Varicocele Surgery

[Scotgirl1]

Hey, apologies there are probably other threads like this but just wondering if anyone’s partner had this surgery and had a successful outcome? Thanks! Xx

[Pleaseletitbeme]

Hi.
My OH had embolisation of a painful varicocele about 9 years ago.
Has been fine ever since.

[TheBeesKnee]

My DP had embolisation for his varicocele 5 months ago. Any "results" are expected 3 months after the surgery but this is yet another month that I am not pregnant. He's not had another SA yet but we can't afford it this side of Christmas. Even then the success rate is only 30-50% so I'm not holding my breath and trying to save for IVF as I go.

DP has been fine but started getting jolts of pain at 4 months and when he's hungover his kidney hurts.

[Scotgirl1]

@TheBeesKnee did they say that could be a potential side effect? It doesn’t seem a major procedure but worth trying just incase it works. The doctors say it won’t but there is always a chance. Still early days for you. Have you got your DP on vitamins?

[TheBeesKnee]

Scotgirl1

Yes it's a known side effect, affects men to various degrees. You have a foreign object in your body so it's not surprising. It's very difficult to remove, few surgeons in the world would even attempt it.

DP refuses vitamins because he has a science degree and reads the research papers etc at source. He says diet, protein, amount and quality of sleep as well as oxygen is actually what matters, so I've dropped it with him.

What do you mean the doctors are saying it won't work?

[Steenac72]

Hi, my husband had this procedure two weeks ago. He had v little pain and said he feels back to normal now. We were told it could help improve his sperm but not enough for a natural conception as his numbers were so low. He is very good at taking vitamins and pre surgery they got him from a count of 1.5-2mil to 6-8mil in his next analyses. So I would definitely get your DH to take them.

We are retesting in Feb but going ahead with IVF straight away. Our consultant said he would really encourage us to do the procedure as our numbers were so poor. Fingers crossed it’s helped a bit.

[Scotgirl1]

@TheBeesKnee every doctor we’ve spoken to said they don’t think it will help with our issue of low count / motility. I’ve read lots of positive stories online though and we want to take the chance in the hope that it does

[Steenac72]

Hi @scotgirl1 what are your numbers like if they think it won’t help? Did he mean help to extent of natural conception - as ours also said that won’t happen - but our consultant said he had a very low threshold for it being done as it should improve the quality and number of sperm which will hopefully improve odds of ivf success. I’d be happy with a decrease in the sperm dna fragmentation personally even if count stayed the same.

Did he clarify which for you or he just thinks it’s a waste of time in general?

[Dia12]

My DH had low motility and morphology and we were told embolisation wouldn't make a difference and the only chance we had was ICSI.
What a load of BS! A lack of studies/evidence doesn't disprove the idea that treatment of a varicocele will improve your chances of conception.
It makes logical sense that once treated, the sperm quality will improve with time (how can it not?) and with better sperm comes better chances of conception.

My husbands semen improved dramatically, granted it took about a year post embolisation, but there is a lot of variability in reproductive biology. He has had no side effects. We even conceived naturally twice but ended in chemical pregnancy (I was 39). So although we don't have a baby yet, i still think we're in with a chance - one that we wouldn't have had without the embolisation.

So I would recommend your partner gets it sorted ASAP as it will only get worse with time.

[Steenac74]

Hi ladies, I was wondering if any of your partners have gotten retested yet? Mine got his results today - retested 3 months after surgery. Number stayed the same but DNA Frag went from 52% to 25.6%

[K8dferXdder]

Hi all, looking for the most efficient and cost effective way to sort male fertility issue - bilateral varicocele. Would be helpful to know where you did it as we are desperate, we can’t get to blastocyst even though using ICSI! I never knew that dna fragmentation can’t be resolved by ICSI. We were suggested to do multiple freezing and try Imsi but would rather sort the root cause first. Thanks for your tips. I guess NHS will not treat it and we have to go privately?