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Does the Size of Ovaries Matter for Conception?

Team AckoFeb 8, 2024

In a woman’s body, ovaries are situated between the uterus and fallopian tubes. They are vital for reproduction. The ovaries undergo a lot of changes during a woman’s lifetime. They begin to form when the female embryo is about 8 weeks old. As pregnancy continues, there are many changes happening in the ovaries. This prepares the ovaries for their role in reproduction when she plans to have a child later on.

Contents

Age
Ovarian disorders
Infertility

During puberty, ovulation occurs for the first time as a result of hormonal changes and the size and weight of the ovary increases. In an adult woman, the average size of ovaries is 3.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 1.5 cm. Later, when menopause sets in, the number of eggs in the ovaries decreases, ovulation stops and the ovary size decreases to the size when she was first conceived. These changes happen gradually.

Now let's talk about the ovary size at length. Let’s seek answers to few questions. In the child-bearing years, will the size of the ovary matter? Are the chances of getting pregnant more if the size of ovary is small or big?

Definitely yes! With small ovaries, the number of eggs is less. Hence, there can be difficulties in having a normal and full-term pregnancy. However, large ovaries do not always imply that the egg reserve is high. Cysts, tumours, can make the ovary size large, affecting ovulation and conceiving too. This condition is called polycystic ovaries. There are other factors too, which have an impact on the ovary size.

Factors that influence the size of the ovaries

Age

As mentioned in the beginning, the size of ovary keeps varying during a woman's whole life. When ovulation is happening, the size of the ovary increases.

Ovarian disorders

Gynaecological disorders like PCOS, corpus leuteum and follicular cysts, increases the ovary size, which causes pain and internal bleeding. These disorders when not treated by the doctor, can hinder conception.

Infertility

If the diagnosis is infertility, women are given hormonal injections to stimulate ovaries, which release the eggs for fertilization. This causes the ovaries to grow in size.

In order to have a better chance at pregnancy, the right ovary size is 3.5 cm x 2.5 cm x 1.5 cm. This size of ovary will have sufficient number of eggs. Along with the right ovary size, the size of egg also matters while trying to get pregnant.

For healthy ovaries and eggs, work on improving your overall health. Regular exercise, eating right, healthy body weight, stress management and avoiding alcohol and smoking are few lifestyle changes to be incorporated in your daily routine and followed regularly.

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