Male Impotency Causes

Male infertility is responsible for approximately half of all cases in which a couple is unable to conceive a child. The exact nature of the infertility varies greatly – it may involve a low sperm count or complete absence of sperm in semen, hydrocele, physical trauma to the testicles, obstructions to the flow of sperm, and excessive consumption of drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. “Infertility” is thus a rather vague and all encompassing term, and is really only a symptom of some underlying health problem. To properly treat infertility, a thorough medical investigation is necessary, as without it, it is practically impossible to find out what is wrong and how can one treat it. It is generally advisable to consult an urologist who specializes in male infertility. Apart from a physical examination and investigation of your medical history, some tests will also be conducted, which will require blood and semen samples.

This kind of thorough medical investigation will often yield results, although there are a large number of cases in which nothing abnormal can be detected. Hopefully, in your case, it will be easy to detect the cause.

One of the most common causes of male infertility is variocele – it is thought that over 10 per cent of male infertility cases are traced to this condition. Considering the number of possible causes, this is quite a high percentage. Variocele is essentially the enlargement of the pampiniform plexus, a bunch of veins in the scrotum. These veins connect to larger testicular veins that drain blood from the scrotum. Sometimes, due to various reasons, the blood may not flow out of the scrotum properly, leading to enlargement of these veins and damage to the testes. It is not clear exactly how this causes male infertility, but it is thought that the resulting increase in temperature affects sperm production.

Of course, this is not the only possible cause – in many cases, male infertility may be the result of a low sperm count or abnormal sperm. The sperm count may sometimes be so low that no sperm can be detected in the semen at all. It may be that sperm are not being produced at all, or that they are being produced but are unable to mix with the semen due to some obstruction, such as a tumor, or scar tissue following an injury. Sometimes, sperm may be present, but they may be shaped abnormally, and are therefore unable to reach or penetrate eggs.