Freezing Your Eggs
There are many reasons why a woman may want to freeze her eggs. As an individual still deciding about whether and when to have biological children, she may elect to have them frozen when she is still at a healthy, younger age. A woman who is donating her eggs, particularly without knowing who the recipient of her eggs may be, may have them frozen until a recipient individual or couple wants to use them as part of an assistive reproductive process like IVF treatment.
1. When to freeze your eggs
Egg freezing is most effective if you freeze before you’re 35 years old. While there is no strict age limit on egg freezing, it is recommended that women considering this route for their own children or for donation make the decision sooner than later. Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have, and as they age the quality and quantity of those eggs diminish. Younger women will also yield more eggs per cycle, which makes it easier to freeze enough eggs to yield a healthy pregnancy.
2. Egg freezing success rates
If you freeze 10-20 eggs before you’re 35, that gives you a 70-90% chance of healthy pregnancy using those eggs later on. In other words, egg freezing does work. While individual success rates will vary, particularly on a basis of age at the time of freezing and number of eggs frozen, studies suggest a high success rate of motherhood as a result of freezing eggs.
3. Freezing eggs and IVF
Freezing eggs will not affect their ability to create a healthy pregnancy. One of the best studies on egg freezing to date found that pregnancy rates were nearly equal for couples who used frozen eggs versus fresh eggs from a known donor when undergoing IVF treatments. This indicates that for assistive reproductive methods such as IVF, using a frozen egg is just as good as using a fresh egg in terms of viable and healthy pregnancy.
4. Egg freezing technology
Egg freezing technology has advanced significantly. Up until little more than a decade ago, egg freezing technology was slow, meaning that ice crystals could develop within the egg cell. When it came time to thaw, only around 60% of those eggs survived the process. Egg banks and labs today use a much quicker flash freezing method that reduces the chance of ice crystals forming, indicating that eggs have a much higher survival rate when it comes time to thaw and be used in insemination.
5. Egg freezing and aging
Egg freezing is the best and only technology currently available to combat the “biological clock”. For women who are concerned about the effects of their age on their fertility, egg freezing is probably the best option currently available to preserve their ability to have biological children. Unfortunately, health is not the only factor influencing fertility, and by age 40 women have lost a lot of their viable eggs, due to no fault of their own. Egg freezing technology allows women to be active in their family planning in a relatively safe and effective manner.
ReUnite Rx is proud to assist couples and individuals undergoing fertility treatments with our need-based assistance program. Active or veteran military members automatically receive a 25% discount with our assistance program. To learn more, visit ReUnite Rx.
