Testosterone (T) is an “androgen”, one of the hormones that give men their “male” characteristics. Androgens are essential for developing the male reproductive organs (penis, prostate, seminal vesicles, vas deferens, and epididymis) when baby boys develop in the womb. The body stops making sex hormones a few months aft...
Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is the most significant development in modern male fertility treatment and has enabled tens of thousands of men to be biological fathers. Men with low sperm counts, high numbers of abnormal sperm, or whose sperm are unable to bind to (and fertilise) eggs can bypass all these barriers to conception by ha...
A man’s lack of libido can reflect physical or psychological stress and imbalances or be the direct result of medication for another health issue. It can be very frustrating for couples who want a family, and improving general health is essential in turning things around. Identifying possible causes and addressing lifestyle or personal ...
Counselling for male sexual problems is usually for erectile dysfunction (ED) or lack of libido. Both conditions reduce the quality of life for the men and their partners, plus they make natural conceptions challenging. Specialised “psychosexual therapy” is the recommendation, and because sex involves both partners, the partners of men with ED...
Treatments for anti-sperm antibodies (ASAb) rely on altering the unwanted immune response to sperm. ASAb can affect either partner, but it’s much more likely to affect men, and it’s much easier to check them for anti-sperm antibodies with an extension of a standard semen sample. Men normally have a barrier between their blood and their t...
Prolonged and painful erections are thankfully not that common, but they do happen, and the medical term for it is “priapism”. Priapism includes prolonged or unwanted erections, which are the opposite of infrequent or difficult to maintain erections, which are covered in “erectile dysfunction”. All men who have priapism should have...
Older men face similar (but less definite) fertility issues to women, and each passing decade generally sees a fall in sperm quality and quantity. The main male sex hormone from the testicles is testosterone, and lower testosterone, plus a range of other factors, affects sperm output. Sperm numbers and the health of the DNA they carry are the ...
Sperm motility and morphology problems usually relate to specific parts of the “manufacturing process” and to general health. The main structures that make sperm are the Sertoli cells in the testes, and sperm fully mature in the seminiferous tubules, where the sperm cell elongates to form a tail and the acrosome forms at the tip. As a general...
Treatments for low sperm count (oligospermia) need to match the cause of the condition, and raising personal health with Personal Fertility Profiles (PFPs) is often the most effective option. There are herbal supplements that raise testosterone and improve sperm production, and when these match the man’s PFP, it increases male fertility ...
Erectile dysfunction is a complex condition that’s linked to a range of health issues, which makes improving general health an essential part of improving sexual health, as the morefertile PFPs explain. However, certain conditions and substances have a direct role in male sexual health and should be avoided whenever possible. Medications Speak...
