IVF with older partner

[Plancina]

I am 34 and my DH is 54 ... he has had a vasectomy but we want to try for a baby together as I have no DC - he has two older children. Will this be an issue if we need IVF? I was half thinking he might not need the vasectomy reversed if we had IVF but then I realised his age may bar us from this. Any advice or similar experience much appreciated.

I have a friend in a similar situation. They had successful IVF and now have twins. He too is of a similar age and had had a vasectomy. They did a procedure to extract sperm from him. However, they had IVF privately. Not sure about NHS provision.

You wouldnt get it on the nhs as already has kids. You could try privately though.

Male age and/or vasectomy alone shouldn’t cause issues with accessing fertility treatment if you go down this route. You’d both be assessed to make sure you’re suitable to have the operations (sperm would need to be removed surgically if you DH doesn’t have a reversal first and eggs are removed from the ovaries surgically too) and to make sure the welfare of any children born is considered, as with any other couple.
In my experience, vasectomy reversals are hit and miss-the longer a man has been vasectomised, the less likely it is to be successful and ‘success’ is often measured as there being any sperm at all in the ejaculate after the procedure-very small amounts of sperm would make natural conception harder and you might find yourself needing fertility treatment anyway, despite a ‘successful’ reversal.
So my advice would be have a good chat with both a urologist about reversal and not just what their success rate is, but HOW they measure success and a fertility clinic about treatment options and see how you feel. At 34 you still have time to consider both, but just be aware a woman’s fertility CAN decline (and therefore IVF be less successful) particularly after age 36.
Good luck

Neither the vasectomy reversal or the ivf would be available on the NHS

I think depending on how the vasectomy was done he might still need a reversal rather than straight to surgical sperm extraction