How to Freeze Your Eggs? – the Procedure Details
How to freeze your eggs? Is the process safe and easy-to-manage? We are here to give you an answer. Let`s start with a short introduction and talk about the egg freezing itself.
Officially oocyte cryopreservation, or egg freezing is a procedure during which a female’s eggs are extracted from the ovaries and frozen. Thus, a woman can use them in the future. Previously this technique was experimental. However, these days it is a reliable method of overcoming certain infertility issues. What is more, the procedure of egg is not investigational since 2012. The development of various techniques and the improvement of the egg freezing procedure give women a chance to have biological children when they want to.
When Is Egg Freezing Suitable?
Egg freezing is an appropriate procedure in the following situations.
- In women who can have premature menopause.
- Women suffering from cancer or another health problem that requires the treatment that may cause infertility.
- Females who are at risk of premature ovarian failure due to certain health problems, such as Turner syndrome.
- For the purpose of fertility preservation for delayed pregnancy.
- Women who need to have their ovaries removed due to certain genetic mutations, such as BRCA.
How to Freeze Your Eggs – How Is Egg Freezing Performed?
If you want to know how to freeze your eggs, you should get in touch with a fertility specialist. After that, you will have to undergo a pelvic ultrasound and test your level of fertility hormones. Thus, you will determine the ovarian reserve and get an egg yield estimate from a single banking cycle.
Despite the fact that eggs are microscopic, they are located within follicles that look like fluid spaces inside the ovaries. Women have to take hormonal drugs over the period of 10-12 days to ensure the development of multiple mature oocytes in the ovaries. The measurement of the follicles using ultrasound and blood tests give the information regarding how mature the oocytes are.
Then, a medical procedure using vaginal ultrasound takes place under light anesthesia. It is done to collect the follicular fluid. After that, a fertility specialist identifies the oocytes with the help of a powerful microscope. Mature oocytes are then preserved by vitrification that enables the quick freezing in liquid nitrogen and further storage.
The frozen mature oocytes can be kept vitrified for years and their viability is about 90% after thawing. Once a female is ready to use her oocytes, they get thawed and then fertilized by the injection of sperm into each egg with the help of the Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). The fertilized eggs transform into embryos (advanced stage) that can then be transferred into the woman’s uterus to make her pregnant. It should be mentioned that the successful pregnancy will depend on how long the eggs have been frozen and the professionalism of a fertility clinic.
What Is The Cost of Egg Freezing Procedure?
The cost of this procedure can be different depending on the location in the country and chosen fertility clinic. Please contact us to learn more about it.