Fertility Preservation Sperm

Sperm cryopreservation, commonly referred to as sperm freezing, is a method to preserve sperm for later use. After semen is collected a laboratory analysis is completed and then the sperm are frozen in our state of the art laboratory for future attempts at pregnancy.

Reasons to use sperm freezing include:

• Prior to hormone treatment or gender affirming procedures

• Advancing age

• Unavailable to be present for a fertility treatment

• Declining sperm concentration

• High risk exposure (ie- zika, occupational)

• Prior to a vasectomy

• Prior to cancer treatments

• Prior to beginning treatment for any medical conditions that could affect fertility

Before you provide your sample, you must refrain from any sexual activity including masturbation for 2 to 3 days prior to donation. (Longer or shorter periods of abstinence may result in abnormal results.)

You will give your sperm sample at Main Line for via masturbation on-site in our laboratory collection room. The room is equipped with a chair/bed, urinal, sink, and TV/VCR. A limited collection of sexually explicit material is provided in the collection room, or you are welcome to use your own smartphone. (Note: No lubricants or condoms are allowed.)

When you've given your sample, you'll get a complete semen work-up includes concentration (recorded in millions per milliliter), motility (to determine how many sperm are moving in the sample), and morphology (% of normally shaped sperm). You can also opt for genetic carrier screening.

Your sperm will then be frozen and stored in our onsite cryostorage facility for your future use.

The initial testing and cryopreservation costs [rate].

Annual storage is [rate].

Unfortunately, we do not have much data on how past hormone use affects fertility in transfeminine and AMAB nonbinary individuals.

If you’ve been taking gender affirming hormones, you will need to stop for at least three months in order to attempt fertility preservation.

If it turns out you have low sperm count or sperm with poor motility, do not be discouraged from sperm freezing - there are many new reproductive techniques to fertilize eggs despite these limitations.

You can also ask about surgical sperm retrieval if you are unable to give a sample or if your sperm count is extremely low.