Infertility is more likely to be caused by the woman.

Not. Although infertility was more often caused by the woman in the past years, things have changed dramatically in the last five years. Now, the couple's infertility is caused in 40% by the male, 40% by the female and in 20% by the combination of problems of both partners.

2. Couples who already have a child are not at risk of infertility.

Not. Between the first and the second pregnancy, women may experience problems that prevent fertilization - secondary infertility of the pair. Up to 25% of all couples suffer from this problem.

3. Woman's age plays no role in fertilization attempts.

Not. The age of the woman is essential in the fertilization attempts. Fertility of women is beginning to decline after the age of 30; after the age of 35, it drops very rapidly. With increasing age, not only the number but also the quality of eggs decrease in women and artificial reproduction often becomes the only way to conceive a child.

4. If a woman menstruates, she is able to bear a child.

Not. Female fertility is affected by the number and the quality of her eggs. At the age of 45 years, donor eggs are almost the only chance for women's conception, even though they may still menstruate.

5. Methods of assisted reproduction increase the fertile age of women.

Unfortunately, eggs get older like us, and their quality is poor due to increasing age, the possibility of conception through assisted reproduction will substantially reduce. Successful fertilization and subsequent embryo viability require healthy, high-quality reproductive cells, even under laboratory conditions. The treatment with donated eggs may be offered in cases of insufficient quality of eggs.

6. Infertility is not a disease.

Not. World Health Organization has recognized infertility as a disease.

7. Children conceived through assisted reproduction are more sick.

Not. Children conceived through assisted reproduction are doing exactly the same way as children conceived in the normal way. No scientific studies have shown that these children were more vulnerable to disease or had higher risk of other defects.

8. Healthy lifestyle is essential for conceiving a child.

Not necessarily. A healthy lifestyle contributes to good health and fitness of men and women; however, it does not affect the quality of reproductive cells.

9. The number of spermatozoa in 1 ml of men is the same as 15 years ago.

Unfortunately, not. Poor sperm cells or their small number are among the leading causes of couple infertility. 15 years ago the standard was 80 million sperm per millilitre; now it is about 15 million. The cause of the decline in sperm counts and mobility cannot be clearly determined. Civilization factors such as lifestyle, environment, where the man moves, stress, smoking, excess alcohol, but also illness in infancy all contribute.

10. A 50-year old woman can spontaneously conceive

Real chance of spontaneous pregnancy at the age of 48-52 years is almost non-existent. There are only sporadic pregnancies and the probability decreases virtually to zero after the age of fifty.

11. The method of assisted reproduction is very expensive;

It always depends on the specific problems of the couple, which vary. If a couple uses e.g. only IUI, i.e. intrauterine insemination, which is a method of inserting cleansed and concentrated sperm into the uterus during ovulation using a special catheter, the price is about € 350, while a pair that will be managed in a complex way, i.e. use all IVF methods, may pay up to thousands of Euro.