Skin-bleaching blamed for low sperm counts among young Jamaican men

With Jamaica recording a reduction in birth rates in recent years, obstetrician-gynaecologists are blaming skin bleaching creams for lower sperm counts in the island’s younger generation of men.

Along with the country recording lower birth rates in recent years, the medical practitioners are fearful that infertility is on the rise among both genders in Jamaica.

Addressing the topic last Thursday, during The American College of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists (ACOG) West Indies Section’s Infertility Update, held at the Summit Kingston hotel in New Kingston, was Dr Kamali Carroll, lecturer and chief embryologist, Caribbean Fertility Center, who presented on the decrease and decline in overall sperm quality worldwide.

“It has really become an interesting problem because we are not really able to identify exactly what is happening and why it’s happening, but there are certain risk factors that have become very highlighted in recent years, so [for example] the increase in obesity, the increase in chronic illnesses, excessive marijuana use, and notice I said ‘excessive’. But these are all some of the things that are contributing,” Carroll told The Gleaner.

“In terms of locally, a big issue that we are having here and seeing is a lot of young men coming with decreased counts and it’s associated with skin bleaching creams, and, yes, we need to educate them and tell them. We tell them a lot of the times, ‘Your sperm count is low. We notice that you’re using these creams that are not good for your sperm count, so you kind of need to ease up on them’, but they choose not to, and so we really need to do a lot more in terms of the education and research of that,” she said.

Dr Jordan Hardie, chairman, ACOG West Indies Section – which is the largest group in the Western Hemisphere – was also one of the numerous panellists who stressed that infertility is on the rise among the Jamaica population and drew on data for his arguments.

“The reproductive health survey noted a decline in birth rates from 4.5 in 1975 to 1.9 in 2021, and what is of great concern is that we are noting a decline in fertility in both genders, so males’ semen quality and sperm counts are falling, and our women, many of them are having challenges achieving pregnancies, so we are here to discuss different techniques and technologies that we have at our disposal to assist our patients in achieving their fertility,” Hardie told The Gleaner.

Treatment options

For the options available, Sharifa Frederick outlined the options with ovulation induction.

“Ovulation induction is basically looking at women who are trying to get pregnant. Maybe they don’t have regular periods, they don’t ovulate, so it’s actually devising a plan through medications and procedures to help them to conceive,” Frederick said.

“A lot of patients nowadays, who are seeking fertility care are older patients, 35 [years old] and above, so they would be throttled with things like ovarian insufficiency, meaning that the ovaries are now ageing and so they will have a lot of difficulties in getting pregnant. Even when they come to us, fertility specialists, it’s very difficult sometimes, because we can’t turn back the clock, so we now have to offer them novel things to get pregnant, one of which is getting donor eggs for them.”

She said a lot of the fertility-troubled women are against transplants, because they would say, “That’s not my child”, so there is also work that needs to be done to encourage them and read testimonies of other women who have gone through with the procedures.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com