Semen Analysis

A semen analysis is a detailed examination of sperm health, including count, motility, and shape. It helps identify possible causes of fertility issues in men, giving couples clearer information about their options. Our team ensures the process is private, professional, and supportive.

• Density: The number of sperm in the sample.
• Motility: How well the sperm swim. Poor sperm motility means the sperm do not swim well, which can mean issues with reaching the egg.
• Morphology: This refers to the size and shape of the sperm. Abnormally shaped sperm can be a factor in male infertility.

Additional factors included in a semen analysis are:

• Volume: This is the amount of semen produced. For a sample, this needs to be more than 1.5 ml. For comparison, a teaspoon holds around 5 ml.
• pH: This refers to how acidic or alkaline the semen is. Semen is ideally between 7.2 and 8, which makes it slightly alkaline.
• Appearance: Here, the lab technicians are looking for anything unusual to the naked eye; the categories are clear, normal or slightly clear. Normal is the ideal result.
• Viscosity: This means being thick, sticky, and semifluid in consistency. The ideal is normal, but it could also be classed as highly viscous or slightly viscous.
• Liquefaction: This is when the gel formed by proteins from the seminal vesicles breaks up, and the semen becomes more liquid. It normally takes less than 20 minutes for the sample to change from a thick gel into a liquid.
• Agglutination: This refers to stickiness - the percentage of clumping together.
• Aggregation: This is when sperm stick together by head or tail, which can cause issues.
• Round Cells: These may be signs of infection - perhaps a previous infection you’re getting over or a current one. Worth looking into this further if there are more than 1 million cells per ml of fluid.
• MAR Test: The test is used to diagnose immunological infertility, which means that antisperm antibodies are present that prevent conception from taking place.

Abnormal results highlight potential fertility challenges and help your specialist guide your next steps. Abnormalities include:

• Aspermia: absence of semen
• Azoospermia: absence of sperm
• Hypospermia: low semen volume
• Hyperspermia: high semen volume
• Oligozoospermia: very low sperm count
• Asthenozoospermia: poor sperm motility
• Teratozoospermia: sperm carry more morphological defects than usual
• Necrozoospermia: all sperm in the ejaculate is dead
• Leucospermia: a high level of white blood cells in semen

Your specialist will explain what each result means and discuss next steps or treatment options.

Please abstain from ejaculation for no less than two days and no more than five days before your appointment. If it has been less than two days or more than five days since you last ejaculated, it could alter the result.

If you have had a fever or antibiotics recently, this could affect your results. Please leave at least one week after your temperature is back to normal before the appointment. Please ensure it’s been at least two weeks since you finished any courses of antibiotics. For longer-term therapies, you should wait one month after completion of the medication. If you’re not sure, check with your clinic.

It’s important to follow these instructions to avoid inaccuracies or your test being invalidated.