With modern medicine and a better understanding of the underlying issues, more parents than ever are getting the help they deserve.
A report published recently, suggests that the amount of couples seeking the help of a fertility clinic is poised to grow massively by 2025. Perhaps because the report suggests that by 2025, an estimated 10 million couples will have difficulty conceiving on their own. While this number is shocking, it’s hard to tell if this is exactly what will be driving the trend. Currently, 1 in 5 couples struggle with infertility, and historically, there was little they could do about it. In the last ten years, Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART), has grown by leaps and bounds, and so have the number of people who utilize it.
Whether it’s because we’re no longer having enough babies to replenish our population, more and more couples are struggling with infertility, or because modern medicine has improved outcomes and choices, it’s hard to be sure why the fertility market is growing at such an impressive rate. What is clear, is this increase will almost definitely result in a greater need for fertility clinics, and one that science and providers are racing to keep up with.
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Who Requires a Fertility Clinic
Knowing when to seek professional help when starting a family of your own can be a bit confusing for some couples. Healthcare costs, guilt, and poor understanding of the mechanisms can make it difficult to know exactly when to ask for assistance. A cultural misunderstanding of the process can also make it seem like there are less than a few good options for where to go from an infertility diagnosis.
In the UK, a study by Oxford University shows that there are actually a number of factors that influence whether or not a person seeks guidance for their infertility issues. Some include gender, socio-economic status, education, and most notably, age. The study has shown that women and men aged 16-24 years only sought help 32.6% and 14.1% respectively. Where men and women aged 35-74 sought help about 58% of the time combined. This still leaves the question as to why more couples aren’t seeking the help they need.
If you and your partner have tried unsuccessfully to conceive for 12 months or more, it may be time to go to the pros. According to Ilaya, a leading fertility clinic that has been helping individuals since 2011, “Depending on the causative factor [of infertility], one particular complication may, in turn, lead to other health problems other than just infertility.” Ilaya reminds men and women both that infertility may be a sign of something worse. So it’s always a good idea to get checked if you’re unsure.
Some common causes of infertility can range from congenital defects to previous trauma, or ongoing disease. For women, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and polycystic ovarian syndrome are all common (and sometimes treatable) causes of infertility. In men, damage to the testicles or less than motile sperm can give hopeful parents a hard time. In most cases, fertility clinics can assess, diagnosis, and propose treatment to get your family back on track.
Road to Recovery
Once couples have spaghetti help and diagnosis for their infertility issues, many clinics can provide assistance in mitigating the problems. With novel treatments available and modern medicine improving every day, more and more options are becoming accessible to a greater population.
To gild the lily of hope, many infertility treatments have improved to the point where they are only minor lay invasive. Indeed, a great many are now outpatient procedures. Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), hormone therapies, and even egg and sperm donation programs have made it possible for even the most seemingly hopeless cases to be able to create the family they have always wanted.
For some, surgical intervention may be necessary, but as with other treatments, even surgeries are becoming more precise and seeing more impressive success rates than ever before. Which could easily explain the boost in numbers of couples seeking help from fertility clinics earlier. “Ultimately, it’s important for any couple that is experiencing real, or perceived, issues with infertility to seek help.” Ilaya points out. “The sooner a problem can be identified and addressed, the sooner it can be surmounted.”
