In fertility medicine, misinformation inflicts damage that clinical conditions alone rarely match. It delays diagnosis, redirects blame, and sends couples down years of wrong paths before anyone questions what they were told. Three beliefs in particular arise with such consistency and cause such measurable harm that they deserve to be addressed plainly. Dr. Richika Sahay Shukla, trained at AIIMS and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, and Co-Founder and Medical Director of India IVF Fertility, busts some of the most common myths surrounding fertility.
Myth #1: Infertility Is a Woman's Problem
The most socially damaging assumption is that infertility belongs solely to women. Male factor infertility contributes to 40 to 50 percent of all cases, a figure backed by the Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction. Across clinics in India, the pattern repeats: women arrive alone, get tested, undergo treatment, and often endure repeated hormone injections and IVF cycles for a condition originating entirely with their partner. Husbands remain unevaluated.
Male sperm count in Indian cities has declined an estimated 30 percent over two decades, driven by pollution, obesity, alcohol, and sedentary lifestyles. What keeps men away from testing is the cultural equation of fertility with masculinity—the idea that a semen analysis carries a verdict on their identity. That belief costs couples their most fertile years. A semen analysis takes twenty minutes; the consequences of avoiding it stretch far longer.
Myth #2: IVF Belongs Earlier in the Conversation
The belief that IVF is a last resort, reserved for older women after every other option has been exhausted, is responsible for more failed outcomes than almost any clinical factor. Couples wait five to eight years, working through home remedies and lifestyle interventions, before walking into a fertility clinic. By then, egg reserve has declined, embryo quality has dropped, and treatment that would have been straightforward at 28 becomes genuinely complex at 36.
IVF is recommended based on diagnosis: blocked tubes, endometriosis, genetic conditions, autoimmune factors, and male factor infertility. Many of these affect couples in their 20s and early 30s. Medical need determines the recommendation; age is simply one variable within that.
Endometriosis, in particular, is frequently overlooked because its symptoms are normalized. Severe menstrual pain, heavy bleeding, and pain during intercourse are often dismissed as routine, when they may signal an underlying condition affecting fertility. Many women spend years managing these symptoms without seeking specialized care, only to receive a diagnosis later when trying to conceive. By then, the condition may have already impacted ovarian reserve, egg quality, or caused structural complications. In fertility medicine, delay carries a biological cost that falls entirely on the couple.
Myth #3: A Difficult Number Closes the Door
The belief that a low egg count or low sperm count leaves donor conception as the only option sends couples into grief before medicine has had a proper conversation. The reality is considerably more nuanced. A low AMH reflects the quantity of eggs remaining, with no direct bearing on their quality. Younger women with low AMH frequently achieve IVF success rates comparable to peers with normal AMH because their eggs remain biologically healthy despite being fewer in number. Modified stimulation protocols, egg accumulation cycles, DHEA supplementation, and emerging ovarian rejuvenation therapies all offer pathways to IVF with a woman's own eggs. A blood test result is one data point; clinical decisions require considerably more.
On the male side, ICSI requires only one healthy sperm per egg. Men with severely low counts can father biological children through IVF with ICSI. In cases of azoospermia, where no sperm appears in the semen, surgical retrieval procedures including TESA, PESA, and Micro-TESE can locate and extract sperm directly from the testis. There is also a growing role for emerging testicular rejuvenation techniques. Men who receive a zero count have gone on to father biological children through these methods. Between a difficult number and a donor, there is an entire landscape of medicine. Most couples in India are never shown it because the assumption arrives before the consultation does.
These beliefs persist because they are woven into how fertility has been discussed in India for generations. Medicine has moved considerably since then. The couples who absorb that movement early—who get both partners tested, who understand what IVF actually addresses, and who ask what a number means before accepting what it rules out—consistently have more to work with.
