Whats the difference between male and female sterilisation?
Vasectomy is usually done under a local anaesthetic, and a tubal ligation is done under a general. Vasectomy is less intrusive, statistically more reliable, and has less long term complications. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists guidelines discuss counselling and performing male and female sterilisation. These are the 2004 guidelines, and you can view the full version (1.16Mb), the summary document or the patient information leaflet. Another informative paper is available from womenshealth.about.com that discusses the differences.
