According to medical statistics, around one in eight couples struggle with infertility and the inability to conceive despite having unprotected sex. Infertility is a common issue and can affect your emotional health. Fortunately, an experienced New York, NY fertility specialist offers several effective infertility treatments. These infertility treatments are aimed at helping you achieve a healthy pregnancy. The doctor customizes your treatment based on age, health, and family goals. Read on for more details about infertility treatment options to consider.
Fertility Drugs
Taken orally or injected intravenously, fertility drugs contain hormones that trigger ovulation and make the womb more amenable to embryo implantation. The drugs are often used as a female infertility treatment for women without regular ovulation or male partners with poor sperm quality. Some men might also be recommended to use fertility drugs.
In Vitro Fertilization
In vitro fertilization involves harvesting your egg and your partner’s or donor’s sperm in a laboratory to develop a viable embryo. The doctor then places the best embryos into the uterus for implantation and pregnancy.
When undergoing IVF, you might choose preimplantation genetic screening and diagnosis to examine the health of your embryo before the transfer. Your fertility doctor might also undertake embryoplasty to enhance embryo integrity before transfer. Couples that don’t require unused fertilized eggs after getting pregnant, can choose to donate the embryos to another couple. This is known as embryo adoption.
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)
IUI is another treatment option for infertility. The doctor uses a tube to place the sperm directly into the woman’s uterus immediately before ovulation. This is normally coupled with hormonal or clomiphene shots. Intrauterine insemination is normally recommended when male infertility is a possible factor, or no cause of infertility has been established.
Male Infertility Treatment
Some sperm deficiencies, such as sperm shape, quantity, and movement, can interfere with egg fertilization. These sperm deficiencies are referred to as male factor infertility. The doctor can identify male infertility and conduct intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) for treatment. This treatment involves injecting sperm into each mature egg to increase your chances of fertilization significantly. The resulting embryos are placed in the woman’s uterus in vitro.
Reproductive Surgery
Reproductive surgery is a minimally invasive procedure aiming to correct anatomical abnormalities, clear blockages in the woman or man, and remove scarring from conditions such as endometriosis. The surgeries can be performed on an outpatient basis, but they can sometimes need a hospital stay.
Surrogacy
This infertility treatment involves a woman, known as a surrogate, who carries a baby for someone else. The surrogate woman gets pregnant via IUI using the father’s sperm or via in vitro fertilization with the couple’s embryo. Donor sperm or egg can also be used. You should consider surrogacy if you can’t carry a pregnancy because of a disease, infertility, or hysterectomy. Also, in rare instances when both partners are infertile, surrogacy with donor eggs or/and sperm offers a solution.
Ultimately, if you have tried to get pregnant for a year without success, you should consider being evaluated for infertility. Infertility treatments can help you overcome infertility problems, recurrent miscarriages, and other medical problems that prevent you from achieving your dream of getting a child. The best infertility treatment for you will mainly depend on the cause of your infertility.