Exploring Egg Freezing: Benefits and Considerations
Posted on August 22nd, 2024
Egg freezing is a safe and effective method of preserving your fertility. The process involves extracting your eggs and freezing them for in vitro fertilization (IVF) at a later time. Before freezing your eggs, it’s important to consult with a fertility specialist to ensure you’re making the best decision for your family-building goals.
The Egg Freezing Process
The first step of the egg freezing process is a fertility evaluation, including a pelvic ultrasound and bloodwork to assess your ovarian reserve. Then, you'll take injectable fertility medications to stimulate the ovaries. The goal is to safely develop as many eggs as possible in a single ovulation cycle.
Your fertility team will monitor the growth of the ovarian follicles for about 10-12 days until they've matured. When the time is right, you’ll be given an injection that triggers your ovaries to release the matured eggs from their follicles. About 36 hours later, you'll undergo the egg retrieval procedure. Your reproductive specialist will remove the eggs from the follicles through a needle connected to a suction device. The procedure typically takes less than 30 minutes.
The mature eggs are then flash-frozen through a process called vitrification and stored in a cryopreservation storage facility. When you're ready to use them, some or all of the eggs are thawed and fertilized with sperm to create embryos via IVF. Your reproductive specialist will transfer the embryos into your uterus, usually one or two at a time.
Benefits of Egg Freezing
Freezing your eggs allows you to be in control of your fertility timeline. The egg supply is limited, and women are born with all the eggs they’ll have in their lifetime. As you age, the quality and number of eggs decrease, making it more challenging to have children. Freezing them allows you to have children later on when you’re ready to do so. Additionally, if you’ve been diagnosed with a condition like cancer, egg freezing can help preserve your fertility before you undergo chemotherapy or radiation.
Egg Freezing: What You Should Consider
Egg freezing, while extremely helpful, doesn’t guarantee a successful pregnancy and healthy child. Not every egg you freeze will be viable. The more eggs you freeze, however, the better chances you have of viability. Additionally, fertility changes with age. Even if you use frozen eggs you banked at 25 at the age of 35, you’ll have to contend with the realities of conception and pregnancy at that age.
Start Your Egg Freezing Journey Today
Egg freezing allows you to start your family on your own terms. However, it’s important to consider the challenges that may come with conceiving and carrying a pregnancy at an older age. At Aspire HFI, our experienced fertility team can guide you through the egg freezing process and help you determine whether it’s right for your family-building goals. Contact us today for more information or to schedule an appointment at our Houston, Willowbrook, Cypress, Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, The Woodlands, Memorial City, Beaumont, Kingwood, or Clear Lake locations.
