Social egg freezing

Why would I freeze my eggs?

When a women is born she is born with all of her eggs stored safely in her ovaries, ready for if and when she decides to start her family. However, as she becomes older so do the eggs that she has stored. Sadly the older that these eggs become the more difficult it becomes for them to create a pregnancy, or for that pregnancy to develop into the birth of a baby.

It is recognised and accepted that in today’s modern society many women will choose to postpone having children till later for many different reasons.  For example: to get their career on a solid footing, or to find the right ‘life’ partner.  It may also be that proposed treatments such as for cancer, or removal of ovaries and tubes spur the woman to preserve her fertility by freezing her eggs.

What to consider?

As you get older, the percentage of eggs carrying abnormal chromosome number increases.. The normal chromosome number is 23 pairs. The term aneuploidy describes a condition in which the number of chromosomes in the nucleus of a cell is not 46, from 23 pairs.

• 20-25% eggs are aneuploid by the age of 30;
• 40-45% of eggs are aneuploid by the age of 35;
• 70-75% of eggs are aneuploid by the age of 40.
• The percentage of aneuploid eggs increases dramatically after the age of 40 so that it is more difficult to find any normal eggs after age 43.

Hence we offer social egg freezing to women before their 35-th birthday.

Under the age of 35 at least 50% your eggs are still healthy and capable of producing a pregnancy if there are no other fertility issues present.  If your eggs are collected and frozen this can help your having security and comfort of starting a family in the coming years, with benefit of younger healthier eggs. However, even though the eggs that are frozen may be young it is not guaranteed that when the time comes the eggs will successfully thaw or create a pregnancy. 

How are the eggs collected?

To create several mature eggs you will need to use daily medication for 8-12 days. Once the eggs are ready they can be collected by the doctor, under general anaesthetic, by passing a very fine needle through the vagina and into each ovary. Once collected these precious eggs can be taken to the laboratory for vitrification and storage in our bank. You can now return to her daily life safe in the knowledge that we are looking after your eggs ready for the future if and when you decide to use them.

The freezing process:

Our team at O.L.G.A. Fertility Clinic are very happy to help women that have decided to carry out egg freezing for social, medical or personal reasons and unlike many other clinics have the capabilities and knowledge to safely freeze and store the collected eggs in our advanced and extensive egg bank.

O.L.G.A. Fertility Clinic has been carrying out egg vitrification since 2008. Routine clinical use of the method was started in 2010. Only in 2014 alone we have frozen 4982 eggs and thawed 2998 eggs. 

I want to freeze my eggs!

To find out more about egg freezing and your options please contact us to arrange a free and non-obliging telephone consultation with one of our doctors.