When you begin your search among all the tubal reversal doctors available, or at least say they will do a tubal ligation reversal, how do you choose? In the following paragraphs, we will list some of the questions you need to ask that will lead you to choose the best surgeon for you.

The first thing you want to know about is his knowledge of this type of surgery. What about his educational and training background? What schools did he or she attend? What training has he had? And who was he trained under? You have doctors who have done their medical school, internship training and normal residency and have never seen a tubal reversal done. Even doctors who specialized in reproductive endocrinology would be very lucky to see a tubal reversal during their training. Since most insurance doesn’t cover it, many hospitals don’t perform the surgery very often and this is where doctors do their residencies. So, has yours ever been trained in it? Has he even seen one done during his training?

Now, let’s ask about their experience. What kind of experience do any of the tubal reversal doctors you are looking at have in actually performing the surgery? How many times a year do the surgeons you are looking at actually perform this operation? Many doctors who are happy to perform the operation for you do this as a sometimes occurrence. Does the doctor you are looking at perform this operation every working day of the year, except for vacation and holidays? Or has he maybe done three in the last four years or some other ridiculous statistic? Is this all your doctor does or is this a very sometime thing that he does now and then in addition to doing lots of other things? How well can he possibly do the surgery if he doesn’t keep in practice?

What techniques does your doctor use to insure to the best of his ability that your tubes will be open once the surgery is done? Does he just “eyeball” the alignment of the tubes and then do a dye test afterward to see if they are open? Or does he use a stint to line up the tubes to be sure they are open even before he begins suturing the tubes together? You need to think if you want to take a chance on paying for the surgery and not even being sure the job gets done correctly. How invasive will his surgery technique be into your body? How large are the cuts he will make?

Communication – Is it easy for you to communicate with the doctor and his staff? Can you get your questions answered relatively quickly? Or does it take days and weeks to get a response to any of your questions? What do the other patients of the doctor say about him/her? Can you even get into touch with them to see if they would do it all over again with this doctor? Being the day of the Internet, does this doctor have an on line forum where you can talk to him, his staff and other patients and would-be patients?

Another factor to consider, which for many women will be the first factor to consider, is the cost of the operation. Just how much will that do-it-once-a-year surgeon cost you? $20,000? $10,000? I wonder. Is he trying to make up for doing so few with that price? In this case, you may just find that the best surgeon is not the one who will cost you the most. In fact, he may even be one of the least costly out there.

Does your doctor keep statistics that prove how well he does his job? Does he let you know what your chances are given your tube length, age, and type of tubal ligation done? Do you know his tubal reversal success rates? Do you know the rates of pregnancy after a tubal reversal from this doctor? Are these published and readily available to you? Does your doctor do follow-ups to collect information at six months and at one year intervals after your tubal reversal surgery?

These points above are a good start on the things you need to think about when looking for your surgeon. They are all part of what goes to make up a good and positive experience for you. There are more factors to be considered as well, but begin with these. Find the one surgeon, from all the tubal reversal doctors, who will best fit all these areas of concern and you will have a better experience.