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Last Updated:
Sep 10th, 2007 - 18:59:21
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Question
Over the past year or two the amount of seminal fluid I ejaculte has decreased almost to the point of none at all. It was for a short period tinged with red but this has stopped now. My age is 63 and I wonder if this is just an aging process.
John
Answer
The First Question: There are three components to the ejaculate: Prostate fluid (about 60%), seminal vesicle fluid (the other 40%), and sperm (less than 1%). As men grow older their prostates interiorly develop a benign tumor called an “adenoma”. As this adenoma enlarges it not only reduces the ability of the prostate to produce its component of the ejaculate by compressing it but it squeezes the ductal drainage system of the seminal vesicles and reduces its contribution and/or diverts some of the ejaculatory fluid into the bladder. The result is diminished ejaculatory volume.
The answer to the second question is this: The red color seen in the ejaculate is blood. The formal term for this is “hematospermia”. Variations can include a brown or “motor oil” color. Its cause is unknown, and it is NOT an age-related phenomenon (can occur at any age after puberty). It is generally thought to be due to inflammation of either the prostate or the seminal vesicles. It will go away on its own (“self limiting” is the medical term). Sometimes a physician will elect to treat this inflammation with either an antibiotic or an anti-inflammatory…but I think this is a matter of doing something while Nature takes care of it on her own…
Dr. Gregory Polito
Gregory Polito, MD, KM, is President of the California Association of Natural Family Planning.
Dr. Polito is a urologist in private practice with vasovasostomy (vasectomy reversal) as a subspecialty.
He is a Member of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, and Chair of Board Quality Committee at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, CA.
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