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Fertility Truths and Myths

Dispelling Fertility Myths
and Half Truths

By Teri Brown

According to Dr. Bruce A. Lessey, medical director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility for the Greenville Hospital System, the number of multiple births in the United States has gone up significantly in recent years. "Many of these come from assisted reproductive techniques, including in vitro fertilization (IVF)," he says. "Most of these are twins, but triplets or higher numbers do occur. The risk to both the mother as well as the babies is real, and is something reproductive endocrinologists are trying hard to avoid. But is IVF the culprit? Probably not. Actually, in vitro fertilization provides one of the safest ways to avoid multiple gestations when women undergo ovarian hyperstimulation for infertility. Aside from the rare cases where an embryo will split and form identical twins, IVF offers the chance to limit the number of potential embryos that will implant and eventually be born."

With in vitro fertilization, the risk for a multiple pregnancy is determined by how many embryos are placed in the uterus. Obviously, this is much more easily controlled than other types of assisted reproductive techniques, especially as doctors are moving toward a single embryo implantation.

Dr. David A. Forstein is also from the Greenville Hospital System's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He says that many couples believe that the type of underwear a man wears can play a role in their ability to conceive by changing a man's sperm count. This is a notion that seems to have caught the public's curiosity and continues to be an area of discussion.

"We do know that sperm production is a complicated process that takes about 72 days from start to finish," he says. "Any insult during that time frame, such as significant illness, toxic exposures or injury to the testicles, can cause a decrease in sperm count. Chronic or long-lasting reductions in sperm production can be seen in men who are heavy drinkers or smokers, are obese, have varicoceles (varicose veins of the scrotum) or who are exposed to high heat on a regular basis. It is this finding about heat exposure that leads to the boxer shorts myth."

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