Overview
Women and Infertility
- Smoking affects the ovaries and damages the uterine wall reducing conception and implantation chances.
- Women who smoke and undergo in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer treatment of infertility may not respond as well to hormone stimulation.
- Heavy smokers have a higher likelihood of having abnormal vaginal bleeding than nonsmokers.
- Women who smoke are prone to early menopause.
- In some women infertility can be reversed after smoking cessation.
Men and Infertility
- Smoking is linked to low sperm counts and sluggish sperm motility.
- Smoking can gradually and permanently damage all blood vessels, including those that carry blood to the penis. This can make it difficult to get or maintain an erection.
- Men who quit smoking often have fewer problems achieving a normal erection.
