New Male Contraceptive Gel Proves Fully Effective In Trials

For men who don't want to have kids – or just don't want to have more kids – there has always been just two options: condoms or a vasectomy. Say what you want, a vasectomy is high price to pay for control over your ability to reproduce, and condoms aren't perfect either. And although vasectomies have been successfully reversed, it's not a sure thing, so you're mind had better be made up. With a contraceptive gel, however, men might finally have a long-term way to control their own destinies that could be more easily reversed.

An alternative to reversible vasectomies passed an important trial recently, and it passed with flying colors.

Vasalgel had been shown to be 100 percent effective in rabbits previously – and preventing rabbits from multiplying has to be a good sign. And in a trial on rhesus monkeys, it was just as potent.

Unlike the vasectomy, in which the vas deferens is severed, Vasalgel is merely injected to block things up.

Sperm can't pass through the gel, so they're simply absorbed by the body. 

The gel will stay in place indefinitely, but if you want the procedure to be reversed, it can be broken up with ultrasound.

At least, that's how it worked with rabbits – researchers didn't test it with the monkeys. 

The real bonus for Vasalgel over many of the other male contraceptives being studied is the lack of side effects.

It won't alter hormone levels or sperm production, so life should continue normally. 

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