Take Charge of Your Health - Fertility: Egg Freezing Update
The first human birth from a frozen egg was in 1986.
U.S. birth rates are rising for women between the ages of 30 and 45 and
decreasing for those under the age of 30. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2018 that 20% of women in the U.S. are having their first child after the age of 35. As women wait longer to have children, and experts communicate the decline in fertility, as they move into their mid to late thirties, a growing number of millennials are opting to freeze their eggs.
As more women consider egg freezing as an “insurance policy” against infertility, it is important women are properly educated on the process, the potential outcomes and risks of egg freezing, and the costs. According to reproductive experts, women under the age of 30 may need 10 eggs to achieve a birth, whereas those older than 43 may require over 100 frozen eggs.
Most fertility experts agree that eggs can be safely stored and their quality maintained up to ten years. The process typically starts with blood tests and an ultrasound to gauge the egg reserve and the potential success of egg freezing. If the women decides to move forward, home injections of synthetic hormones begin for about two weeks. This stimulates the ovaries to produce multiple eggs versus a single egg monthly. The egg retrieval process is done vaginally using a tiny needle to go into the ovary and collect the eggs, while the woman is under sedation. The process most commonly used for rapid cooling and freezing of the eggs is called vitrification.
While some very progressive companies may cover egg freezing for their employees. most women have to pay out-of-pocket and the procedures can cost more than $15,000 per cycle for testing, hormone injections and egg retrieval. Most women opt for two cycles and egg storage costs about $1200/year.
Most women do not use their frozen eggs in the future, but if the woman does, her eggs are thawed and fertilized with sperm to create an embryo. After 5 or 6 days of development in a lab, the embryo is implanted in the uterus (in vitro fertilization). If women opt to not use their frozen eggs, they are often discarded, or donated to research or to another woman.
The risks are that the eggs will not survive the thawing process; will not fertilize; will fertilize abnormally; or will not implant properly in the woman’s uterus. Pregnancy rates are estimated at between 4-12% per egg.
Reproductive endocrinologist, Sinem Karipcin says “Women who are thinking about freezing their eggs may want to consider the procedure during their late 20s to early 30s. Women younger than 30 may need 10 eggs to achieve a live birth, whereas women at the age of 38 may need about 25. And if you are older than 43, you may need 100 eggs to be frozen to increase your chances of one live birth.” The average age for women to freeze their eggs currently is 37 though some chose to do it earlier and some later. For considerations of whether egg freezing might be right for someone you love check out this Huffington post article.
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