What You’ll Learn at Your Infertility Evaluation

Female infertility describes a woman’s inability to get pregnant and have a successful pregnancy. Infertility is common, and approximately 10% of women struggle with infertility in some way. Infertility is typically diagnosed after a couple has been trying to get pregnant for one year without success.

Karen Mass, MD, FACOG, and the rest of our expert and compassionate team at Women’s Specialty Care, understand that navigating infertility issues can be frustrating and challenging. We offer infertility evaluations at our practice to help you on your journey, and here’s what you can expect from them.

Learning about the different causes of infertility 

One thing we go over at your initial evaluation is a list of factors that could be causing your infertility. Some possible issues that could be responsible include:

• Problems with the uterus: Polyps or adhesions inside the cavity of your uterus

• Problems with the fallopian tubes: “Tubal factor” infertility typically stems from pelvic inflammatory disease 

• Problems with ovulation: If you don’t release eggs on a regular basis, it can make it difficult to get pregnant
• Problems with egg count and quality: Your supply of eggs can run out before you reach menopause; some eggs can’t mature into a healthy fetus

In addition to these, risk factors like genetics, lifestyle choices, and general health conditions can all contribute to infertility. Some specific factors include:

• Age
• Hormonal imbalances
• Abnormal menstrual cycles
• Obesity
• Cysts or tumors
• Uterine fibroids

Other health conditions like endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), primary ovarian insufficiency (POI), or autoimmune disorders can cause problems with infertility. Even certain medications could be what’s keeping you from getting pregnant.

There could be multiple factors that, together, cause your infertility. Your gynecologist performs a number of tests in order to get to the root cause(s)

Reviewing your infertility treatment options

Our team also discusses all of your available treatment options that we provide.

A possible treatment we recommend is hormone replacement therapy (HRT). HRT boosts the production of healthy, mature eggs while also regulating other processes within your body that increase your chance of carrying your child to term. 

Other means of remedying infertility include in vitro fertilization — which allows for an egg to be fertilized outside the womb — and injecting sperm directly into the egg while it’s still in the mother’s body.

In addition to going over treatments and finding out the source of your infertility, we also help with planning pregnancy, preconception care, and confirmation of pregnancy through lab testing and ultrasound.

Next steps

To learn more about our infertility services or to request an infertility evaluation with us, call one of our Illinois offices, or schedule an appointment online with us today.