Female sterilisation

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Female sterilisation is a minor operation that permanently prevents a woman from being able to get pregnant. Find out how it's carried out, and what to expect.

A woman can get pregnant if a man’s sperm reaches one of her eggs (ova). Contraception tries to stop this happening by keeping the egg and sperm apart or by stopping egg production. One method of contraception is female sterilisation.

It's usually carried out under general anaesthetic, and involves blocking or sealing the fallopian tubes.

How does female sterilisation work?

The fallopian tubes, which link the ovaries to the womb (uterus), are blocked. This prevents the woman’s eggs from reaching sperm and becoming fertilised. Eggs will still be released from the ovaries as normal, but they will be absorbed naturally into the woman's body. Find out more about how female sterilisation is carried out.

How effective is it?

There's an overall lifetime failure rate of about one in 200. This means that one out of every 200 women using sterilisation as contraception will get pregnant during the rest of her lifetime.

Added benefits?

You don't have to think about it every day, or every time you have sex, so it doesn't interrupt or affect your sex life.
Sterilisation can be performed at any time during the menstrual cycle: it won't affect hormone levels

What else should I know?

You need to use contraception until the operation is done and for four weeks afterwards.
As with any surgery, there's a small risk of complications: these include internal bleeding, infection or damage to other organs.
There's a small risk that the operation won't work: blocked tubes can rejoin immediately or years later.
If the operation fails, this may increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy (when a fertilised egg implants outside the womb, usually in a fallopian tube).
The operation is difficult to reverse.

Female sterilisation doesn't protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), so always use a condom to protect yourself and your partner against STIs.