About us
History
Easysnip is the Vasectomy Clinic of the Balance Street Health Centre. The Balance Street Health Centre is a long established GP practice and health centre, situated in Uttoxeter and covering a wide rural area of approximately 5 miles from the town centre and surrounding villages. Our large Health Centre aims to provide an integrated Community Health Service for the people of Uttoxeter - all from under one roof.
Our Vasectomy Clinic has been providing a vasectomy service for over 40 years, two generations of doctors. During that time we have performed over 7,000 vasectomies. We practice what is known as a No-Scalpel Vasectomy technique. Since 1993 our vasectomies have been audited and the results are available for your scrutiny by clicking here to see our track record and success rate.
Vasectomy is one of the safest, simplest and most effective methods of contraception. It should be considered to be permanent. It is estimated that over 100,000 vasectomies are performed in the UK each year.
Opening hours
Vasectomy Operations are performed on mid-week afternoons. Appointments for initial consultations can be made by telephoning the clinic on 01889 562145 between 8.00am and 6.30pm on weekdays.
Surgery Opening Hours
Monday to Friday 8.00am - 6.30pm
Parking
The Pratice DOES NOT have its own patient car park. There is however ample parking in the adjacent council car park and space is available for disabled patients at the front of the pratice.
Who you will meet
Dr O Barron MB ChB DCH MRCGP
Dr Owen Barron was educated at Royal Belfast Academic Institution and qualified from Manchester University Medical School in 1986, since when he has worked in hospitals in Belfast, Leicester, Boston and Burton-on-Trent before joining Balance Street Practice in 1993.
As well as being a General Practitioner, he has specialised in vasectomy consultations and operations for 15 years.
Our track rate & success rate
Vasectomy is a simple procedure that ensures permanent contraception. The lifetime failure rate is reported to be 1 in 2000 for vasectomies (1), in one study and varies to 6 in 2000 in others (2), contrasting with 1 in 200 for the filshie clip used in female sterilisation as estimated by the R.C.O.G. A review of the literature shows that numerous vasectomy techniques have been used.
Our results compare very favourably with other published studies. A Danish study (3) of 256 vasectomies, using two different techniques, reported haematoma in 13-18% of men, infection in 4-18% and failure in 1-2% after semen analysis. A U.S. study (4) showed a failure rate of 1.1%, another (5) 0.1%. American studies have shown haematoma formation in 1.6-4.6% and infection in 2.2-6.0% of vasectomies. However no definition of a haematoma exists in any of the literature. For our purposes we have defined a significant haematoma as one greater than 2cm.
Our results, therefore, compare very well.
Follow up of 2484 consecutive vasectomies has shown a haematoma rate of 6.4%, infection rate of 0.6%, and a 0.12% failure rate.
Our introduction in 2002 of pre-paid postage cartridges for semen samples appears to have helped in a reduction of the number of men failing to send samples post-operatively.
References:
- Guillebaud j contraception: your questions answered (3rd ed.) Oxford:OUP.1999
- Liu 1993 sept ;4893);255-65 Vasal steriization in china.
- M.Skiver, F.Skovsgaard,J.Miskowiak. Conventional or Li vasectomy: a questionnaire study. British Journal of Urology.1997,79,596-598.
- Jamison D.J. The risk of pregnancy after vasectomy,Obst,Gynae. 2004 Jul 104.
- Deneux.Pregnancy rates after vasectomy-a study of us urologists. Conraception2004 May;69(5);401-6.
- British Journal of General Practice 1997, 47 381-386
- Kendrick JS Gonzales B Huber DH Grubb GS, Rubin GL, Complications of vasectomies in The United States. J Fam Pract 1987;25:245-8.
- Li SQ, Goldstien M, Zhu J, Huber D. The no-scalpel vasectomy. J Urol 1991;145:341-4.
