Once a woman reaches the 30-year mark, her fertility starts decreasing. Her egg reserve and quality start depreciating quickly. This is a woman’s biological clock ticking, adding pressure to get pregnant as soon as possible. For women not quite ready for pregnancy, freezing their oocytes is a great option.
A woman’s ovaries produce eggs and release one mature egg every menstrual cycle. A mature egg is known as an ovum. The egg when developing is known as an oocyte. The immature oocyte needs to undergo multiple changes to become a mature egg / Ovum ready for release and fertilisation.
Egg freezing is a medical procedure that involves harvesting mature eggs from a woman’s ovaries and freezing them in liquid nitrogen until she wants to use them. She can use them for her IVF treatment in future of she is unable to conceive naturally.
Egg/oocyte freezing is a breakthrough in fertility treatments that has paved the way for multiple options for women who want to delay pregnancy or are undergoing medical treatments, Like cancer or autoimmune disorder.
Egg freezing, also known as oocyte freezing, is a medical procedure that involves the following steps:
● Ovarian Stimulation – A woman’s ovaries release only one mature egg every menstrual cycle. For egg preservation, the doctor will inject the woman with hormones to stimulate the ovaries. This will trigger the ovaries to develop more follicles, which will release more number of eggs. This is usually done from day 2/3 of menses for about 9 to 12 days.
● Monitoring – The doctor will closely monitor the patient’s health and medication response via blood tests and ultrasounds. This will help determine how many follicles are present and when they are ready for egg retrieval, the close monitoring also prevents excessive response and complications associated with ovarian stimulation.
● Egg Retrieval—The doctor retrieves the eggs via a needle attached to the transvaginal ultrasound probe. Needle aspiration and suction techniques help retrieve the eggs from the follicles.
● Freezing—After retrieval, the Embryologist checks and assesses the eggs. They select the Mature eggs and freeze them using the vitrification method. The eggs are frozen in liquid nitrogen at -200 °C.
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Freezing one’s eggs or the Ovum itself offers the following benefits:
● Control over one’s fertility. Time does not impact a woman’s fertility as her eggs are already retrieved and frozen.
● Women can decide to get pregnant later in life without worrying about their age and declining fertility.
● Women who are not ready for pregnancy for various reasons can plan for their pregnancy in the future.
● Reduces the risk of chromosomal abnormalities that can happen due to advanced maternal age
● For women undergoing cancer treatments, freezing eggs can protect their fertility from the harmful side effects of radiation and chemotherapy.
● Those born as females but want to undergo gender-transitioning surgery preserve their eggs and use a gestational surrogate to carry their baby. (Legal verification to be checked)
Some women can experience the following side effects of freezing their eggs:
● The hormone injections can cause an imbalance in hormone levels, resulting in weight gain, temporary.
● OHSS is a rare complication that occurs when the ovaries swell and fluid leaks into the abdominal area.
● Mood swings and headaches due to the hormonal changes in the body
● Constipation, bloating, cramping, or spotting after the egg retrieval procedure, however with close monitoring these complication can be prevented and taken care of.
You can freeze any number of eggs. However, the number of eggs your body will produce in one cycle is limited. With ovarian stimulation, your ovaries may release approximately 12 eggs. All these eggs may not be viable for storage. You can undergo multiple rounds of egg retrieval to increase the number of eggs for freezing. The total number of eggs retrieved can vary from woman to woman and cycle to cycle, The best way to access this is by meeting fertility expert who can guide you to test your ovarian response.
Freezing one’s eggs or ovum can only help preserve fertility for the future. It does not guarantee a successful pregnancy. The success of a pregnancy depends on various other factors, Which includes the quality of sperm as well. Despite good egg health, successful retrieval, and thawing, it may not result in a successful pregnancy if the semen parameters / uterine health is compromised.
If you are not ready to get pregnant yet you can harvest and freeze your eggs when you are in your late 20’s or early 30’s. With egg freezing, women need not worry about their biological clock ticking or their egg reserve dwindling.
Freezing one’s eggs gives the woman the freedom to conceive anytime she is ready. Older women, women undergoing medical treatments, and women suffering from cancer can also conceive with their eggs.
There is no limit on the storage time for freezing a woman’s eggs. As long as the proper protocols and techniques are followed and the eggs are not thawed in between, they can last any amount of time, However as per ART law the freezing period is for 5 years.
No, egg freezing only makes the eggs available for an IVF treatment in the future. The success of pregnancy depends on various factors such as sperm health, successful fertilisation, implantation, etc.
Yes, you can use frozen eggs for an IVF treatment. You can use your eggs with your partner’s or a donor's sperm. After successful fertilisation, the fertility specialist will transfer the embryo into your uterus.
