What are Infertility Treatments?

Key Points:

• 10% – 15% of men and women experience issues with infertility.
• There are treatments and medical procedures that can potentially help overcome challenges with infertility.
• As an alternative, surrogacy is a great option for achieving your goal of starting or adding to your family.

You aren’t alone if you’ve tried infertility treatments and haven’t conceived. Infertility is a difficult diagnosis to accept. But you can still become a parent through treatments and other family-building options.

We are here to help, and you can learn more about your family-building options or get started with surrogacy today.

Speak with a specialist today

In the meantime, you can learn more about common infertility treatments and surrogacy below.

Infertility Treatments [The Basics]

Infertility treatments can help couples who have experienced difficulty conceiving.

According to The University of Kansas Health System, infertility treatments help:

• People conceive
• Women carry a healthy pregnancy to term

A doctor will determine the type of fertility treatment to try by investigating the cause of your infertility.

Infertility Treatments for Women

The type of fertility treatment a woman undergoes depends on the infertility challenges she’s experiencing.

Generally, a doctor will try:

• Fertility medications
• Surgery
• Assisted conception

Common Fertility Treatment Medications

A doctor will pinpoint how your infertility affects your reproductive organs and determine a medication to prescribe. Commonly prescribed medications include:

• Clomifene: Helps regulate ovulation
• Tamoxifen: Also prescribed for ovulation-related challenges
• Metformin: A medication that can help women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
• Gonadotrophins: Stimulates ovulation
• Gonadotrophin: Another medication that stimulates ovulation

Common Infertility Treatment Surgeries

Sometimes, a doctor may determine that surgery is the best fertility treatment for your situation.

Infertility treatment surgeries include:

• Fallopian tube surgery: To correct a blockage or scarring
• Laparoscopic surgery: This type of surgery can treat endometriosis, remove submucosal fibroids, or treat PCOS

Assisted Conception Fertility Treatment Procedures

There are two common assisted conception procedures couples can try. These include:

• Intrauterine insemination (IUI): Sperm is placed directly into a woman’s uterus in a doctor’s office.
• In vitro fertilization (IVF): An embryo is placed in a woman’s uterus in a doctor’s office.

When these procedures work, a woman becomes pregnant and carries a baby to term.

Infertility Treatments for Men

Doctors also treat infertility in men with medications, surgery, and assisted conception.

Male Infertility Treatment Medication

A doctor may prescribe gonadotrophin, which could improve male fertility.

Male Fertility Treatment Surgery

The most common surgery a doctor will perform on a man experiencing infertility is epididymal blockage repair.

A doctor may also decide to extract sperm surgically. This treatment option is selected if:

• An obstruction prevents sperm release
• A man was born without the vas deferens (the tube that drains sperm from the testicle)
• A man had a vasectomy

Assisted Conception Fertility Treatment Procedures

Although IUI and IVF aren’t invasive for men, they will need to provide a sperm sample so a doctor can isolate and concentrate healthy sperm.

Considering Other Family-Building Options After Fertility Treatments

If you’ve already tried infertility treatments with the help of your doctor and haven’t conceived, you may start to consider other family-building options like surrogacy.

Although surrogacy may not give you the pregnancy experience you wanted, you can still experience parenthood through surrogacy.

Before you start your surrogacy journey, we want to encourage you to take as much time as you need to work through your emotions. Surrogacy professionals can even provide references to infertility counselors who can help you process what you’ve been through.

Working with a Surrogacy Agency

During a surrogacy journey, you and a surrogate will work together to bring a baby into the world. Different professionals – like those who work at surrogacy agencies – will support you from the beginning to the end of your surrogacy.

The following are some of the benefits of working with a surrogacy agency during your surrogacy:

• A surrogacy professional to support you, answer your questions, and provide you with additional surrogacy professional references
• Help you match with a surrogate
• Walk you through the surrogacy medical process
• You’re guaranteed a baby at the end of your surrogacy journey
• And more

Moving on From Infertility Treatments

Don’t feel bad if you aren’t ready to move on from infertility to surrogacy yet. Infertility is difficult, but it doesn’t mean you can’t become a parent once you’re ready.

The best way to determine that surrogacy is the right path for you after infertility is to talk to a surrogacy professional.