A varicocele is when veins become enlarged inside your scrotum (the pouch of skin that holds your testicles). These veins are called the pampiniform plexus. Out of one hundred males, ten to fifteen have varicocele. It is like getting a varicose vein in your leg.
What Happens Normally?
The male reproductive system makes, stores, and moves sperm. The scrotum is the sac of skin that holds the testicles (testes). Sperm and the hormone testosterone are made in the testicles. Sperm mature while moving through a coiled tube (the epididymis) behind each testicle.
Sperm travel to the prostate from each epididymis using a tube called the vas deferens. When you ejaculate, seminal fluid mixes with sperm in the prostate to form semen. The semen travels through the urethra and comes out the end of your penis.
The spermatic cord holds the vas deferens and the testicular artery, which brings blood to the testicle. It also houses the pampiniform plexus, a group of veins that drains the blood from the testicles. Testes need a certain body heat that is below our core body heat for optimal sperm production, maturity and function. The body heat in the scrotum is about five degrees lower than that of the belly or pelvis. The latter is due to the presence of pampiniform plexus, which act as a countercurrent heat exchanger, cooling blood in the testicular artery before it enters the testicles. This helps keep it at the body heat needed to make good quality sperms. When these veins become enlarged such as in varicocele, overheating of the testes can lower sperm production and function leading to a lower fertility potential.
What are Varicoceles?
Varicoceles are when the pampiniform plexus veins in the scrotum become enlarged. These veins are like varicose veins (twisted, swollen veins, found in the leg.) Varicoceles form during puberty. They can grow larger and you may notice them more over time. Varicoceles are more common on the left side of the scrotum. This is because the male anatomy is not the same on both sides. Varicoceles can exist on both sides at the same time, but this is rare. About 10 to 15 boys out of 100 have a varicocele.
Most of the time, varicoceles cause no problems and are harmless. Less often varicoceles can cause pain, problems fathering a child, or one testicle to grow slower or shrink.