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• Summary
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Summary

Tubal ligation (getting your "tubes tied") is a type of surgery. It prevents a woman from getting pregnant. It is a permanent form of birth control, and is effective right away.

The surgery cuts, ties, or seals the fallopian tubes. This blocks the path between the ovaries and the uterus. The sperm cannot reach the egg to fertilize it, and the egg cannot reach the uterus. You get the surgery in a hospital or outpatient surgical center. It usually takes about 30 minutes. Almost all women go home the same day. They can return to most normal activities within a few days.

Tubal ligation can sometimes be reversed. The reversal is major surgery, and does not always work.

Start Here

• Sterilization by Laparoscopy (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists)
• Tubal Ligation (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Specifics

• Hysteroscopy (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Laparoscopy (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Images

• Tubal ligation - Series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Reproductive Sterilization (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Sterilization, Tubal (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: What is the applicability of tubal ligation with the vaginal natural...
• Article: A Decision Aid to Support Tubal Sterilization Decision-Making Among Pregnant Women:...
• Article: Microsurgical anastomosis of the fallopian tubes after tubal ligation: a systematic...
• Tubal Ligation -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health Also in Spanish
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Also in Spanish
• How to Find Find an Ob-Gyn (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists)

Teenagers

• Female Sterilization (Tubal Ligation) (Boston Children's Hospital)

Patient Handouts

• Hysteroscopy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Tubal ligation (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Tubal ligation - discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Tubal ligation reversal (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish