Infertility Specialist

What Is the Definition of Infertility?

Doctors consider a man or woman to be infertile if they have tried for at least 12 consecutive months and were unable to conceive a viable pregnancy. When a couple has difficulty conceiving a child, both the man and the woman are checked to determine whether or not they are fertile. For men, this entails obtaining a sperm sample to determine the number of sperm they have available during each ejaculation. With women, there are many other issues to be considered. In addition to producing a viable egg, there may be issues with the uterus or fallopian tubes that prevent an egg from traveling where it needs to be in order to get fertilized.

What Are Common Causes of Infertility?

Infertility is more common than many people believe. High levels of stress and anxiety can make it difficult for a woman to become pregnant. Reproductive health conditions like fibroid tumors, ovarian cysts, uterine cancer, endometriosis, and STDs may all contribute in some way to a woman, or even a man, not being able to participate in creating a viable pregnancy. In some cases, an accident that affected the abdominal region of the body may have caused an abnormality within the reproductive system that will prevent a woman from getting pregnant. Women may also be rendered infertile due to a physical disability or the body's inability to produce a viable egg.

Can Using Contraception Cause Infertility?

Women who have used oral contraceptives for several years may have a difficult time conceiving a child. With most other methods of birth control, the woman's hormone levels are not controlled on a regular basis and therefore, not altered as much. It may take several months of trying for a woman to conceive a child after she stop taking the oral birth control pills. If she has not conceived within the first year of stopping the contraceptives, the doctor may opt to try in vitro fertilization or another type of infertility treatment. The woman's past history will play a definite role in which type of treatment the doctor chooses.