Egg Freezing

As women get older, they may encounter difficulty getting pregnant (conceiving) with a healthy baby. Women are born with about 1-2 million eggs. Most of the eggs die off naturally (just like the way we lose skin and hair cells every day). By the time a girl reaches puberty, she is left with about half a million eggs. As she gets older, especially as women enter their mid- to late-30s and 40s, the eggs disappear more quickly. Also, the eggs that remain might be less able to lead to a healthy pregnancy because of the normal age effects on egg quality.

Biologically, it is easier to get pregnant before age 30. However, due to professional, social, or health reasons, a woman might not be ready to get pregnant at that time and she might want to defer having a child until the time is right for her. Understanding the normal age effect on future fertility, these women may seek out treatments to remove and freeze eggs to be saved for potential use in the future.

Many medical diagnoses, conditions or treatments can compromise the pateienrs fertility. These conditions can include· You have a condition or circumstance that can affect your fertility. These might include sickle cell anemia, autoimmune diseases such as lupus, and gender diversity, such as being transgender.· You need treatment for cancer or another illness that can affect your ability to get pregnant. Certain medical treatments — such as radiation or chemotherapy — can harm your fertility. Egg freezing before treatment might enable you to have biological children later.· You’re undergoing in vitro fertilization.

When undergoing in vitro fertilization, some people prefer egg freezing to embryo freezing for religious or ethical reasons.· You wish to preserve younger eggs now for future use. Freezing eggs at a younger age might help you get pregnant when you’re ready.

THE PROCESS

The actual treatment process is similar to the first part of the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process used to treat some patients with infertility. Briefly, a woman would have 10-12 days of daily injections to cause a group of her eggs to mature and develop. During this time, blood levels and ultrasounds will be done to track her response to the medicines. To remove the matured eggs, the woman would then undergo a brief (15- 30 minute, typically) outpatient procedure usually under light anesthesia to harvest the eggs. Once removed and inspected by a trained scientist–an

Every woman is different regarding the effects of age on her fertility, keep in mind; some women into their early 40s do not suffer infertility. However, most experts agree that elective egg freezing is most successful for woman younger than 38 years of age.

Before starting a freezing cycle, a woman would need to have screening tests (blood work and ultrasound) to determine if egg freezing is appropriate for her. Every woman is different regarding the effects of age on her fertility, keep in mind; some women into their early 40s do not suffer infertility. However, most experts agree that elective egg freezing is most successful for woman younger than 38 years of age.

Understanding that cryopreserved eggs are not a guarantee of a future baby, a woman should start trying to conceive as soon as she feels “ready” and able. One concern is that a woman might have a sense of “false security” if she freezes eggs. She might delay her attempts to conceive until she is much older (whereas she might have started trying at an earlier age, with greater success, if she hadn’t frozen eggs in the first place). In addition to thinking about success rates of using frozen eggs, women should also understand the potential medical risks and psychosocial concerns of parenting at an advanced age.

Many of the studies showing successful pregnancies with frozen eggs have only looked at women freezing their eggs in their 20s or early 30s Another concern among fertility experts is that those pregnancy rates won’t be as high for women trying to freeze eggs in their late 30s or early 40s.