Egg freezing is a new concept, but thousands of women worldwide have adopted it. Egg freezing, also called human oocyte cryopreservation, is a process of removing and preserving women’s eggs. Having your eggs extracted and stored for future purposes can give you the most suitable option to conceive later on. With time, it has become a popular choice for women to safeguard their fertility. In recent years, women have highly preferred this option as they find it suitable for them to delay their motherhood for personal, educational, or professional reasons.
In this article, we will explore everything you need to know about egg freezing — the process, benefits, risks, costs, and emotional considerations.
Egg freezing is a process that involves the extraction of eggs from women’s ovaries, freezing them, and storing them so that they can be used for future purposes. This could be used when a woman is ready to plan a family or wishes to start a new family. At this time, the eggs can be thawed, fertilized with sperm, and implanted in the uterus with the help of the IVF (Invirt fertilization) process. This helps make women ready physically, financially, emotionally, and mentally ready to conceive and give birth to a new baby. It also ensures that women do not have to face any potential issues that occur naturally hampering the quality and quantity of eggs with an increase in age. This affects the fertility of women with an increasing age so egg preservation proves to be an effective option for women.
There are many reasons why women opt for egg freezing, including the following:
The process of egg freezing involves several key steps, from stimulation to storage. Let’s take a look at each phase.
The procedure takes place with an initial consultation with your fertility specialist. This leads to the examination of your overall health especially your reproductive health by examining your health history. It also involves conducting an ultrasound so that ovaries can be evaluated and blood tests help in measuring hormone levels such as anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH). this gives an insight into your ovarian reserve so that the number of remaining eggs can be calculated easily.
After consultation, another stage goes with ovarian stimulation. Under this, you have to go through the course of hormone injections for approximately 1–14 days. It is meant to stimulate ovaries so that multiple eggs can be produced instead of a single egg which is generally produced during the natural menstrual cycle. The focus is on multiple eggs so to examine the quality required for freezing. The medication ensures that the frequency of egg products is increased and eggs are prepared for retrieval.
As you undergo ovary stimulation, close monitoring is needed so that your response tp the medication can be assessed. This typically involves blood tests and regular ultrasounds to track the growth of the follicles, which are the sacs containing the eggs.
After the development of eggs fully, a minor surgical procedure is involved for the retrieval of eggs. The process is performed under sedation where a needle is used to retrieve and collect the eggs for ovaries taking 20-30 minutes.
Once the eggs are retrieved, they are assessed for quality, and mature eggs are frozen. The freezing process is done through a method called vitrification, which involves rapidly freezing the eggs to prevent ice crystals from forming inside the cells. The frozen eggs are then stored in cryopreservation tanks until you are ready to use them.
The major factor that affects the success rate of egg freezing or influences it is Age. The fertility of women declines naturally as they grow with their age, especially after the age of 35. It leads to a decrease in both the quality and quantity of eggs in women’s bodies.
Egg freezing is a significant financial commitment, and the costs vary depending on the clinic, location, and additional services required. Here’s a breakdown of typical expenses:
In total, the full cost of egg freezing, including medications and storage, can easily exceed 150,000 to 2,50,000 for a single cycle, and additional costs may be incurred for multiple cycles to retrieve enough eggs for future use.
If you want to freeze your eggs and want to achieve your dream of parenthood in the future, egg freezing proves to be a viable option for you. Yes, it is an option where you have to weigh the emotional, financial, and physical considerations before making a decision. The decision is in your hands as you know your priorities more than anyone else. It’s better to consult a fertility specialist so that you can overcome your dilemma or confusion at the initial stage. You will get a clear picture if egg freezing is a suitable option for you or not based on your health, future, finances, and other personal situations.
It is a ray of hope for many women who want to balance their careers and manage their fertility window while considering the costs, risks, and success rates involved in it.
Ultimately, egg freezing offers women more control over their reproductive futures and the opportunity to build a family when the time is right for them. We are at Infinite fertility clinic that assists you at every step with your decision to egg freezing.