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Does using lube during sex slow down the sperm or hurt your chances of getting pregnant?
—Lube-ing for Answers
The short answer is that it depends on the lubricant.
Unlike some things in fertility, this is a relatively easy question to answer (that’s often true of questions about sperm). The main features we care about with sperm are motility (how good they are at swimming) and morphology (whether they have the right shape). Because you can get sperm out of men fairly easily in most cases, you can put it in a petri dish with whatever you want and see how it behaves. From these kinds of experiments, we can evaluate whether lubricants affect sperm.
This summary paper, from 2024, looks at the overall evidence from many studies together. The authors find that some common lubricants — Replens, K-Y Jelly, Astroglide — do seem to have negative impacts on sperm functioning. This isn’t to say that they fully destroy sperm — K-Y Jelly is definitely not a birth control method — but they can have a negative impact on sperm health.
The better news is that these studies consistently find that Pre-Seed lubricant does not affect sperm performance. If you’re trying to conceive, that should be your first lubricant stop.
(Some couples also use natural lubricants — olive oil is not great for sperm, although egg whites seem to be fine. Overall, it may be easier to buy Pre-Seed than to separate eggs, but that’s up to you.)
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Preseed has a negative effect on sperm at high concentrations. Trust me, it is very very obvious under a microscope.
This likely doesn’t matter for couples using preseed to facilitate intercourse. But there is a common misconception amongst donor sperm recipients that Preseed is not only safe, but is actually a fertility aid, leading it to be used in situations where no lubrication is needed.
Studies that find a benign impact of Preseed test it at relatively low concentration levels (typically 10%) which is much less than what a donor sperm recipient would likely create should she mix the preseed into semen directly, as many say they do.
In “Sperm-friendly lubricant: Fact or Fiction?” Makram et al 2022 found that “all lubricants caused significant (P < 0.001) reductions in sperm forward progression compared with untreated controls” and “refuted” claims that preseed was benign.
In “The effects of coital lubricants on sperm motility and vitality”, Pradit et al characterized Preseed as safe but in fact found that motility after a half-an-hour in a 10% preseed solution declined from an initial value of 61% to 23%, versus 67% to 37% in a solution meant to mimic vaginal fluid (which itself is hostile to sperm).
In “Effect of vaginal lubricants on sperm motility and chromatin integrity: a prospective comparative study”, Agarwal et al found a relatively minor, but nonzero, excess decline in motility of 3% in sperm samples exposed to a 10% preseed solution.
I read another paper that compared pregnancy rates with lube and non lube users and found no difference. I understand it affects sperm motility, but what evidence is there that lube affects chances of conception? If it does, why don’t lubes have a disclaimer? I’ve been struggling with infertility for 8+ years ans this is the first I’ve heard of it.