How Effortless IVF™ Can Benefit Males with a Low Sperm Count

Hearing that sperm count or motility is affecting your fertility journey can cause worry, confusion, and frustration. Male factor infertility plays a role 50% of the time when couples are struggling to conceive, and fortunately, treatment options have come a long way.

Dr. Kevin Doody and Dr. Kathleen Doody developed Effortless IVF™ to make fertility treatment more accessible and less overwhelming, giving couples hope for growing their family. 

For many men with mild to moderate infertility due to low sperm count, Effortless IVF™ provides an affordable and highly effective treatment option. 

What counts as a low sperm count?

A low sperm count means your semen contains fewer sperm than what’s considered typical for natural conception. Typical sperm counts range from 15 million to more than 200 million sperm per milliliter (ml) of semen; a low sperm count is less than 15 million sperm in that amount of semen.

Motility issues, which occur when sperm don’t swim as well as they should, often accompany a low count and add another layer of difficulty.

Neither of these diagnoses means parenthood is impossible. It means your body may need a little extra help getting sperm and egg together, and that’s where fertility technology can help.

How does Effortless IVF™ help when sperm count is low?

Traditional IVF relies on lab incubators and near-daily monitoring, driving up costs and time commitments. Effortless IVF™ takes a different approach, bypassing expensive incubators and using the INVOcell® device, or a small chamber where retrieved eggs and sperm combine and develop inside the mother’s body, instead of a lab.

This matters for men with low sperm count because the INVOcell places sperm in close, sustained contact with the egg in a protected environment, which eliminates the need for constant lab intervention.

What happens during your Effortless IVF™ cycle?

The journey starts with a pre-cycle evaluation, where our team assesses fertility health for both partners. For men, this means a semen analysis that gives our specialists a clear picture of your sperm count and motility. For women, it means bloodwork and imaging that evaluate ovarian reserve and overall reproductive health.

From there, female partners take a pre-determined medication dosage designed around her weight and anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) level. This hormone reflects how many eggs her ovaries have in reserve. Because the dosage is set in advance, she won’t need to visit our office for frequent hormone checks.

Around day 10 of her cycle, female partners undergo a single sonogram, which tells our team exactly when it’s time to retrieve her eggs. On retrieval day, the male partner provides a sperm sample, and our specialists combine it with the female partner’s retrieved eggs inside the INVOcell device. 

The female partner then carries the device for about five days, giving the embryos a stable, body-temperature environment in which to develop. Afterward, our team transfers the embryos to her uterus or freezes them for a later transfer if needed.

Most couples complete this entire process, from consultation to embryo transfer, in about three weeks, with only two to three office visits required.

Is Effortless IVF™ right for you?

Effortless IVF™ works well for many causes of infertility, and it can benefit men with low sperm count or reduced motility. 

It isn't designed for severe male factor infertility, however, so a comprehensive evaluation matters before moving forward. One of our specialists can review your medical history and lab results to determine whether Effortless IVF™ is right for you.

What should you do next?

If low sperm count has you searching for solutions, Effortless IVF™ may be the answer you’ve been waiting for. Contact us today to schedule a consultation at your nearest Effortless IVF™ office in Fort Worth or Bedford, Texas, to discuss your candidacy and take the next step toward building or expanding your family.