[throwawaysnip]

Not sure what "debilitatingly painful" is based on. Personal experience? Reports from others? Guessing?

My vasectomy was not painful at all. You do get a needle into your scrotum to inject the anaesthetic, and that is not a nice feeling at all. But it's over in two seconds. You don't feel the rest, because, you know, modern medicine.

What part do you think is painful?

For me the only major downside was the cost. If I ever decide I want children, I guess I'll have to adopt.

[mike_o]

It's not the procedure itself that is sometimes painful, it's the recovery. When I had it done more than 20 years ago, I was fine with both, but the doctor proscribed me heavy duty painkillers in case the pain got bad.

He said he didn't use to, but then he had a vasectomy himself.