Male Female Infertility

Male Infertility Causes

Male factor infertility represents the inability of a man to fertilize a woman’s egg.

   The causes of  this fact are multiple: low sperm motility, varicocele, abnormal shape of the sperm, low sperm count (oligospermia).

  Low sperm motility means that the ability of the sperm to swim forward and to penetrate the egg is not efficace. So if the sperm’s movement is slow or not in a straight line they might not be able to rich into the cervical mucus. A normal motility is when two thirds of the sperm can invade the cervix and penetrate the egg. When a fertility test that shows that less than 8 milion sperm per milliliter of semen have a normal motility,means that the male patient has a low sperm motility.

  Varicocele is a very spread cause of male infertility. The structure between the scrotum and the testicles is called spermatic cord and contains velves and veins.Varicocele is a condition that appears when the varicose veins of the spermatic cord become very big and abnormal dilatated,so the blood can’t flow normally. Varicocele can be treated using a scrotal support to improve the blood flow and sometimes surgery is very effective in order to tie the enlarged veins.

  Abnormal shape of the sperm is a male factor infertility caused by the sperm size and shape. Just like in the case of low sperm motility two-thirds of the sperm must be of an normal shape and size.When the sperm’s shape prevents it from penetrating the ovum this can be a cause of male infertility. Here are some of the abnormalities of sperm’s shape:two heads,a crooked or tapered head, a too large or too small head, a tail with kinks or curls.

   Oligospermia also known as low sperm count can be caused by a serie of factors like: drug use and smoking,environmental toxins, stress, obesity. In many cases oligospermia is temporary and a simple weight loss or quitting smoking can be a solution. A normal sperm count is considered when at least 60 percent of twenty million sperm per milliliter of semen have normal shape and motility. This can be verified with a male fertility test.    With the help of this test  the movement and the shape of sperm can also  be verified.

   Abnormal semen can prevent sperm from fertilization.

   The symptoms of the existence of an abnormal semen are: abnormally thick ejaculate, low volume of semen, yellow or greenish semen. Causes of this disorder: retrograde ejaculation,infection,the ejaculate’s clot. This factors can seriously  affect the male fertility.

    Sertoli-cell Only syndrome(SCO) or the Germ_cell aplasia is a very rare but seriously factor of male infertility. 5-10 percent of the cases of infertility are caused by this syndrome. The diagnosis of  SCO is done after a couple testicular biopsies have been performed. Germ-cell aplasia means that the semen doesn’t have enough germ cells that create sperm-lack of spem cells. Potential causes of SCO: hormonal therapy, irradiation, chemicals, lack of gonadotropin. Although the SCO usually prevents male fertilization , if after a testicular biopsy a small quantity of sperm is detected , the doctor can extract them for in vitro fertilization .

     Semen allergy is another cause of male infertility. This disorder can occur in men as well as in women-the immune system produces antibodies which kill sperm cells. Symptoms of  semen allergy: hives, vaginal redness, itching and very rare hard breathing.

   If this symptoms are decreased by using a condom then one or both partners suffer from semen allergy. A possible solution is the exposure to semen for desensitizing the area.