Very few members of the penis-owning club are aware that semen can come in all sorts of colours—the standard whitish grey, to yellow, green, red, and brown. Given that it’s made up of various components like vitamins, enzymes, proteins, and minerals, it’s very normal if your reproductive juice changes slightly in colour, smell, and texture.
Discover our latest podcast
But drastic changes in colour can indicate that your body is going through something far more complicated.
Healthy semen
First things first, how do you know if your semen is healthy?
According to Medical News Today, healthy semen is usually a ‘cloudy white colour’ that has a ‘jelly-like’ consistency. The tint of white can alter depending on each individual, with some having more greyish hues than others and having clear semen is also considered normal.
Healthy sperm will also generally have a more alkaline smell that resembles bleach.
Yellow or green
If you ejaculated shortly after urinating and noticed that your semen has a yellow or green tint to it, then you need not worry either. In the process of urination, it is not unusual for some of the urine to be held back in the urethra. Consequently, when semen mixes with the leftover urine while passing the urethra, it then mixes together—hence the yellowish green semen upon ejaculation.
Yellow and green semen can also, however, be a sign of other issues which include:
- Jaundice
- Sexually transmitted infections (usually accompanied with foul smelling semen)
- Infrequent ejaculation
- Changes in diet
- Prostate infection
Red or brown
As soon as you see pink, red, or brown tinge ejaculation, you should know that there is a high probability that there is blood present in your semen. This condition is often referred to as hematospermia and luckily, it's not as scary as it sounds. In fact, experts from Cleveland and Clinic say:
Hematospermia may naturally cause concern for men who experience it. However, it is not likely to be a sign of a major health problem.
It could be due to a rupture in a blood vessel from intense masturbation or sex and it usually will go away quite quickly. In cases where hematospermia is a cause for concern, you will notice other symptoms lingering on as well.
For example, individuals who have bloody semen because of high blood pressure will also experience shortness of breath, nose bleeds, and headaches. Whilesexually transmitted diseases that triggers hematospermia will cause pain during urination, inflammation, along with yellow-coloured discharge.
