Retrograde ejaculation: what it is and how to recognize it ?

L’éjaculation rétrograde, qu’est-ce que c’est ?

L’Académie nationale de médecine la définit comme une "anomalie de l’éjaculation", à travers laquelle le sperme passe dans la vessie lors de la contraction des muscles périnéaux qui accompagnent l’orgasme.

What is due to what specialists call retrograde ejaculation ? In what we call "retrograde ejaculation", the sensations remain unchanged .

On the other hand, the sperm does indeed take an unexpected path: it somehow goes back towards the bladder rather than heading towards the urethra and therefore towards the outside…hellip;

It is due to the opening of the bladder neck, the narrowed part of the bladder which communicates with the urethra and through which urine evacuates during release of the sphincter.

This can occur after surgical treatment of prostatic hypertrophy, likely to cause "anatomical and mechanical modifications which result in the vast majority of cases in the absence of emission of sperm during ejaculation", reports the ;Saint-Louis Hospital (AP-HP). The sperm then imprints a so-called ‘retrograde’ and is found in the bladder. And since it is not evacuated through the urethra, it is then " emitted secondarily in the urine during urination".

Sperm in urine…

In addition to this side effect of intervention, retrograde ejaculation can also be linked to "dysfunction", as highlighted by the National Academy of Medicine, which cites "diabetic neuropathy" or "damage to the lumbar sympathetic nerve". The diagnosis is generally made when "the discovery of spermatozoa in the urine after masturbation or sexual intercourse", continues the&rsquo ;Academy.

Treatment-wise, since retrograde ejaculation is not harmful, it generally does not require intervention unless it interferes with fertility. In this case, treatment will depend on the underlying cause.