Sterile men should avoid hot water bath — Expert

A senior medical specialist has advised men contending with fertility issues, to avoid hot water baths, revealing that they are among the causes of infertility.

Professor Matthew Yamoah Kyei, a Consultant Urologist at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, who gave the advice, explained that heat or high temperature impacted sperm production and that keeping the testes in a cool environment allowed sperms to be formed well and healthily.

He said the normal human body temperature remained 36 or 37 degrees celsius, while the scrotum, which contains the testes — the organs responsible for producing sperms — should be 33 or 34 degrees celsius, almost like the temperature of the environment.

He said anything, including hot water baths that made the testes warmer than normal, would bring their temperature closer to the body temperature and create a difficulty in producing healthy sperms.

He explained that either the sperms would not form well, lose their strength to move or may even die because of the heat.

"The basis of male fertility is being able to produce healthy sperms, strong enough to travel through the woman to fertilise the egg.

The truth about sperm production in the testes is that at each point in time, some sperms are being produced, some are mature, some are dying off."

He explained that it did not matter how long a person took the hot water bath, and that once the area experienced heat, all the sperms that were being formed at that particular time could be destroyed, while the already formed ones but still fragile might be affected.

He, however, indicated that the very healthy ones had higher chances of survival.

"It takes three months for sperms to mature. So, whatever you see in about three months is a reflection of what happened," he said.

He said it was for that reason that men who worked with big engines in ships and mining areas, where the temperature was constantly hot, and those who rode motorbikes had a high risk of infertility.

Prof. Kyei, who is also a professor of surgery at the University of Ghana Medical School, was sharing his thoughts on male infertility in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

Male infertility

Male infertility is the inability to produce sperm or produce healthy sperm that can fertilise the female egg.

Prof. Kyei said the condition was responsible for 50 per cent of couples’ inability to have a child.

Describing infertility in men as a major issue, he mentioned other causes to include varicose veins, where the veins in the scrotum become very big and extended and, therefore, carry the whole body temperature into the scrotum, making it warmer than expected.

Other causes include engaging in activities such as weight lifting , using illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and smoking cigarettes, as well as using anabolic steroids for bodybuilding.

Prof. Kyei explained that in the case of anabolic steroids, they prevent the normal testosterone, which is good for sperms, from being produced.

“So even though those who use it get big muscles, the testis shrinks, ending up becoming little in what is medically referred to as atrophy of the testis,” he explained.

He said infections such as epididymitis and sexually transmitted infections, such as gonorrhoea and chlamydia, could also cause infertility in men.

Treatable

On whether infertility in men is treatable, Prof. Kyei answered in the affirmative, explaining that because the testes produce sperms every day, once the abnormalities that caused infertility were taken away, evidence of the testes producing wealthy sperms would show between three to six months.

However, Prof. Kyei said that in some people, the testes had been destroyed beyond repair, so nothing could be done.

They included those who used anabolic steroids, had suffered an accident that had destroyed the testes and those whose testicular tissues had been destroyed through the use of marijuana.

On what men can do to stay fertile, he advised against all forms of heat, adding that one of the things that could cause heat in the scrotum was wearing multiple shorts and, therefore, urged that they choose between either a brief or boxer shorts to go with their trousers.  

On how men could detect infertility, Prof. Kyei said the size of the testis was extremely important in determining that, explaining that any reduction in the size of the testis was evidence that the production of sperms had reduced.

He said when the testis was measured from top to bottom, it should be at least more than 2.5 centimetres long.

"If the testis is less than 2.5 centimetres, then you are losing sperm production," he explained. Other symptoms include pain and discomfort.

Prof. Kyei advised men who were struggling to have babies with their wives to get themselves assessed first, since it was easier to do a semen analysis with them than in women, where their privacy had to be invaded.

He said that after the analysis, if it was found that the men did not have sperms, they should be willing to accept donor sperms, which offered them the opportunity to have a baby.