New home semen analysis test about to hit stores - but watch out!

At first glance you would think this is a good thing - being able to know more about yourself, specifically your sperm count. And many tens of thousands of men, I am sure, will buy and use this home sperm count test. Unfortunately they, like so many others, will be making a huge mistake by incorrectly assuming that normal numbers mean all is well and low numbers suggest poor fertility. The truth is that a semen analysis is NOT a test of male fertility. It is a test of only 2 things - sperm production and sperm delivery. A semen analysis is a good way to make an educated guess about a male's fertility status, but it is not precise and many men with low counts have no problems fathering children. Likewise, we see men with great numbers who are simply unable to make a baby. There is so much more to fertility and conception that sperm counts.

In fact, sperm counts and motility (the ability to swim up to find and fertilize the egg) vary widely in the same person from hour to hour, day to day, week to week. That's just the way we are. In our vasectomy reversal only practice, a semen analysis is a normal part of our follow-up care. In the male fertility world, because of so much variability in semen analysis from test to test, a single semen analysis result is not considered adequate to offer an opinion about what it means or doesn't mean. It is like looking at one frame of a movie and trying to guess all the details of the plot, characters, etc. It's just not enough information.

We usually ask for 2 or even 3 separate sperm counts, each at least several weeks apart, before we can get an idea of what is really going on. Plus, there are many, many factors that can impact sperm numbers or motility. Some of these hurt sperm counts for a few hours, others for a few days, others still can reduce numbers for almost 3 months, the time it takes to make a sperm from start to finish. These factors that can hurt sperm include heat (a fever, hot tubs, hot baths, Jacuzzis or hot saunas which can drop counts for up to 3 months), tobacco, marijuana (hurts sperm quality and lowers testosterone), many health problems, many medications (prescription and over-the-counter), the presence of a varicocele, prior surgery down there, your frequency of ejaculation (you should wait for 3 days without ejaculating before checking a count to allow sperm numbers to build up), nutritional status, and level of hydration or dehydration, to name a few. 

So yes, go use the test if you want to know but if your sperm numbers are good and you are not able to get pregnant within 6 months of actively trying, go see your OB. If your sperm numbers are not normal or are zero, then you should see your urologist first for an exam and a more detailed semen analysis by an experienced andrologist to see if the pharmacy home test was accurate or not.