Still, looking for a suitable partner? Completing your studies? Or even focusing on your career? Whatever the reason maybe as to why you are not ready to start a family, preserving fertility is an effective method that helps you not to worry because we give you the option of freezing your eggs. Our doctors can help you understand how egg freezing works, the potential risks and whether this method of fertility preservation is right for you based on your needs and reproductive history.
The quality of a woman’s eggs, her ovarian reserve, diminishes with age while the reproductive organs maintain their ability to carry a pregnancy. The decrease in quality is relatively gradual until the age of 35, after which the rate increases. When egg quality decreases, the chance of pregnancy decreases and the risk of miscarriage and genetic abnormality increases. Egg freezing offers you flexibility in delaying pregnancy for later in life and allows you to take control of your own biological clock.
For the best chance of success at a live birth in the future, it is best to freeze your eggs before you are 34. By doing so, the eggs stored may still be of sufficient quality for freezing and you are more likely to use them in the future. But keep in mind that the decision to freeze eggs varies from woman to woman depending on her age, where she is at in her life, and the reasons behind her wanting to freeze her eggs.
For women under 30, the doctors recommend freezing at least 12 eggs. Women typically ovulate one egg each month, representing one chance at a possible pregnancy—so 12 eggs represent about a year’s worth of fertility. Because the majority of women under 30 are able to get pregnant within a year, freezing 12 eggs gives those women a 65–85% chance to motherhood.
Due to a women’s age, there’s a lower chance of each individual egg being normal, the fertility experts recommend freezing more eggs to achieve that same chance of pregnancy later on. For women 31–35, they recommend freezing 12–24 eggs.
The patient will be given hormonal medication that stimulates the ovaries to produce mature eggs, which are then harvested during a short invasive surgical procedure. These will then be frozen through a fast-freezing process that ensures the cells remain structurally intact and are not damaged. When you are ready for pregnancy, your eggs are thawed and fertilized using IVF- ICSI.
There are many factors that impact the success of egg freezing and thawing procedures include: