The first recorded vasectomy was performed on a dog in 1823. The first human vasectomies were performed to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, or enlargement of the prostate. Castration had sometimes been used as a treatment for this condition in the 1880s, but, given the serious side effects, doctors sought alternative treatments. The first to suggest vasectomy as an alternative to castration may have been James Ewing Mears (in 1890), or Jean Casimir Félix Guyon.
