TeraToZOO Sperma

Some men are infertile because of abnormal looking sperm. This is called teratozoospermia. This is diagnosed by examining the semen under a microscope to ascertain the sperm shape. A normal sample should have at least 15% normal forms.

While the commonest cause of male infertility is a low sperm count ( the technical term for this is oligospermia), some men are infertile because of abnormal looking sperm . This is called teratozoospermia (terato=monster).

Many infertile men have sperm samples which have low sperm counts, with poor motility and many abnormally shaped sperms. This is called oligoasthenoteratozoopsermia.

When the laboratory checks the semen under the microscope, they analyse the sperm shape ( whether the sperm are normally shaped or not - this is called their form or morphology. ) Ideally, a good sperm should have a regular oval head, with a connecting mid-piece and a long straight tail. If too many sperms are abnormally shaped (round heads; pin heads; very large heads; double heads; absent tails) this may mean the sperm are abnormal and will not be able to fertilise the egg. Many labs use Kruger "strict " criteria ( developed in South Africa ) for judging sperm normality. Only sperm which are "perfect" are considered to be normal. A normal sample should have at least 15% normal forms (which means that even upto 85% abnormal forms is considered to be acceptable!)

Why do we worry about abnormally shaped sperm ? A lot of men who have a normal count of 50 million per ml with 98% abnormal sperm often ask me - I have 1 million normal sperm - why can't I get my wife pregnant ? After all, I need only 1 sperm to fertilise the egg ! This is because abnormally shaped sperm are not capable of fertilising the egg, because they do not function properly. And if 98% of the sperm being produced in the testis are functioning abnormally, the fertilising ( functioning) ability of the remaining 2% sperm is bound to be suspect !

So what does the man with abnormal sperm do? Most men go to their doctor and expect that their doctor will prescribe a medicine which will help them to improve their sperm morphology , and fix their problem. After all, they expect that if medical technology has become so advanced, then there must be some treatment available to correct such a common problem !

The problem with the medical treatment of poor sperm morphology is that for most people it simply doesn't work. The very fact that there are so many ways of "treating" poor sperm morphology itself suggests that there is no effective method available. This is the sad state of affairs today and much needs to be learnt about the causes of poor production of sperm before we can find effective methods of treating it.