There's nothing like becoming a father.

Roughly 60% of the time, male infertility is the primary reason why couples can’t have children¹⁴. Fertility, however, is a broad and complex subject. So diagnosing and treating its causes takes exceptional skill and, in many cases, specialized training. Few facilities have the technical expertise to treat infertility effectively, which is one component that sets Maze Men’s Sexual and Reproductive Health apart from other providers.

Michael A. Werner, MD, Maze’s founder, is eminently well-qualified. A board-certified urologist and microsurgeon, Dr. Werner has written extensively and lectured widely on male infertility and sexual dysfunction. His knowledge of advanced techniques is unsurpassed. For example, he routinely performs varicocelectomies, a highly successful way to reverse male infertility — that is also minimally invasive.

Dr. Werner is the only physician in the U.S. offering Extended Sperm Search & Microfreeze (ESSM), which has found sperm in 44% of men who were diagnosed with azoospermia, or no sperm in the ejaculate. Furthermore, he has also pioneered a groundbreaking procedure which combines two existing techniques that both diagnoses the presence of sperm and procures it in one minimally invasive procedure.

At Maze, finding the best possible treatment for you means choosing procedures that are the least invasive, the most cost-effective and, above all, the best suited to your individual needs.

We will pursue multiple paths of inquiry. Most patients come in with a wife or partner, so if there’s any possibility that her infertility is at issue, we’ll suggest that she pursue a parallel exploration with outside experts whom we respect. (Maze doesn’t treat female infertility directly). By coordinating our efforts with those experts, we’ll find a treatment that makes the best use of your resources.

Male infertility is a broad and complex area, so the information presented here should be seen as a general introduction. That said, you may be unaware that, in 60% of cases, a male factor contributes to a couples’ infertility¹⁴. That’s why it makes sense to evaluate the man’s role as well as the woman’s in these cases, and to know that there are a variety of male infertility treatments to help a couple reach their goals. Learn More

A semen analysis helps determine whether there is a male factor involved in a couple’s infertility. Some findings of the semen analysis suggest certain specific potential problems, while other abnormalities in many of the main parameters are non-specific. For example, there are a number of different causes for a decreased sperm count or diminished sperm movement, a few of which have other serious medical implications. A thorough evaluation helps determine the cause of an abnormal semen analysis and rules out medical problems. Learn More

If you’re familiar with “varicose veins” in the legs you will understand varicoceles as the same condition, dilated (enlarged) group of veins, but in the scrotum. The dilated veins are filled with excess blood. Studies show, with an unusual degree of unanimity, that there is one best way to repair a varicocele: the microscopic sub-inguinal varicocelectomy with ultrasound guidance. Learn More

Azoospermia is the term that’s used when there is virtually no sperm count in the ejaculate. Even if this is the case, the surprising reality is that sperm may still be produced but not delivered to the semen, or that interventions may help the man produce sperm. In those cases where, after intervention, there is still no sperm in the ejaculate, there may be a possibility of harvesting small amounts of sperm, which have been produced in the testes as a result of the interventions. These sperm may be used in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm insertion (ICSI). Learn More

There is a crescent-shaped duct within the scrotum that collects sperm from the seminiferous tubules, called the epididymis. While sperm are passing through the epididymis, they mature and gain movement. In some men, the epididymis becomes blocked, preventing sperm from entering the vas deferens and getting into the ejaculate. An epididymal obstruction does not mean you have untreatable infertility. There are a number of options available to patients suffering from the blockage. Learn More

In 44% of azoospermic men, there will be a small number of sperm that exists in the ejaculate but can’t be detected in a standard semen analysis. ESSM is a revolutionary, new procedure, performed exclusively at Maze in the U.S., that effectively finds and freezes sperm. Learn More

Sperm mapping, or Testes mapping, is a procedure done on the testes to determine if there are sperm producing areas in the testes. This test is useful because the testes are “heterogeneous” meaning that different areas of the testes have different patterns of sperm production. Thus, although a majority of the areas of your testes may produce no sperm, there may be some harder-to-find areas that do. The importance of sperm mapping is it can tell us if there are sperm producing areas in the testes, and where they are. Learn More