Male infertility is when a man has a poor chance of making his female partner get pregnant. It usually depends on the quality of the sperm cell.
About 13 out of 100 couples can’t get pregnant with unprotected intercourse after one year of marriage. There are many causes of infertility in both partners. In over a third of infertility cases, the problem is with the male partner. The main problems are with sperm production or with sperm delivery.
When a male partner has fewer than 15 million sperm per ml of semen that condition is called a low sperm count. The condition of a low sperm count is also called oligospermia. A low sperm count can make it more difficult to conceive a pregnancy naturally.
Low sperm count in males, also called oligospermia, is a major cause of male infertility. Sperm count is considered as low when one ml of semen contains less than 15 million sperm the average is around 75 million sperm per mL.
Risk factors for low sperm count include obesity or overweight, having surgery in or around the testicles, and taking certain medications. Other things that may put you at risk include exposing your testicles to too much heat or having other medical issues. Beyond that, there are various causes of oligospermia, which can be divided into three main categories: medical, environmental, and lifestyle.
If a couple having unprotected intercourse regularly for the last year and hasn’t gotten their partner pregnant, the couple may want to see their doctor. If a male partner has symptoms like trouble ejaculating, pain in the testicles, or previous surgeries needs to take an appointment sooner. Diagnosis for male infertility usually involves a physical exam, medical history, and semen analysis.
A semen analysis is helpful in receiving a diagnosis for sperm count under a microscope and checking for motility or movement of the sperm and the morphology or shape of the sperm. The doctor may even want to repeat the analysis to ensure consistent results because of the high variability between samples.
Other tests may include:
The treatment for low sperm count depends on the cause of infertility.
Surgery: For cases involving large varicoceles, blockages in any reproductive tractor, or issues with sperm leaving the body, the best option is surgery to correct this problem. In other cases, sperm can be directly taken out by using assisted reproduction procedures like in vitro fertilization (IVF) by surgically retrieving it from the testicle or epididymis.
Medications: Infections in the reproductive tract can be treated with medications. It’s important to treat infections promptly. Sometimes the infection is properly treated, and sperm count may not always return to normal if permanent tissue scarring has occurred.
Counseling: Issues with sexual intercourse, including erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation, this problem may respond to a combination of medication and counseling.
Hormonal treatments: Hormone level is important for spermatogenesis since testosterone and other hormone levels that are either too high or too low can cause low sperm count, regulate the hormone levels with medications and other treatments may help restore fertility.
In some cases of abnormal semen quality, doctors may suggest intrauterine insemination (IUI). This procedure may involve taking a drug to a female partner to support egg development. At the time of ovulation, take the partner’s semen, and process this sample washed and concentrated. and placed in the uterus during ovulation or the day after ovulation using a long, flexible tube.
If the sperm count is very low or less than 5 million per ml and medicine is not effective, then in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be a better option. In this procedure, doctors give the female partner certain drugs to develop healthy eggs and retrieve the mature eggs surgically. Sperm can be collected and fertilized the eggs using the ICSI technique. ICSI is an effective treatment for men with infertility.
Sperm production or function can be affected by overexposure to certain environmental elements, including:
Overheating the testicles. Elevated temperatures impair sperm production and function. Although studies are limited and are inconclusive, frequent use of saunas or hot tubs might temporarily impair sperm count.
Sitting for long periods, wearing tight clothing or working on a laptop computer for long stretches of time also might increase the temperature in your scrotum and slightly reduce sperm production.