Understanding Your Exact Test Results

Your Exact Sperm DNA Test results provide important information about your reproductive health which can help you make informed decisions about lifestyle changes or treatments to improve your fertility.

Exact tests measure sperm DNA fragmentation (damage) which could be a significant factor affecting your fertility.

It is important to understand:

The Exact test result shows 3 different indicators of DNA fragmentation compared against a fertile reference range:

Understanding Your Test Results

1. Healthy Sperm

Your healthy sperm result shows the percentage of sperm with low DNA fragmentation in the semen sample.

If your percentage is between 58 – 100%, you are within the fertile range.

2. Average Sperm DNA Fragmentation

Average Sperm DNA Fragmentation is the average percentage of DNA fragmentation per sperm in the semen sample.

If your result falls within 0 – 31%, you are within the fertile range.

If your result falls between 31 – 100%, you are outside of the fertile range and have an increased risk of infertility.

3. Unhealthy Sperm

Your unhealthy sperm result shows the percentage of sperm with high DNA fragmentation in the semen sample.

If your percentage is between 0 – 7%, you are within the fertile range.

Can you improve an abnormal result?

Badly damaged sperm DNA is sometimes associated with lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol, recreational drug use, anabolic steroid use, and a poor diet. It may also indicate a medical issue such as varicocele (variocose vein on the scrotum) or infection.

Take positive action:

Do:

  • Talk to a male fertility expert: They can often help you to improve your sperm quality through simple outpatient interventions.
  • Quit smoking: Tobacco is toxic to sperm. Smoking over 20 cigarettes a day reduces sperm count and motility. Smoking also produces free radicals that damage sperm’s  DNA.
  • Limit alcohol: More than 2 pints of beer or 1 large glass of wine a day increases your  risk of infertility
  • Ditch the drugs: Cannabis affects sperm’s ability to find the egg, let alone fertilise it!
  • Eat healthily: A balanced diet has many health benefits, and sperm needs nutrients too.
  • De-stress: Stress produces free radicals which can limit sperm production and impact sperm DNA quality.
  • Stay cool: Sperm production is best at a lower temperature; tight underwear,   compression shorts and sitting for long periods or cycling can damage your sperm.

Every step is a positive change, supporting the health and quality of your sperm DNA

For more information on how to improve your sperm DNA, click here.



Learn about the test



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