| Female Infertility : A Complex System |
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| Female infertility can be much more complex than male infertility for the simple reason that the female reproductive system is far more complex than the male reproductive system - and the woman has a much more important role to play in making babies than the man does. While the man's role is very simple - he just has to deposit a large number of good quality sperm in the vagina, the woman is responsible for much more : |
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- Producing eggs
- Transporting the embryo to the uterus through the fallopian tube;
- Nurturing the embryo in the uterus.
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This obviously means that there is much more which can go wrong as well !
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| Not only are the chances of medical problems much higher in the female reproductive tract, causing female infertility to be a more complex problem; to add insult to injury, treating infertility often means putting the woman through lots of medical procedures - some of which can be invasive. This is true, whether the problem is male infertility or female infertility ! |
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| To make matters even worse, since having a baby is usually the "woman's job"; infertile women suffer from many more personal and social stresses as a result of their infertility ! |
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| The commonest causes of female infertility include: |
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- Problems with egg production ( ovulation); and
- Tubal factor problems. Other areas of concern are:
- Endometriosis and
- Cervical mucus problems.
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| In some cases, we can never determine what the problem is, and this is called unexplained infertility. Finally, some women will be able to conceive, but will not be able to carry the pregnancy to term, a condition called recurrent pregnancy loss. |
