Greeting to all readers! Here we meet again in this new year of 2017. In this article, I would like to talk about something more considerate to the couples who are experiencing infertility.

If you are one of those people who are worried or wondering why your couple still do not have children no matter how hard you try and do not know what else to do or where to start, this article should be able to help you more or less.

In the case of women, it should not be too hard to evaluate the cause as we, women, already have a menstrual period as a base measurement for the availability to have a child. However, in the case of men, they may need to go through several different examinations for the evaluation of infertility. The choice of which examination you should take will differ depends on your medical record/history and your checkup record. Nevertheless, the examination that all men must go through is the Sperm Analysis/Semen Analysis, which is a very easy examination to go through.

Sperm Analysis/Semen Analysis is the examination used to determine the amount, movement, and the abnormality of sperm to indicate the condition of infertility and the situation for sterilization in men. The sperm analysis/semen analysis can be divided mainly into 2 types as follows:

Macroscopic Examination

• Volume of normal semen is usually equal or greater than 1.5 ml.
• pH of normal semen should be in mild alkali with the value equal to or more than 7.2
• Viscosity of normal semen, when dropped through the pipette, should not be longer than 2 cm. The more viscosity of the semen will affect its movement
• Liquefaction of normal semen should not take longer than 1 hour

Microscopic Examination

• Viability of a live sperm should have at least 58% of living cells or more
• Sperm concentration should be at least 15 million cells per millimeter or more
• Motility of the inspected semen should have at least 40% of the semen that still able to move
• Morphology of the inspected semen should be in its normal shape for more than 4%
• WBC should be found in semen, but not exceeding 1 million cells per millimeter. If there are more than 1 million WBC cells in semen, it would be an indication of an infection
• RBC should be found in semen with less than 1 million cells per millimeter. The higher amount of RBC might indicate that there is an infection or injury after ejaculation as well

In addition, it should be noted that the accuracy of the examination depends substantially on how well you prepare yourself for the examination and how you collect your specimen. The followings are the procedures and precautions that you, gentlemen, should know.

1. It is suggested that you abstain yourself from having sex or from any kind of ejaculation for at least 2-3 days, but no longer than 7 days
2. The specimen collection is usually done by masturbation, put the specimen in the clean and dry wide mouth container, then pass it on for examination within 1 hour
3. There should be no use of condom in the specimen collection because condom contains certain substance that will cause abnormality in the semen’s movement
4. It is strictly prohibited to store the specimen in the refrigerator or ice

The doctor will be able to suggest an appropriate examination, diagnosis and treatment after the patient have finished his early-stage test, which is the Sperm Analysis/Semen Analysis. So, it does sound convincing to get a checkup if you are wondering whether you have the problem of infertility. Therefore, wait no more! If you are one of the many couples experiencing infertility problem, we encourage you to take the examination or at least consult the doctor.