I was just wondering if my husband has a sperm count of 400,000 per ml and great morph and motility, what are the chances of us conceiving on our own. Everything is good with me. My second question is how long after his bilat varicocele ligation should we wait for semen analysis. He had surgery on 12-11-06 and the doctor ordered semen analysis already. Are we supposed to wait 3 months? And could the numbers we got back (same as before surgery) be a result of testing too early?

With a count of 400,000 per ml, the odds of achieving pregnancy without assistance are fairly low, but certainly not impossible. I never check a semen analysis earlier than 3 months after a varicocele, and I usually wait 6 months. The effect of fixing the varix can take up to 18 months to fully manifest itself, so please don't worry about the lack of improvement yet. Just keep trying.

Answered by Dr. Jonathan Schiff, M.D.