meetings I attend. While I would not expect to see surgical videos that make surgery look difficult or scary, the surgeries often look perfect from the perspective of not only the technique also the favorable anatomy. I was talking to one of my
colleagues from the Mayo Clinic this past week and commiserating about this very thing. When you watch vasectomy videos you see the thinnest scrotums with the easiest vas deferens to feel and
ultimately transect. I teach all of our residents to do the vasectomy procedure and it is not an easy learning curve. This is especially true when the patient has a thick scrotum, varicose veins around the vas or lipomas(benign fatty tumors) , thin vas deferens or small, tight scrotums with large testes. After having performed countless vasectomies and having taught the procedure to many residents over more than 2 decades I take on all comers with confidence. I have to admit that I have scrotal envy. Why can’t
all my patients have perfect vas deferens and scrotums. So, if you see a video online and the scrotum does not look like yours, your procedure may look different. Have no fear however, you are in good
hands here.