Whether or not, and when, you should redo sperm testing depends on why you’re testing in the first place. If you’ve received a completely normal result, you may not need or want to repeat sperm testing at this time.
If you’ve received an abnormal sperm testing result that you believe is due to a spilled or contaminated sample, a too-short period of abstinence prior to the test, illness or fever at the time of the test, or some other anomaly, you can retest again after 2–5 days of abstinence from ejaculation.
For those who have had a vasectomy, you should test your sperm approximately 12 weeks after the surgery to ensure it was successful. For those who are doing sperm testing after a vasectomy reversal, the recommended frequency is to retest once per month for 12 months, to ensure that sperm count and quality are recovering as they should.
For those who are making lifestyle changes and hope to see improvements in their sperm testing results, it’s important to know that sperm take about 74 days to produce through the process of spermatogenesis. Therefore, any changes will take at least 2–3 months to affect your sperm testing results. If you’ve, for example, quit smoking or started an exercise routine, you may want to retest again 3 months later to see how that change has improved your fertility health.