Читать книгу Getting Pregnant For Dummies - Sharon Perkins - Страница 54

The number-one guy concern is probably related to penis size: How do I compare to everyone else? For those obsessed, here are the standards: normal length when flaccid, or limp, 3.9 inches; stretched (still limp), 4.8 inches; erect, 5 to 7 inches, with an average erect size of 5.1 inches. We hope that bit of info made most of you fellows feel better. A small penis, less than 1.9 inches limp, is usually able to impregnate as long as it can get the sperm into the vagina, up toward the cervix. Size is rarely an issue in infertility.

Size may not matter, but function does. If you have seen commercials for erectile dysfunction (ED), you may be comforted to know that even athletes and famous men have problems with erectile dysfunction (ED), also known as impotence. As nice as it is to know that you’re not alone, this condition can be an embarrassing detriment to getting pregnant. Impotence, the inability to have or sustain an erection, is more common as men get older; as many as 50 percent of men between the ages of 40 and 70 have had problems with impotence. Impotence can be caused by diseases such as diabetes or by chronic conditions, such as alcohol abuse, or it can be a side effect of medications. (We discuss impotence in Chapter 12.) ED can be a problem that occurs as patients move through treatment for infertility. Performance anxiety and the sterile nature of fertility treatments may cause ED. Adjusting the environment or using frozen sperm specimens collected under less stressful conditions can help reduce ED.

The opening that lets both urine and sperm out of the penis should be at the tip of the penis, located dead center. Two types of variations can cause problems getting pregnant. One in around 300 men has hypospadias, which means that the opening is on the underside of the penis. In 20 percent of cases, this problem is hereditary. Epispadias occurs far less frequently; only 1 in approximately 100,000 men has epispadias. In epispadias, the opening is on the top of the penis. Both conditions are associated with an unusual curvature of the erect penis; it curves up in epispadias and down in hypospadias. Both conditions can prevent the sperm from getting exactly where they need to be. Surgical correction is possible, and inseminations can also help get the sperm to where they need to go.