Getting your tubes tied is considered permanent. But what happens if you are one of the thousands of women who changes her mind every year? Your doctor would most likely say in vitro fertilization or IVF is your only answer. What he might not tell you, or might not even know is available, is to get a tubal ligation reversal. Let’s look at IVF vs. tubal reversal below.

A tubal reversal is a micro-surgical technique of repairing the fallopian tubes where they were cut. The preparation is minimal for the surgery including some review of your tubal ligation operative records. If you have a BMI greater than 30, it is suggested you get it down for your own surgical safety. You can check out this page to determine your BMI if you need to: www.tubal-reversal.net/body-mass-index-bmi.php

With an IVF, however, there is a course of drugs given to you. You will receive both intramuscular and subcutaneous shots. Some stimulate and some prevent premature ovulation. Most of them will be taken over the course of a few days which means it’s not just a one time shot and you’re done. Ouch! And that’s just the beginning preparation.

Seems like it should be time to remove the eggs, right? Well…you get another injection before ovulation is due. And your doctor will have to monitor you to be able to grab the eggs at the right time. He or she will do this with a needle. This is painful as you can learn by reading a few of the forums available on the topic of IVF.

Now, comes the part you have been taking all those shots for. You will have the fertilized eggs implanted into your body. This will happen after some time in the lab where the fertilization and the beginning development of the embryo takes place. You will most likely get more than one fertilized egg, which actually has begun developing into an embryo, placed back into your uterus. One possibility with the remaining embryos is to have them frozen for when this cycle does not give you the hoped for result of a pregnancy. You will get more injections at this point as well.

This is when you hold your breath hoping everything will go OK. Of course,this will depend upon things like how skilled your doctor is and how careful he was in implanting the embryos among other things. If it doesn’t work there are always those embryos you had frozen, if you did. And you get to go through all the shots and preparing your body again. Some of those may not happen if you do choose frozen over another fresh cycle. All this hyper stimulation and such could have some adverse affects on both you and your child, if successful. Be sure to check out the Internet and learn about the potential risks of IVF.

Add to all of the above the success rates of each individual course of treatments. Depending upon where you look it is from a 10 - 30% chance you will get pregnant. Higher percentages for more embryos being implanted.

You will need to learn more about IVF in order to make the best decision but you can see that a tubal reversal surgery just might be a better choice. Starting with success rates for tubal reversal you will find it varies with the doctor you choose. Actually most will only give you the industry wide statistics because they don’t collect their own nor know them. However, when looking at a center such as Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, you will find their success rates posted on their website. Overall the success rate for them for tubal reversals is 69%. Take a look at the charts to see where you with your specific circumstances fit in. But, barring any other problems, after the surgery you get to try and try again to conceive all for the same cost.

So let’s look at the cost of IVF vs. tubal reversal. One course of IVF treatments will average $10,000 to $12,000 with some going as high as $20,000. That’s just one cycle. On average, doctors will tell you to expect to go through at least three cycles. On the other hand, the average cost of a tubal reversal is $8,000 to $9,000 and you will find that, too, can go up to $20,000 or higher. Don’t pick one of those later surgeons costing that much. You can see that it usually is much cheaper to go with tubal reversal rather than IVF