You wouldn’t normally think a vasectomy could be as luxurious and relaxing as a day at the spa, but at a Tysons Corner clinic, that’s kind of the idea. At Obsidian Men’s Health, leather couches, flat screen TVs playing tuned to sporting events, and your drink of choice are a few of the ways urologists Shane Geib and Marc Richman try to put their patients at ease.
“It’s a very anxiety provoking issue for a lot of men,” says Geib of vasectomies, one of the practice’s most common procedures.
Obsidian Men’s Health recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal after Youtube star Rob Ferretti and his friend Jeb Lopez filmed and shared their “brosectomy” experience at Obsidian in a ten-minute video. The Wall Street Journal article looks at shared vasectomy outings as a growing trend at clinics across the country, though Geib says that he’s only seen two pairs of men who have actually booked their Obsidian vasectomies together—in addition to Ferretti and Lopez, Geib says a pair of brothers booked their shared appointment during March Madness.
Obsidian wasn’t created with the goal of bro bonding, but it was intended to provide a higher level of service for men’s sexual health, including everything from vasectomies to hormone-replacement therapy to erectile dysfunction treatments. After being in the area for 17 years, Geib and Richman opened Obsidian a little over three years ago with the goal of being the region’s first luxury, concierge urologist.
“When we put the office together, we really wanted to be providing a level of service that no one in the region provided,” says Geib.
What does a luxury, concierge health urology office look like? Surface-level, the interior design of the clinic is intentionally non-medical; dark hard wood floors in the lobby give way to a grey, black, and brown color scheme that feels like a masculine day spa. But in addition to aesthetics, the Obsidian experience includes top-shelf liquor to loosen up before and after procedures (Geib says he gives patients a choice of pain killers or alcohol so they’re not mixing their drinks with drugs), a meal ordered in to eat during recovery (Geib says Ferretti and Lopez chose steak), and Uber rides home if clients have taken pain killers or drunk alcohol and don’t have a chaperone. Geib says he also provides patients with his cell phone and email address, so they can text him in the days following the procedure and he can check in on their recovery.
But a luxury service also comes with a luxury price tag; Geib says that a typical vasectomy might run in the $500 to $1,000 range, while an Obsidian vasectomy is a little north of $3,000. Obsidian doesn’t take insurance, but they will provide the documentation necessary so men can submit a claim. Ultimately, though, the fancy amenities and high price tag are targeted at men who prioritize a private, pleasant experience for their procedure.
“We wanted to really build a place that men would feel at home and comfortable,” says Geib.
Caroline Cunningham joined Washingtonian in 2014 after moving to the DC area from Cincinnati, where she interned and freelanced for Cincinnati Magazine and worked in content marketing. She currently resides in College Park.
