What is preejaculate? Is it sperm or not? Can you start from it? Are the risks high? Is there anything other than pregnancy? Let's talk about everything in order.
What is preejaculate?
Preejaculate, it is pre-seminal fluid, it is also pre-seminal fluid, it is also Cooper's fluid - it is a transparent secretion that is released from the penis in a state of sexual arousal. Cooper's glands and Littre's glands, located near the urethra, the same tube through which sperm and urine leave a man's body, are thought to produce pre-seminal fluid.
Amin Gerati, MD, a urologist at Johns Hopkins University, explains that before ejaculation, it prepares the urethra for sperm to pass through. The fact is that urine creates an acidic environment that is very unfavorable for sperm. The pre-seminal fluid is needed to neutralize the residual acidity and make the path safe for the seed. In general, consider precum as an artist who opens the main headliner of the show.
Wait, so there are sperm in the foreskin?
No, they don't live there. But these little tailed sources of trouble can remain in the urethra if your partner ejaculates before sex—especially if he hasn't urinated afterward. And if all the stars align, Cooper's fluid may very well carry live sperm into your vagina.
"Usually that's not enough, " says Dr. Geraghty. "The chance of pregnancy from pre-menstruation is very low, but it's never zero. "
There is not as much research on this topic as we would like. In 2013, the journal Human Fertility published the results of one of them: scientists tested 40 pre-ejaculate samples provided by 27 men. Live sperm were found in the foreskin of 41% of the participants. True, you can not call them first-class: only 37% were mobile enough to make the trip to the uterus.
The authors of the study noted that all but one of the "samples" contained up to 23 million sperm. It sounds scary, but it's not really a number to be afraid of. In 2010, the WHO examined the sperm of 1, 953 men who were pregnantwomen in the past year, and only 2. 5% of those men had fewer than 23 million sperm in their semen.
And why are we even talking about preejaculate?
The question of pre-sperm is usually raised in relation to the interruption method (aka coitus interruptus - just like the name of a dinosaur, right? ) that couples often use for contraception. It consists of the man withdrawing his penis from the vagina just before ejaculation to minimize the risk of pregnancy.
As you can probably guess, this is not the most effective protection method: its reliability is only 78% under "normal" (non-ideal) performance. And it certainly doesn't protect against sexually transmitted diseases. But the precum is hardly to blame for the do-it-yourself method's dubiousness: there are no studies to answer the question of when pregnancy occurred due to pre-seminal fluid and when - due to semen, a drop of which still ended up in the vagina due to male carelessness.
So the problem isn't that pre-seminal fluid contains a lot of sperm that you can get pregnant from. The point is that it is very difficult to use the interrupt method perfectly. If you are worried about two lines, choose condoms that have a 2% failure rate. Also, make sure your partner puts on a condom before his penis is in your vagina.
If you are going to resort to breaking up, then remember: it requires trust in the lover. Do you know for sure that he is in control and will always follow the rules you have established together? Discuss emergency contraception: remember that it is more expensive than condoms, and if the interruption is chosen by the economy, then you can get into trouble.
And, of course, there are STDs. If you've both been tested and don't have unprotected sex with other people, then you've done everything to avoid such diseases. But if these two points are not fulfilled, it should be taken into account: without barrier contraception, it is very easy to take something unpleasant.
And the infection happens regardless of ejaculation. For example, gonorrhea and chlamydia often have secretions from the genital tract that can transmit infection, and for some STDs, skin-to-skin contact is sufficient. Condoms will not protect against the latter, but help reduce the number of contacts.
Well, let's summarize. Precum is a pretty interesting thing that serves a purpose. Science still cannot confidently answer the question of how great the risk of pregnancy is because of it, but it does not matter. The bottom line is that if you rely on the interruption method and don't use condoms, you're putting yourself at risk for pregnancy and STDs. If this thought scares you, discuss it with your doctor: he will help you choose the remedies that best suit your lifestyle.