What to Expect: Freezing Your Eggs

Some women freeze their eggs before undergoing medical treatment that could harm their fertility. Others do it to keep options open, if they aren’t ready for pregnancy yet.

Whether your egg freezing is medically necessary or elective, the treatments are the same. What happens is very similar to the treatments that precede in vitro fertilization (IVF).

“During in vitro fertilization, a woman’s eggs are harvested, then combined with sperm,” reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist Adam Fechner, M.D. says. “When a woman only wants to freeze her eggs, they’re harvested the same way, but they are frozen without being inseminated with sperm.”

The quantity and quality of a woman’s eggs decline as she gets older, so some women may freeze their eggs and thaw them years later to attempt pregnancy. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get pregnant, but egg freezing increases your chances.

“Egg freezing can be particularly important for cancer patients whose chemotherapy may render them infertile in the future,” Dr. Fechner says. “It can also be a good option for women who plan to delay childbearing until later in life.”

What happens when you freeze your eggs?

• Once you decide to freeze your eggs, your doctor will prescribe a hormone medication and teach you how to administer the injections. You’ll need to inject yourself with the hormones daily for 8-12 days.

• You’ll need to visit the doctor’s office for bloodwork and ultrasounds while taking hormones. These appointments help doctors monitor your progress.

• The hormones should cause multiple eggs to develop and mature – a mature egg is one that is ready for fertilization. Doctors hope to obtain at least 10 mature eggs, although the number depends mainly on a particular woman’s ovarian function and age.

• When the eggs are ready, doctors will harvest them while you’re under anesthesia. They use ultrasound guidance to extract eggs from the ovaries using tools inserted vaginally.
  
• Once the eggs are removed, they are examined under the microscope and the mature eggs are frozen. 

• Frozen eggs are placed in liquid nitrogen and may remain there for years. They may later be thawed and combined with sperm during in vitro fertilization.
  
  

Who’s an ideal candidate for egg freezing?

Sometimes, obstacles like cancer treatment prevent women from getting pregnant the traditional way. A medical diagnosis may threaten women’s fertility years before they’re ready to conceive.

Doctors may suggest egg freezing to women who must undergo:

• Chemotherapy for cancer treatment
• Radiation of the pelvis or midsection, for cancer treatment
• Surgical removal of the ovaries
• Surgery for endometriosis
• Surgery in the pelvic region, which might harm the ovaries

Sometimes, career or interpersonal obstacles may stand in the way of pregnancy. Women may freeze their eggs while advancing their career or searching for a partner.

Women are born with a finite number of eggs, which mature over time. Egg quantity and quality decline with age, so younger women will typically get more and better quality eggs than women who freeze eggs at an older age.

Freezing your eggs in your 20s may not make sense, unless it’s medically necessary. You should have many years to conceive naturally, before your egg quality degrades. But this is not true for every woman, and some women do prefer to freeze eggs in their 20s if they know they won’t be trying to conceive for a while.

Some research suggests that the ideal time to freeze eggs is below age 37. However the loss of eggs is a continuous process, so there is no magic age that is right for everyone. If you are thinking about freezing eggs, you should ask your gynecologist, who may recommend you speak to a reproductive endocrinologist.

Issues Related to Egg Freezing

Freezing your eggs may make you feel confident about pushing off motherhood. But the procedure may not result in future pregnancy.

Freezing your eggs isn’t a guarantee that you’ll become pregnant or have a baby. Research suggests each egg has roughly a 5% chance of becoming a baby, but this number can be higher or lower depending on the woman’s age when the eggs were frozen.

Egg freezing often isn’t covered by health insurance, especially when done for personal reasons. It may cost $8,000 to 10,000, which may put it out of reach for some people.

The hormones that you inject to mature your eggs may cause side effects like:

• Bloating
• Cramping
• Moodiness
• Anxiety
• Headaches
• Nausea and vomiting
• Swollen, painful ovaries

“Choosing to freeze your eggs is largely a personal decision,” Dr. Fechner says. “Having a conversation with your doctor can help you decide if it feels right.”

Next Steps & Resources:

• Meet our source: Adam Fechner, M.D.
• To make an appointment with Dr. Fechner, or a doctor near you, call 800-822-8905 or visit our website. 
• Learn more about our women’s health services.

The material provided through HealthU is intended to be used as general information only and should not replace the advice of your physician. Always consult your physician for individual care.