Male infertility is a health issue that lowers the chances of a male getting his female partner pregnant. Approximately in over 34% of all infertility cases, male infertility is to blame. The females have no roles to play in these cases. In such situations, the males must find reliable fertility experts or IVF doctors in Delhi to get diagnosis and treatment.
What Causes Male Infertility?
There are several reasons why a man may have fertility issues. In most cases, it’s due to the poor health of his sperm cells. Other factors may be at play as well. For example, men with erectile dysfunction cannot ejaculate inside their female partners. In such cases, the health of their sperm cells doesn’t matter.
Either way, when a man’s body cannot produce and deliver sperm in a normal fashion, he suffers from infertility. Unless his sperm travels through his female partner’s vagina, cervix, uterus, and fallopian tubes – they cannot conceive. The male’s sperm cells and the female’s egg don’t meet. No fertilisation takes place and there’s no conception.
Conception is a highly complex process. It’s only successful when environmental conditions and the male and female’s reproductive health are fine. Infertile men cannot complete this process due to various reasons. The most common reasons include –
- Sperm Disorders: The male’s sperm cells may be undeveloped, oddly shaped, or immotile. Some males produce sperm cells in very low numbers (a condition called oligospermia). Some don’t produce them at all (a condition called azoospermia).
- Varicoceles: Some males have swollen veins in their scrotums. Approximately 16% of the world’s male population suffers from this condition called Varicoceles. The swollen scrotum veins prevent healthy sperm growth.
- Retrograde Ejaculation: A man with retrograde ejaculation will ejaculate semen during orgasm. But, this semen will travel back inside his bladder. It won’t come out of his penis.
- Hormones: Sperm production is made possible by the delivery of certain hormones made from the pituitary gland. Men who don’t produce these pituitary hormones cannot produce large amounts of healthy sperm.
In some rare cases, medications impact the sperm production capabilities of men. Men who take medications for high blood pressure, cancer, arthritis, and depression are likelier to face these problems. Thankfully, these men can simply stop taking those drugs to regain their ability to produce healthy sperm.
However, men with infertility problems due to issues like retrograde ejaculation or sperm disorders need immediate medical care. One trip to an IVF doctor in Delhi can reveal a lot.
Diagnosis for Male Infertility
A fertility expert will recommend the following tests to diagnose the causes of male infertility in a patient –
- Medical History Check: Fertility doctors ask patients about childhood health issues, medications, etc. They look for past health problems that may have harmed their sperm production capabilities.
- Lifestyle Assessment: Men who suffer from mumps, diabetes, steroid-deficiency, etc., often take medicines to get by. These medicines may affect their fertility. Consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs also impacts fertility. Doctors assess these lifestyle traits of patients.
- Physical Exams: IVF doctors need to learn how the male patient’s body functions during sex. To do so, they conduct physical exams where they look for signs of erectile dysfunction, varicoceles, etc. Fertility doctors may also recommend transrectal ultrasounds and hormonal profile check-ups. In very rare cases, they recommend testicular biopsies.
- Semen Analysis: In this lab test, doctors examine the quality/quantity of the male patient’s sperm. They assess how many sperm cells are present in his semen (sperm count). They also assess the speed at which the sperm travels inside the semen (sperm motility). Fertility doctors ask men to provide semen samples. They study these details (along with others) to determine the overall status of a patient’s sperm health.
Some males have sperm disorders or problems that are irreversible. For them, IVF treatment is the best fertility solution. However, that’s not the only treatment option for infertile men.
Treatment for Male Infertility
Treatment for male infertility depends on the diagnosis. These treatments can be broadly categorized as surgical and non-surgical. Some common surgical treatments for male infertility include –
- Varicocele Treatments: Men with varicoceles receive “varicocelectomy” a minor surgery. The doctors fix their swollen veins. This improves the male patient’s sperm health and movement.
- Blockage Removal: Patients with azoospermia often have blockages in their testicles. Surgeons can manually remove these blockages.
- Vasoepididymostomy: This surgical procedure helps treat epididymal blocks in a male’s penis.
There are many non-surgical ways of treating male infertility as well. They include –
- Drugs: Men with ejaculation or erection issues can benefit from penile stimulation drugs.
- Penile Vibratory Stimulation: In this treatment technique, doctors apply vibrations male patient’s penis. The vibrations cause the tips and shafts of their penises to function properly. Males get to climax naturally after receiving this non-surgical treatment.
- Assisted Reproduction: The best treatment for male infertility is assisted reproduction. IVF (in vitro fertilization), IUI (Intrauterine insemination), and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) are the most popular assisted reproduction techniques.
When all other male infertility treatments fail, assisted reproduction techniques come to help. IVF in particular often provides the last hope for men with infertility issues.
