When a couple faces difficulty in getting pregnant or having a successful pregnancy, a fertility specialist will check both partners. They will check the overall health and the health of the reproductive organs of both males and females. When it comes to the male partner, sperm morphology is very important for a successful pregnancy – be it natural or through fertility treatments.
The sperm has a particular shape and size to help it travel fast and penetrate the egg, thus fertilizing it. As per studies, you can find around 39 million sperm per ejaculation. Among these millions of sperms, many will be irregular in shape or size, without a proper head or length. That is ok.
It takes just one sperm to fertilize an egg. For this one sperm to reach and fertilize successfully, millions of sperm travel up the fallopian tube, and the strongest of them all succeeds. So, out of these millions of sperm, you need just a small percentage to be of the right shape and size, in other words, the right sperm morphology for a successful pregnancy.
When a couple is having difficulty conceiving, a routine semen analysis will help understand sperm morphology. A sample of semen is studied closely under a microscope to understand the morphology. A healthy sperm must have an oval-shaped head and a midpiece and a tail.
If this head does not have a proper shape or if there is no tail, then the sperm is abnormally formed. The lack of a proper head will affect the sperm’s ability to penetrate the egg for fertilization. The lack of a tail will affect its ability to swim up the fallopian tubes, to reach the egg.
The required sperm morphology normal range is about 4 - 14% only. Yes, you read that right. You need just around 14% of the sperm to be of the right shape and size for a successful pregnancy.
When sperm morphology is above 14%, according to Kruger criteria, the probability of fertility is very high. If it is below 4%, meaning the percentage of healthy sperm is less than 4%, it is an abnormal sperm morphology, which can take longer to achieve pregnancy. The WHO also recommends a similar range.
Your fertility doctor can help identify the reason behind the abnormal sperm morphology and help rectify it with suitable treatments.
Every male will have a certain percentage of abnormally formed sperm. The range will vary from person to person depending on the following factors:
Let’s take a deeper look into sperm morphology to understand how it can differ and which can cause fertility issues. A normal sperm morphology should have an oval head, an intact middle piece, and a tail that does not coil. Abnormal sperm can be as follows:
1. Macrocephaly
2. Microcephaly
3. Pinhead Sperm
4. Tapered Head Sperm
5. Thin Narrow Head Sperm
7. Headless Sperm
8. Tail-Less Sperm
9. Nuclear Vacuoles
10. Multi-Head Sperm
11. Coiled Tail Sperm
12. Stump Tail Sperm
13. Swollen Mid-Piece
When you have low sperm morphology, you want to know how to increase sperm morphology. Here are a few tips to improve sperm morphology:
Unless the sperm head is carrying defective genes or broken DNA, the sperm morphology won’t cause any birth defects. Birth defects are mostly due to damage in the DNA package and it can be from either partner. Abnormal sperm morphology will make it difficult to conceive but may not cause any defects in the baby.
Simple changes to lifestyle and diet can have a big impact on your sperm health and morphology. In case of abnormal sperm morphology, a fertility specialist can help identify the exact problem and help rectify it.
