Freezing Your Eggs: Everything You Need to Know

Egg freezing process empowers women and allows them to take control of their fertility. This way they can have a child when the time is right. Instead of having to make the crucial choice between career and family at these pivotal years, you now have more options. The clock can stop ticking, here’s everything you need to know about the Freezing your Eggs.

The peak reproductive years for women fall in the twenties and early thirties. For many, this time period may not be suitable for pregnancy and for raising a young child. This can be due to personal or professional reasons, but the result is the same. It’s a choice between having a child while one do not have full preparation for, or waiting for later and having to deal with decreased fertility when trying to conceive.

What is egg freezing?

Egg freezing process is also known as oocyte cryopreservation. It is a process in which a woman’s ovaries undergo a stimulation through medication to produce multiple mature eggs. These mature eggs are then retrieved and frozen until the time the patient decides to use them.

Am I a good candidate for egg freezing?

While exploring everything about freezing eggs, know that every month, there is a 25 percent chance of conceiving for a woman in her twenties or thirties. That is if they aren’t using birth control pills. By the time she reaches the age of forty, those chances drop to ten percent, and further on. Also, they drop even more as the age increases. Egg freezing is a way to preserve female fertility before it starts to decline. This can be a life-saving option for women who aren’t ready to get pregnant at the time when their chances of getting pregnant are highest.

Egg freezing is also an option for women suffering from endometriosis or ovarian cysts. It is also a suitable choice for women with a family history of premature ovarian failure and early menopause.

Cancer treatment has a high chance of causing infertility. Women about to undergo cancer treatments may choose to preserve their fertility by freezing their eggs. Finally, women undergoing IVF also have the option to choose egg freezing process along with embryo freezing as a part of IVF treatment.

It is important to note that egg freezing best when the patient is younger than 35 years of age. The younger the women, the high quality her eggs will be. Those over the age of 38 aren’t considered ideal candidates for egg freezing. It is so because of the quality and quantity of eggs at this age.

How does egg freezing work?

Know that the first step is to schedule an appointment with a fertility specialist for Freezing eggs. Then you will undergo a number of tests and checkups. With this out of the way, your physician will explain the following steps to you.

• Over the course of fourteen days, you will receive hormonal injections in order to stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs.
• During those fourteen days, you will have to go through ultrasound checkups. It will monitor the number of growing follicles, and how well they are developing. You should also expect multiple blood tests to keep an eye out for your hormone level.
• Once the follicles are mature, you’ll receive a trigger shot of hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) or Lupron. This is to finish egg maturation and begin the ovulation.
• The doctor will schedule your egg retrieval process for 36 hours after the trigger shot. An ultrasound guided needle retrieves the eggs transvaginally from ovarian follicles through a needle guided by ultrasound. This needle will reach your ovaries and aspirate the fluid and egg from each follicle. Twelve to Fifteen eggs are usually retrieved during this procedure.

What to expect during egg retrieval?

The egg retrieval process for frozen eggs is identical to that of IVF. Here’s what you can expect from the process.

• The egg retrieval procedure takes around 20 to 30 minutes. You’ll be under IV medications to sedate your pain.
• Your physician will use a transvaginal ultrasound probe to collect the largest number of eggs.
• Immediately after the egg retrieval procedure, a flash-freezing ultra-rapid cooling process known as vitrification freezes the eggs.
• Plan to spend an hour and a half to two hours at the fertility clinic for egg retrieval. Also, try to take the rest of the day off to recuperate.
• You can freeze the Eggs for as long as you like, but you’ll have to pay the required fee for the storage of those eggs. The technology being relatively new, experts are not clear on the duration eggs can be safely and effectively stored.
• Once you are ready, one or more eggs will be thawed and fertilized. The eggs that survive the freezing process will go for fertilization. A single sperm is inserted directly into the egg. The resulting embryo will then be transferred to your uterus.
• You may need to undergo more than one cycle of egg retrieval as well as hormonal drugs that help stimulate ovulation.

How much does freezing your eggs cost?

The price for egg freezing varies from clinic to clinic. Depending upon how many cycles of ovulation you will require, the cost to harvest your eggs may range anywhere between $7000 and $15000. This cost includes the egg retrieval procedure, the hormonal medications used to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. It also includes the cost of freezing the eggs using the vitrification method.

Storing the retrieved eggs afterward can pose an additional cost of over $1000 per year. You may also want to consider the cost of fertilizing and implanting the embryo later on when you decide to get pregnant. Keep in mind that during fertilization and implantation, you might require multiple cycles of embryo transfer to conceive successfully. This might add several thousand dollars to the total cost.

Many clinics offer different payment plans and loans to help out potential intended parents with the upfront costs of egg freezing.

Does insurance cover egg freezing cost?

It is a good thing to know that some of the leading tech giants like Apple, Google, and Facebook have insurance plans that cover some of the costs associated with the process of freezing eggs. This differs elsewhere, however. Only a few health insurance plans cover the cost of egg freezing for women at high risk of early menopause and premature ovarian failure, or for those who want to freeze their eggs for cancer treatments.

What are the possible risks of the procedure?

Some patients experience side effects after their egg freezing procedure. These side effects are a result of using the hormonal treatments. These are similar to those of PMS, such as headaches, mood swings, and hot or cold flashes.

In very rare cases, the use of hormonal medications to stimulate the ovaries may result in Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). The symptom of OHSS includes ovarian and abdominal swelling, mild pain, nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath. Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome resolves itself in most cases, but severe cases require hospitalization of patients for monitoring. OHSS can lead to complications in rare cases that may require surgery.

What is the success rate of egg freezing?

Because the procedure is relatively new, there are no guarantees that come with egg freezing. The available data shows that each retrieved egg from a woman before she was 30 years of age has about a 12 percent chance of resulting in a baby.

Egg Freezing could be the answer many women need to the conflict between fertility and circumstances. It is probable that you are not ready to start a family just yet. But it doesn’t mean, you have to let go of the possibility altogether.

To meet with a fertility consultant and learn about your options, book an appointment by calling us at 949-726-0600. you can also visit us at coastalfertility.com.

Julianna Nikolic

Chief Strategy Officer Julianna Nikolic leads strategic initiatives, focusing on growth, innovation, and patient-centered solutions in the reproductive sciences sector. With 26+ years of management experience and a strong entrepreneurial background, she brings deep expertise to advancing reproductive healthcare.