With advancing female age, the egg reserve and the quality deteriorates. Egg freezing is the process of preserving eggs in healthy condition until the female is ready to conceive later in life. There are many myths attached to the process of egg freezing.
However, at MotherToBe Fertility Centre, counseling sessions help instill confidence in women enabling them to undergo this process easily. We have the expertise and the technology needed to offer egg freezing services to women wanting to conceive later in life due to their careers, health issues or are undergoing chemotherapy.
“Egg freezing for cancer patients before starting chemotherapy helps preserve fertility.”
Women about to start chemotherapy can attain early menopause , i.e. the stoppage of periods with no chance of pregnancy. It is essential to offer this fertility preservation option to these women before starting chemotherapy to preserve their fertility.
What is egg freezing?
- Egg freezing is a method of freezing healthy eggs extracted from the ovaries, enabling a woman to conceive later in life when she is ready.
- Women may need to delay childbearing due to demanding jobs or due to wrong timing to have a baby. It can also appeal to women who have not found the right partner, and their biological age is passing away. Egg freezing helps these women preserve fertility.
When should I freeze my eggs?
- Fertility in women peaks in the twenties. Once a woman’s age is 30 years, fertility starts declining, and after reaching 35 years of age, fertility declines drastically. Two out of three women presenting to us with fertility issues once more than 35 years of age have very few eggs. It is not just the number, but the quality of eggs declines drastically with age.
- If you are thinking about freezing eggs, remember that the earlier, the better. The late twenties or early thirties is a good age to freeze eggs, so the chances of having a baby later with frozen eggs is better. As age increases, quality and quantity decline; this can be an issue if a woman presents for freezing eggs after 35 years though it can still be considered.
What is the procedure for egg freezing?
- It is similar to undergoing IVF in that hormone injections called FSH are given for about 9-10 days. Once follicles are the right size, the eggs are collected under short anesthetic and frozen.
- We use the latest technique for freezing called vitrification, which gives excellent results, and the eggs can be frozen for any number of years.
How much does egg freezing cost?
The cost is similar to the IVF cycle but, in addition, involves freezing and storage. When the eggs are used, they will be thawed, and the ICSI process will be done with the husband’s sperm and the embryo replaced. Every year storage costs will have to be paid.
How successful is the process of egg freezing?
- The results are excellent using the vitrification technique, which is the latest technique to freeze eggs. The expertise of the embryologist matters most here. At the KIMS fertility center, the results of oocytes surviving post thawing are more than 90%.
- Once the woman decides to get pregnant, these eggs are thawed, ICSI with the husband’s sperm is carried out. Embryos formed in the lab are replaced in the uterus, and the results are similar to eggs obtained from a fresh IVF cycle.
What are the risks involved in egg freezing?
- To the women – it is a safe procedure. There are no significant risks involved with one or two egg freezing cycles.
- To the baby – conceived using frozen eggs-there are more than 5000 babies born worldwide using this technique. Studies have shown there are no additional risks of either chromosomal or other abnormalities in these babies. It is a safe procedure.
How many eggs need to be frozen?
As a thumb rule, approximately ten eggs are needed to achieve a pregnancy. Most women with a good number of eggs would suffice to collect that number of eggs. However, if the woman’s age is advanced or the number of eggs is less, they would need to undergo several cycles to obtain a good number of eggs. So, in general, we would advise undergoing two cycles.
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