Egg freezing in 2023: What if you delay your pregnancy due to work life, relationships, family planning or medical issue. Women born with fixed number of eggs in their ovaries.
The number of egg decreases as the age increase. Also due to health conditions like uterine fibroids and endometriosis it may further go down.
Due to advancement of latest medical technologies, it is now possible to freeze your eggs and use it for later use. In this procedure, several eggs are removed from the ovaries. The unfertilized eggs are then frozen for later use in IVF.
This process, also known as oocyte cryopreservation. Egg freezing has gained popularity in the recent years and has empowered women with more choices in family planning. So, in short egg freezing is the procedure in which several eggs are removed from the ovaries. The unfertilized eggs are then frozen for later use in IVF.
This article, will guide you to explore the concept of egg freezing, what are the benefits of egg freezing, what are the process involved involve in egg freezing, and what things you should consider before egg freezing. Like what are the advantages and disadvantages what are the charges of the Egg freezing in US, India.
How popular is egg freezing across the world
As per the study the global monthly search volume for the keyword “egg freezing” is approximately 135,000. The major countries with the highest search volume for Egg freezing are the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India.
In the United States, the monthly search volume for “egg freezing” is approximately 60,500. The top states with the highest search volume for this keyword are California, New York, Texas, Florida, and Illinois.
Understanding Egg Freezing
Egg freezing is a method of preserving a woman’s fertility by retrieving, freezing, and storing her eggs at a young and healthy age. Egg Freezing allows women to delay pregnancy until a later time when they are ready, whether it’s due to career pursuits, relationship considerations, or medical reasons. Unlike sperm, eggs have not traditionally been as easy to store and use at a later date, but recent advancements in cryopreservation techniques have made this a viable option.
Advantages of Egg Freezing
1. Fertility Preservation:
Egg freezing offers ladies the opportunity to preserve fertility for longer time. Main advantage of Egg freezing is to help women to assisting them with having biological baby even as they age.
2. Flexibility in career:
Due to career priorities ladies select egg freezing as it permits them to focus on their professions during their more youthful years without feeling rushed for beginning a family.
3. Medical condition:
Due to medical condition women suffering from medical issue like cancer may require medicines like chemotherapy, which can influence the fertility, use of egg freezing will help them to ensure they can have baby after their treatment.
4. Relationship Timing:
Women who are not ready for parenthood or not have suitable partner can opt Egg freezing. With egg freezing they can preserve their egg for later use when they attain their suitable partner.
What are the process of Egg Freezing:
Egg Freezing have several process. We will discuss now the process of egg freezing.
1. Consultation
The Egg freezing process begin with the consultation with a fertility specialist. The consultant will gather the medical history, perform a physical examination. The consultant will then assess your ovarian reserve by means of tests like hormone levels tests and ultrasound procedures.
2. Ovarian Stimulation:
Second step in Egg freezing is ovarian stimulation. In this process the consultant will advise some medication related to hormone to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. This process is regularly monitoring with blood tests and ultrasounds to ensures that the eggs are maturing as expected.
3. Retrieval of Eggs:
Third step in the process is retrieval of eggs. Eggs matured with step two of the process. And when the eggs have matured, surgeon perform a minor surgical procedure that is called as egg retrieval. The procedure for Egg retrieval is normally performed under sedation as an outpatient procedure. In this a thin needle is inserted through the vaginal wall to extract the mature eggs from the ovaries.
4. Cryopreservation:
The fourth and last step is the preservation of retrieved eggs. In this process the collected eggs are rapidly frozen and stored in a specialized facility. The Eggs are stored in liquid nitrogen at ultra-low temperatures until it is decided to use them in future.
What are the things are required to be considers for Egg freezing
1. Age:
The success rate of egg freezing is significantly higher in younger women. Women before the age of 35 years are consider as best for this option.
2. Cost:
Financial aspects are very important for the Egg freezing. The process of Egg freezing can be expensive. The process involve medication costs, monitoring, Egg retrieval and the storage of eggs.
3. Ethical and Legal Issues:
Depending upon the country and local rules and regulation, there may be legal restrictions on how long you can store frozen eggs.The purpose of storing the Eggs are another points which you should remenber.
4. No Guarantees:
Freezing of eggs is an excellent opportunity to preserve fertility, but it does not guarantee a successful pregnancy in the future due to other factors.
What is the cost of Egg freezing
The Egg freezing process may depends on fertility clinics individual charges. It depends on the number of Egg to be frozen. Egg freezing price depends on the country and region also. For example the average price of Egg freezing in USA is about $5,000-$10,000.
Apart from the procedure for extraction of Egg for freezing, there are also ongoing fees for storage of fee for Cryopreservation . Typically the fees range from $300-$600 per year.
Egg Freezing Side Effect
Some of the possible egg freezing side effects are
- Bloating, cramping, and breast tenderness caused by the hormonal medication that stimulates the ovaries to produce more eggs.
- Headaches, mood swings, insomnia, hot or cold flashes, and mild fluid retention due to the hormonal fluctuations.
- Soreness, redness, or bruising at the injection site of the medication.
- Soreness in the vaginal area or abdominal cramping after the egg retrieval procedure.
- Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), which is a condition where the ovaries become swollen and painful due to overstimulation by the medication
Summary
In reproductive medicine Egg freezing has emerged as a major advancement. Women have now greater control over their family planning decisions. It is a advantageous method as of now who wish to delay parenthood while ensuring the preservation of their fertility.
