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Unfortunately, age and health can be limiting factors when it comes to pregnancy. Fortunately, technological advances create an option for women who wish to preserve their eggs for future use.
Our team at Gago Center for Fertility in Brighton, Lansing, and Ann Arbor, Michigan, is committed to helping your parenting dreams come true. Our fertility services include egg freezing, an alternative that might stop the ticking of that dreaded biological clock.
Read more from our team about the best age for egg freezing and what to expect before, during, and after the procedure.
The technical definition of egg freezing goes something like this: Egg freezing, or oocyte cryopreservation, is a medical procedure in which a woman's eggs (oocytes) are extracted, frozen, and stored for future use.
Potentially more crucial, egg freezing offers options for women who desire to delay but not avoid pregnancy altogether.
Reasons for considering egg freezing include:
Simply put, egg freezing is a modern alternative for choosing when to start your family with the most viable eggs.
Generally, the best age range to freeze eggs is between 20 and 35, with 25-30 often considered the optimal window.
Here's why:
Women are born with all the eggs they’ll ever have, and the number decreases over time. Additionally, egg quality declines as a woman ages, reducing success rates.
Studies show that eggs frozen before age 35 tend to have higher success rates when thawed, fertilized, and transferred as embryos.
Freezing eggs earlier may mean more viable eggs available during retrieval, increasing your odds of a successful pregnancy.
Egg freezing involves several steps:
Your experience at Gago Center for Fertility starts with a consultation, including a thorough discussion of your medical history, reasons for considering egg freezing, and what to expect.
We may also recommend blood tests and an ultrasound to assess your ovarian reserve (the number of eggs you have left).
Hormone injections 10-14 days before the procedure cause your ovaries to produce multiple eggs in a single cycle. Regular monitoring during this period, through blood tests and ultrasounds, tracks how your ovaries respond.
During egg retrieval, performed using sedation, your fertility specialist uses a fine needle to collect mature eggs from the ovaries. The procedure typically takes about 20-30 minutes and is usually well-tolerated.
The eggs are immediately frozen using vitrification, a rapid-freezing technique that helps prevent ice crystals from forming and damaging the eggs. The frozen eggs can be stored indefinitely.
When you’re ready to start a family, the eggs are thawed and fertilized, and the embryos are transferred into the uterus.
Schedule a consultation at Gago Center for Fertility today for more information about egg freezing or other fertility services we offer.
