Frequently Asked Questions About Egg Freezing
Egg freezing is available to women wishing to preserve their fertility for future use with any future partner. This procedure requires extracting some of your eggs and freezing them to be used for a pregnancy at a later date.
Here are some commonly asked questions and answers so you can learn a little more about it.
What is the egg freezing process like?
In order to have your eggs frozen, you will need to undergo a surgical egg retrieval process at your local Vermont fertility clinic. You will go through a process similar to IVF, where you are injected with hormones over a specific period of time.
Your eggs are then retrieved and frozen using either the flash-freezing method or slow-freezing method. The flash-freezing method is called vitrification is done more often by clinics. NRM uses the vitrification technology which is more advanced and successful. When you desire to use the eggs in the future, they will need to be thawed and fertilized.
Why should you have your eggs frozen?
There are a wide range of reasons to choose the freezing eggs procedure. If you are not quite ready to have children, but are concerned about age or decreasing egg quantity, you can have them frozen now and use them later.
It is also a good choice if you know you want to use a surrogate later in life. If you are infertile and can’t carry a child, that is another good reason to use eggs with a surrogate.
Is it always successful?
The process of freezing eggs is usually successful, but it is the success rates of then using those eggs for pregnancy that you need to consider. Success rates for pregnancy are based on many factors, primarily related to age and egg quality, but also related to other factors such as quality of the sperm being used for fertilization, the uterine lining, and the overall health of the female. Even with a good quality embryo, it may take more that one cycle to achieve a healthy embryo.
When is freezing eggs recommended?
Your eggs will continue diminishing in quantity as you get older, since females are born with their total number of eggs and this biologically declines over time. For that reason, the younger you get the procedure done, the higher chance of future success. However, you can get a fertility “check-up” tested at Northeastern Reproductive Medicine in Colchester, Vermont, to find your fertility status and whether you should consider this now.
Are there any risks?
Getting your eggs frozen at Northeastern Reproductive Medicine in Vermont is a very safe procedure with overall low risks involved with the medications and egg retrieval. These will be discussed in detail with your doctor.
To learn more about having your eggs frozen, call us at 802-655-8888 here at Northeastern Reproductive Medicine in Vermont.
