Question:
I never knew of such a thing as varicose veins damaging testicles until my wife and I had difficulty producing a second child at age 36. Bummer! Anybody know more about this and its treatment?

Answer: -It is known as a varicocele, a varicose condition of the spermatic cord. It usually occurs in the left testicle. It does not "damage" the testicle but rather it is believed to raise the temperature of the scrotum enough to inhibit or reduce sperm production. The treatment is to surgically "repair" the varicocele, which involve abdominal surgery much like a hernia. The success rate is OK. I had the surgery 7 years ago and it did not help me. -Varicose Veins are an enlagement of the testiculare vein or the Pampinifore Plexus. In 10% of all men you will be able to find varicouse veins, usually on the left side (about 90%). In patients with infertility problems varicose veins occure in about 30%. As you said, varicose veins can damage the testicular function by an unknows mechanism: elevated temperature or reduced O(2)-levels are discussed. The diagosis is made by Doppler-ultrasound. A normal physical exam is insufficiant to reveal small varicose veins. Usually patients don't know that they have a varicose vein in the scrotum unless they become extremly large. Even though even small varicose veins can couse problems in terms of decreased fertility. A typical sign of testicular damage by varicose veins are lage changes of sperm density in follow up exsms.Only if you find these changes treatment can increase fertility.