Bimek SLV
Worried about having a vasectomy? Perhaps getting a device that may help, as a male birth control is the answer. The device, a valve-like structure, is the brainwork of Clemens Bimek, a German inventor. The device, known as Bimek SLV, which could be flipped on and off like a light switch, allow men to take sperm in and out of their ejaculatory system at will.
The basic idea of SLV, as Bimek explains, is almost 20 years old now. Back in 1998, when he was living in Berlin, he wondered why the decision to have a vasectomy had to be so final.
According to Bimek “The idea came while I was watching a health advice program on television. It showed a segment about vasectomies, something I had never heard before. The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘Why not just insert a valve instead of simply cutting it?’
After spending hours, days, weeks, months, and years reading, studying the subjects of andrology and urology, gaining extensive knowledge about the complex processes of male genitalia and contraception, Bimek also conducted interviews with specialists and scientists, met with many experts and, the outcome is the creation of Bimek SLV.
The preparatory work for the device’s design, which involved watching videos of vasectomies and reverse vasectomies to understand the male reproductive system, started with technical drawings. Bimek ultimately settled on a design that involved transecting the vas deferens (the sperm duct), just as in a vasectomy.
When the vas deferens is cut, it is no longer connected to the seminal vesicle, which produces the ejaculatory fluid and also serves as the place where this fluid and sperm are mixed to produce semen. When the device which, again, functions like a light switch or castle gate is implanted, the severed ends of the vas deferens are fitted into the valve, then held in place by a connector, similar to the way a garden hose might fit into a spout. Switching the device on prevents the introduction of sperm into ejaculatory fluid, effectively sterilizing the user. Switching it off lets the sperm flow back into the fluid, once again producing semen.
While the device has worked for Bimek, he still has to put the SLV through clinical trials. For this, Bimek is looking for older males who already have children and are seriously considering a vasectomy. The idea is that even if something were to go wrong like the device failing to work in a candidate, creating a permanent vasectomy then the resulting situation would not be as bad as it would for a man who truly wants the flexibility of undoing the procedure in order to have children.
If all goes well, Bimek hopes to have medical certification to begin manufacturing the Bimek SLV device by 2018. And then there just might begin to be more equality in birth control amongst the sexes.
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