Smoking leads to "Infertility" | Dr Rama Sofat Hospital

                         Smoking leads to "Infertility"

Smoking can harm a child prenatally, it's a good idea to quit smoking before you even consider pregnancy.

That being said, if you decide not to quit smoking before you start trying to conceive, you may have trouble getting and staying pregnant in the first place as described by IVF expert Dr Rama Sofat .

How much do you need to smoke to have a measurable impact on your fertility?

According to many studies on the subject, 10 or more cigarettes per day will significantly harm your ability to conceive.

How Might Smoking Hurt Your Fertility?

Smoking is associated with the following fertility problems:

1. Problems with the fallopian tubes, including blockages (preventing egg and sperm from meeting) and an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy.
2. Cervical changes, specifically an increased risk of developing cervical cancer
3. Damage to the eggs as they develop in the ovaries
4. Increased risk of miscarriage, possibly due to damaged eggs.

Birth Defect Risks of Smoking During Pregnancy

Smoking during pregnancy is associated with miscarriage, low birth weight, and premature birth. Another important reason to quit smoking before you conceive is to reduce your risk of birth defects as described by IVF expert Dr Rama Sofat ..

Because many birth defects occur very early in pregnancy—sometimes before a woman even realizes she has conceived—waiting until you get pregnant is not enough to reduce the risk of harm to your unborn child.

Experts have found that smoking during pregnancy increased the risk of:

• Heart and cardiovascular defects
• Limb defects (where an arm or leg fails to grow fully or is completely missing)
• Missing (or extra) fingers or toes
• Clubfoot
• Cleft lip or pallet
• Skull malformations
• Facial and eye deformations

IVF-ICSI Success Rates

Researchers also looked at the effect of male smoking on the success rate of IVF with ICSI treatment as per explanation by IVF expert Dr Rama Sofat .

ICSI treatment involves taking a single sperm and guiding it directly into the egg, in hopes it will lead to fertilization. It's often used in cases of moderate to severe male infertility, or when previous IVF treatments have failed for unknown reasons.