I t is important to note that infertility and impotence are quite different entities. Failure to discern between the differences of the two is a needless cause of frustration, anxiety, embarrassment and stigma that goes with the latter term of impotence. Impotence means an inability to attain or sustain an erection for satisfactory sexual intercourse to take place. The term has no bearing whatsoever on the fertility status of the male. It is thus possible for a totally impotent man to be potentially fertile.
Artificial insemination can be successful by using the sperm of an impotent male.
Infertility, on the other hand, means an inability to produce children. This usually results from the husband's semen being infertile or sob-fertile. Most infertile men are perfectly normal in terms of potency and have very satisfactory sexual relations with their partners. A number of clinical conditions and diseases can be responsible for male infertility such as mumps, smallpox, viral infections, sexually transmitted diseases, testicular injury, environmental toxins, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, hormonal imbalance, vasectomy, testicular obstruction, spinal cord lesions, genetics, cystic fibrosis, general sexual dysfunction, and perhaps many more causes. Sometimes, in spite of the most meticulous search, no obvious cause can be found for the infertility.