Failure to conceive not always in the woman's court

Professor John Herr, director of the Center of Contraceptive and Reproductive Health at the University of Virginia, examining sperm.

Michael Opsahl spends most days talking about sperms and erections. The Seattle gynecologist helps couples who can’t conceive because of the husband’s poor sperm.

“Couples come into my office and think the problem is the woman’s fallopian tubes, but when I examine them I often discover that the man’s sperm is as bad as the woman’s tubes”, says Opshal.

“Forty per cent of in fertility cases can be attributed to men. I tell my patients that making a baby is a team sport. But some feel that having their sperm checked is a threat to their masculinity.”

Some five per cent of men have such poor sperm that they require medical help. A typical man has 20-100 million sperm per millilitre of semen, but men with fewer than five million sperm per milliliter have poor chances of conceiving.

Conception is also affected if the sperm swim slowly or are of poor quality.

“But in 90 per cent of the cases, the problem is low sperm count”, explains Professor John Herr, director of the Center of Contraceptive and Reproductive Health at the University of Virginia.

“If a man has less than five million sperms per milliliter, it affects his ability to conceive.” Many different factors are to blame: extreme sports, hot baths and saunas, radiation, toxins, and alcohol.

“Alcoholics can have babies, too,” notes Opsahl. “But alcohol kills sperm. I’ve had several couples where they gave up alcohol and his wife promptly got pregnant.”

Read full METRO article featuring Dr. Opsahl.

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