Signs and symptoms you may notice include: Problems with sexual function — for example, difficulty with ejaculation or small volumes of fluid ejaculated, reduced sexual desire, or difficulty maintaining an erection (erectile dysfunction) Pain, swelling or a lump in the testicle area. Recurrent respiratory infections.
The results of the semen analysis tests tells about your ability to conceive (start a pregnancy). Even if the semen test shows low sperm numbers or no sperm, it may not mean you are permanently infertile. It may just show there's a problem with the growth or delivery of sperm. More testing may be needed.
Causes of male infertility
Abnormal sperm production or function due to undescended testicles, genetic defects, health problems such as diabetes, or infections such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, mumps or HIV. Enlarged veins in the testes (varicocele) also can affect the quality of sperm.
Yellow semen may also indicate urine in the semen. This can be an issue that requires attention from a fertility specialist, as it may indicate infertility. Pink or reddish-brown semen suggests that you may have some bleeding from or inflammation of your prostate.
Peak male fertility is around 25-29 years old. Sperm quality begins to decline at 30. At 45, men begin to experience a significant decrease in semen volume. Older men can also take longer to conceive a child.
A trained expert checks your sperm count, their shape, movement, and other characteristics. In general, if you have a higher number of normal-shaped sperm, it means you have higher fertility. But there are plenty of exceptions to this. A lot of guys with low sperm counts or abnormal semen are still fertile.
Fertility is most likely if the semen discharged in a single ejaculation (ejaculate) contains at least 15 million sperm per milliliter. Too little sperm in an ejaculation might make it more difficult to get pregnant because there are fewer candidates available to fertilize the egg.
No, masturbating won't cause you to have a low sperm count or affect your ability to have children. Masturbating is normal and healthy.
Male infertility is caused by multiple factors such as abnormal sperm production, blockage of delivery of sperm or low sperm production. Roughly 15 percent of couples in the United States have trouble conceiving, and over 50 percent of the time, there is a male infertility issue.
Male fertility generally starts to reduce around age 40 to 45 years when sperm quality decreases. Increasing male age reduces the overall chances of pregnancy and increases time to pregnancy (the number of menstrual cycles it takes to become pregnant) and the risk of miscarriage and fetal death.
Medication can treat some issues that affect male fertility, including hormone imbalances and erectile dysfunction. Surgery can be effective for repairing blockages in the tubes that transport sperm. Surgery can also be used for repair of varicocele.
For healthy semen samples collected between 5:00am and 7:30am were found to exhibit a statistically higher sperm concentration, total sperm count and a higher percentage of normally shaped sperm, compared to samples produced later in the day. Sperm motility was not influenced by the time of sample production.
Men over the age of 35–40 typically experience a decrease in sperm health, which affects: Pregnancy rates. Pregnancy rates decrease with paternal age. Men will generally see a 52% decrease in fertility rate between their early 30s and their mid-to-late 30s.
This study concluded that with longer abstinence time of 6 or 7 days, the total number of viable sperm increased.
Can you still conceive if you're dealing with male infertility? As long as a man produces some amount of sperm, there's a chance he could get a woman pregnant. In fact, some couples dealing with low sperm counts or abnormal sperm are still able to conceive without any additional interventions.
Men start losing their fertility at age 40.
In a study of more than 1,900 couples, irrespective of the woman's age, IVF attempts involving men 40 or older failed 70 percent more often than IVF attempts involving men younger than 30. Previous theory: Older men produce fewer kids because they get less sex.
While there are some situations in which male infertility can be reversed with medication or surgery, in most cases, assisted reproductive technology (ART; for example, in vitro fertilization or "IVF") is the recommended approach. (See 'Assisted reproductive technologies' below.)
The concentration of sperm is what makes the semen cloudy and thick, so if your ejaculate is watery it is possible that you have a low sperm count. This doesn't mean you're infertile (so precautions to prevent pregnancy still need to be taken for couples that don't want to get pregnant).
Semen analysis results
Normal sperm densities range from 15 million to greater than 200 million sperm per milliliter of semen. You are considered to have a low sperm count if you have fewer than 15 million sperm per milliliter or less than 39 million sperm total per ejaculate.
How many sperm do you need to get pregnant? It takes just one sperm to fertilize a woman's egg. Keep in mind, though, for each sperm that reaches the egg, there are millions that don't. On average, each time men ejaculate they release nearly 100 million sperm.