Things you should know before getting your eggs frozen
Having your eggs preserved to plan for having a child in the future is no longer something new, as significant advances in technology have made processes like egg stimulation safer than ever with fewer chances of frightening complications. Egg freezing isn’t just for people with conditions that could cause premature ovarian failure, but also for those at risk of a rapid ovarian reserve decline such as people who have had an ovarian cyst surgery or people with a family history of premature menopause. This method of egg preservation is sometimes known as “social egg freezing”, which is when women have their young egg cells frozen in order to have a child later in life.
In the last 5-10 years, egg freezing has become very popular as the science of egg and embryo preservation has become much more efficient compared to a decade ago, with survival rates of eggs and embryos after thaw reaching 70-80% and 90% respectively. Modern women also get married later and tend to delay having children due to many circumstances in today’s society, while some may experience health issues such as chocolate cysts which affect the quality and quantity of their egg cells, resulting in premature ovarian failure which consequently leads to an ovarian reserve decline or infertility. As a result, many women prefer to have their eggs frozen in advance in order to guarantee that they will have good quality egg cells to use when they are ready to have a child in the future.
Why do you need egg freezing? Firstly, it is important to understand that egg cells are the largest cells in the human body. Every female baby is born with approximately 2 million eggs in her ovaries, which drops continuously to only 400,000 by puberty. The ovarian reserve continues to decrease every month, depending on genetic and other environmental factors, until menopause when there are no egg cells left. In terms of quality, studies have found that the prime age for women to have children is between 26-34 years old, as there is a lower chance of having of an embryo with chromosomal abnormalities. Egg cells at this age tend to have normal chromosomes (1), resulting in this age group having about a 60-70% chance of getting a normal embryo. From the age of 35, the chance of having an embryo with chromosomal abnormalities increases, and by the age of 40 the chance of getting a normal embryo decreases to only 20-30%. Therefore, the most appropriate age for having your egg cells preserved is at an age less than 35 years. Those who are 35 years or over can still have their eggs preserved, but the quality and number of eggs may decrease compared to those under 35.
Another important thing you should know about egg freezing is the process of this treatment, which in most cases starts with egg stimulation – a procedure in which egg-stimulating injections are given to women on Day 2-3 of their menstrual period. The egg stimulation process may take up to 11-13 days including egg collection. There will be 3-4 appointments to follow up on the maturing of the eggs using ultrasound and/or a blood test. Although egg cells or oocytes, which can be found inside ovarian follicles, cannot be seen through ultrasound, follicular fluid can be collected and examined under a microscope to look for mature oocytes that are ready to be fertilized with sperms. Egg cells collected at this stage will be preserved using the egg freezing method.
How many eggs should we freeze?
There was a study in 2017 that explored the factors impacting conception for 1 to 3 children. The factors studied included the females’ age at the start of egg freezing, egg quantity, eggs frozen being fully mature oocytes, and the survival rate after thaw. It was found that if you freeze 20 eggs at the age of 34, you will have a chance of having 1, 2, and 3 children at 90%, 66%, and 38%, respectively. If you freeze eggs at an older age, then the chances of having a child from frozen eggs are also reduced.
Things you need to know!
When we need to use frozen eggs, the eggs will be thawed and then fertilized with sperm. The embryos are then cultured before being transferred back into the uterus. The thawed eggs cannot be placed back in the body to conceive naturally, therefore either IVF or ICSI will be required.