Infertility in Men

The Common Causes for Infertility in Men

When a couple are facing problems with reproduction and conception, it’s very shortsighted and medically inaccurate to assume that it must always be the woman’s problem.  Infertility in men is the cause of reproductive issues in about half of the cases reported, so if you and your partner are having problems conceiving, you do well to investigate the common causes for infertility in men so as to handle these issues promptly and completely.  Here are the most common causes:

Low sperm count – the most common reason for infertility in men.

Yes, men typically have millions of sperm that they produce during each sexual encounter, however, these sperm are very fragile and very few actually survive the journey through a woman’s system to reach an egg to fertilize.  This is why it’s necessary to produce those millions!  But in reality, any one sperm reaching an egg to fertilize it is like winning the lottery – there are millions of tickets sold, but it’s unlikely that any one is the winner.  So, having a lower than normal sperm count makes it that much more difficult for conception to take place.  Since this is the most common reason for infertility in men, chances are that a doctor would want to take a sample of a man’s semen to test the sperm count before doing any other tests.

Low sperm motility.

To a human, the journey through a woman’s system to reach the egg dropped by the fallopian tubes is miniscule.  But to the tiny microscopic sperm, it may as well be miles long!  Any sperm that are not able to push themselves to get through that journey are going to die off before they make it, and again, sperm are very fragile to begin with.  Low sperm motility may not be the most common reason for infertility in men, but it is common enough that again, doctors will want to check the abilities of your “little swimmers” to make sure they can make it through their long journey.  If not, alternative means of conception may need to be explored.

Malformed sperm.

If the sperm are not formed properly, they will not be able to propel themselves along to make that arduous journey.  Malformed sperm is a common reason for infertility in men, and may also be one of the more common reasons for low sperm motility.  However, it’s important to remember that malformed sperm doesn’t mean that a child conceived with it is going to somehow be malformed or that this is a cause for birth defects; it simply means that again, there may need to be an alternative form of conception that is explored rather than relying on the natural course of action.

Blocked sperm ducts.

Many people mistakenly assume that every time a man ejaculates during sexual activity, that this contains sperm.  This is not necessarily true; only about 1-2% of a man’s semen is actually sperm.  Blocked sperm ducts are another common reason for infertility in men; he has no sperm at all in the ejaculate in these cases.

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