Hi, following my vasectomy a few months ago, I had a letter recently stating that I had 363 non-motile sperm present. What does this mean?

Although we prefer to see no sperm, it is not unusual for there to be small numbers of non motile sperm after a vasectomy and some studies have shown that some people never completely clear. Having said that, as a urologist I prefer to continue to test until none are seen under the microscope or tell the patient the numbers and studies and they decide about protection. 363 sperm is a very low number as it takes at a minimum usually about twenty million sperm to achieve pregnancy. I smiled reading your question thinking of some technician sitting at a microscope and counting the 363 sperm you mentioned.

Published on Jul 11, 2012