If you are about to undergo IVF, or, indeed, looking at the possibility of this sometime in the future, you will no doubt want to know about improving the chances of IVF success.
We all know that this is not a foolproof procedure and most women will need more than one cycle to achieve a pregnancy.
There are a number of ways of improving the chances IVF success and one way to do this is to look at the personal care products we use everyday.
On average, we women use around a dozen personal products each day.
These contain various chemicals and substances which can aggravate fertility problems.
It is possible to increase the chances of conception by learning which products could be harmful and avoiding them wherever possible.
One group of chemicals to watch out for are parabens.
This is a preservative which is found in many different products including moisturizers and shampoos.
You can usually spot them on labels as they will often have the prefix propyl, methyl, butyl and ethyl.
These chemicals are often known as "false estrogens" as they can mimic the effect of real estrogen on the body, disrupting the hormonal balance and causing fertility problems.
This also applies to men too.
A number of personal care products contain phthalates which are believed to contribute to tumors in the testicles, a lowered sperm count and general hormonal imbalances.
Therefore, if your partner is providing the sperm, then looking out for, and avoiding these products can help with improving the chances of IVF success.
It would be impractical to say that you must avoid these chemicals altogether, but by simply being aware and choosing alternatives wherever possible is sensible.
For example, if you do a search for organically produced alternatives, there are many available and many are reasonably priced and do just as good a job.