Why Men May Experience Infertility Despite Surplus Sperm Production
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Male infertility surpasses sperm production, a health expert, Dr Labaran Aliyu posits.
Dr Aliyu, an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano State, said medical intervention must still be needed for men with enough sperm.
According to him, despite having enough sperm production men may still be medically unfit to impregnate a woman.
He said some men still need medical intervention before they are able to impregnate a woman.
According to the fertility doctor, there are different causes of low sperm count in men. He added that various cases of male infertility require different medical interventions.
He said that there are instances of seminal vesicle blockage.
This is a condition where the sperm cells in the seminal fluid are blocked restricting sperm from entering the vagina of the woman.
In a chat with PUNCH HealthWise, the gynaecologist urged men experiencing low sperm count and other fertility issues to get proper medical examination and treatment from a specialist. He warned that indulging in self-medication may worsen the condition.
Dr Aliyu said:
“low sperm count has a lot of causes.
“It may be that the man is not producing the sperm cells from the testicles. That is a problem.
“Sometimes, the man produces enough sperm cells but then, there is no outlet for the sperm cells to come out and enter into the vagina of the woman because the seminal vesicles through which the sperm cells in the seminal fluid will pass are blocked. So, the man is producing sperm but he cannot pass it out.
“These are issues that require different treatments. If the man is producing sperm cells and there is a blockage, the treatment is for the man to get an operation whereby the blockage is released because he is producing, only that there is a blockage.
“Now, if the low sperm count is due to insufficient production from the testicles, then it requires a different treatment.”
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Also, he noted that a man whose testicles are not functional cannot impregnate a woman. This is because he is not producing anything.
He explained: “If he should have sex with a woman, it is only the fluid that does not contain sperm cells that he is producing. In that respect, he cannot impregnate a woman.
“Also, in some men, the testicles that they have are not in the scrotum.
“Instead, they are in the inguinal region and that place is not optimum for the production of spermatozoa. In that case, too, the man cannot impregnate a woman because he is not producing anything.”
Dr Aliyu advised men with low sperm counts to seek help instead of indulging in self-medication.
World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that between 48 million couples and 186 million individuals live with infertility globally.
WHO said: “In the male reproductive system, infertility is most commonly caused by problems in the ejection of semen, absence or low levels of sperm, or abnormal shape (morphology) and movement (motility) of the sperm.”
Researchers in a 2018 study, published in Science Daily, say low sperm count is not just a problem for fertility, noting that it also has a link with other health issues.
“Infertile men are likely to have important co-existing health problems or risk factors that can impair quality of life and shorten their lives”, the researchers said.
Source: PUNCH HealthWise
