Some guys will do anything to watch March Madness.
At least a local urology practice is hoping the idea of giving guys an excuse to watch the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament uninterrupted is enough incentive to entice more to get a vasectomy.
Doctors at 21st Century Urology in Orland Park have launched a marketing campaign encouraging men to schedule the procedure during the three days before this years March tournament.
Theyre even offering patients, get this, a free pizza to snack on while recovering and a bag of frozen peas to help with swelling.
If they have friends, this is the perfect way they can all hang out together with their peas and pizza, said Dr. Tony Mammen, one of the urologists who set up the campaign.
Mammen and Dr. Robert Bonzani began their promotion earlier this week on a Chicago sports talk radio station. Theyre running the ad for two weeks with the hopes that it would prompt men who are already considering the procedure to finally follow through.
About 500,000 men across the country undergo the sterilization procedure each year, according to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Its considered one of the most effective forms of birth control.
Bonzani, 44, said hes performed thousands of vasectomies in his career. The practice offers both no scalpel and no needle operations which could take up to a half-hour, he said.
Vasectomy patients already are told to grab some bench in the days following the procedure and not exert themselves, Bonzani said.
Heres an excuse for a guy to sit on the couch for up to four days, Bonzani said. We thought that it would be a great incentive to tip these guys over the top.
The offer applies to men who schedule vasectomies March 18 or 19 and March 25 or 26. The days coincide with the tournaments frenzied first two weekends, when games are played virtually non-stop.
So far, it seems to be working.
Since the ad started running Monday, seven prospective patients have scheduled the procedure, Mammen said.
While the promotion is tongue in cheek, the procedure is not a laughing matter, Bonzani said. Doctors caution men that if they do too much in the days immediately after a vasectomy they risk additional, painful swelling, Bonzani said.
Men often consider a vasectomy for some time before something prompts them to follow through, Bonzani said. The idea with the promotion is that patients need time to recover, and the NCAA tournament gives college basketball fans an excuse to do just that.
Mammen said he got the marketing idea at a recent conference. Practices in Eugene, Ore., and Cleveland claimed they had run similar promotions with success.
Marketing medical procedures is OK as long as its done in a delicate manner, Dr. Karen Boyle, a urologist at Chesapeake Urology Associates in Baltimore, Md., said.
Boyle, who has appeared as a guest on Good Morning America and The View, said she thinks its a novel idea but would feel uncomfortable about offering such freebies in her own practice.
I do take some hesitation with the pizza and the peas, Boyle said. But I think targeting recovery times around sporting events is a very interesting idea.
If the current campaign works out, Mammen and Bonzani say theyre planning to make it an annual thing.
We like to be unique. We want to separate ourselves from the old-boy urologists, Mammen, 35, said. Were more cutting edge and innovative.
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services