Egg Freezing
Egg Freezing in Pakistan
Age affects a woman’s fertility. Your egg count and quality decline rapidly as you age. This has encouraged women to consider options like oocyte cryopreservation (egg freezing), in which the eggs are extracted from your ovaries and stored at sub-zero temperatures.
The primary purpose of the procedure is to preserve your healthy eggs, which can be used for IVF. If you want to preserve your fertility but aren’t ready to have children yet, oocyte cryopreservation is your best bet.
Australian Concept Infertility Medical Center is the safest place for women to freeze their eggs for future use. This fertility center in Lahore specializes in IVF treatments and associated procedures, such as PGD, PGS, IUI, Micro-tese, ICSI, and more.
Why Choose Egg Freezing?
There can be many reasons why a couple might decide to delay pregnancy. Since age is one of the most significant factors affecting conception, the best way to ensure you can have a healthy pregnancy in your late 30s or 40s is by freezing your eggs.
Here’s when you should consider oocyte cryopreservation.
You Have Education and Career Goals
It might be too soon for you to start a family. Some women invest their prime reproductive years, focusing on their education and career. If you haven’t achieved financial independence yet or are still continuing your education, egg freezing can be a way to preserve your fertility.
A Medical Condition
Women undergoing medical treatment for chronic illnesses, such as cancer, can freeze their eggs to achieve a healthy pregnancy later. Certain medical conditions make you unfit for pregnancy. If you are unsure about the length of your treatment and whether you’ll be able to conceive after that, you can have your eggs frozen and opt for IVF in the future.
A Family History of Early Menopause
Your risk of experiencing early menopause is higher if you have a mother, sister, grandmother, or any blood relative who has gone into menopause before the age of 46. If that’s your case, egg freezing can give you psychological relief.
You can have peace of mind knowing that you can use frozen eggs to get pregnant any time you want, even when you have reached menopause. It’s possible for menopausal women to get pregnant and give a live birth through frozen eggs.
The Egg Freezing Process at Australian Concept
You must see a fertility specialist to discuss your egg-freezing goals. They will order hormone tests, blood tests, and other screening procedures. They might also test your egg reserve through a transvaginal ultrasound to know if you have sufficient egg count for egg freezing.
1: Testing
You must see a fertility specialist to discuss your egg-freezing goals. They will order hormone tests, blood tests, and other screening procedures. They might also test your egg reserve through a transvaginal ultrasound to know if you have sufficient egg count for egg freezing.
2: Ovarian Stimulation
You will be given hormone injections that mature your eggs and release them. Your doctor will conduct multiple ultrasound tests to ensure your eggs mature well. The treatment can vary from person to person, but most are advised to take follicle-stimulation hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH).
A different combination of medication with varying doses is recommended to different people planning egg freezing. Your medication is decided based on how your reproductive system responds.
3: Egg Retrieval
The next step is performed under anesthesia. Your doctor will perform a transvaginal ultrasound and collect mature eggs through a thin needle from your ovaries. The fluid inside your ovaries is collected and sent to a lab to identify healthy and mature eggs. It takes around 15-20 minutes to retrieve eggs. The procedure is painless and is executed in an outpatient setting.
5: Vitrification
Vitrification is the rapid egg-freezing procedure. Once extracted, eggs are immediately frozen with liquid nitrogen. Proper freezing keeps eggs viable.
4: Storage of Frozen Eggs
Australian concept has fertility specialists and embryologists to extract eggs, as well as the equipment and infrastructure to freeze and store frozen eggs in a suitable environment. These eggs are kept in cryogenic freezers with temperatures below -196 degrees Celsius.
Success Rates and Considerations
A study conducted between 2016 and 2022 showed that the chances of frozen eggs surviving were 74%, the successful fertilization rate was 67%, and the chances that women would have healthy pregnancies and live births with frozen eggs were 35%.
The success rate of egg freezing also depends on your age. The sooner you go through the freezing cycle, the higher the number of eggs that can be retrieved. This, eventually, increases the chances of a healthy pregnancy.
Another study by NYU Scientists showed that women who were 38 or younger had a more than 50% chance of live birth through frozen eggs.
A common factor affecting the success rate of oocyte cryopreservation is the number of eggs retrieved and frozen. The more eggs you freeze, the higher the likelihood of a healthy pregnancy. Sadly, that’s not the case for every woman.
Those who decide to go for egg freezing at an older age, above 40 years, have comparatively fewer eggs than younger women. That’s why there is a lower chance of an older woman conceiving with frozen eggs.
Risks and Limitations of Egg Freezing
Each frozen egg has a chance of turning into a baby, but the procedure doesn’t guarantee success for every woman. Besides, egg freezing comes with its share of risks. Serious complications from the procedure are rare. However, these side-effects are possible:
- Side-Effects of Hormone Injections: The hormone injections administered for ovarian stimulation at the beginning of the procedure can cause side effects like bloating, cramping, and hot flashes.
- Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome: A quite severe yet rare complication of oocyte cryopreservation is OHSS. The medication that stimulates your ovaries to produce more eggs causes this condition. It results in ovarian enlargement and the fluid from the ovaries leaking into your body.
- Stress: Changes in hormone levels during ovulation and menstruation affect mood to some degree. Likewise, hormone medication can cause mood-related disturbances and stress.
- Needle Puncture: Although rare, needle puncture is a possible complication of egg freezing. The process involves the needle administration through transvaginal ultrasound. The needle can cause damage to your bladder, bowel, and other internal organs.
Other than these, you might experience slight discomfort or skin irritation around the injection sites, but they should resolve within a few days.
Benefits of Choosing Australian Concept for Egg Freezing
Australian Concept Infertility Medical Center is one of Pakistan’s leading fertility clinics. They have fertility specialists and embryologists specializing in egg freezing and IVF procedures. The clinic has cryogenic freezers where liquid nitrogen keeps the eggs in a suitable environment. Immediate egg freezing minimizes the risk of crystal formation.
Australian Concept has a high success rate of IVF procedures. With a record of 15,000+ babies born through IVF, the internationally trained consultants at Australian Concept can help you achieve your pregnancy goals at any age. They offer a personalized fertility plan based on your goals, age, and medical condition.
Frequently Ask Questions
The best age for egg freezing is the late 20s and early 30s. The sooner you freeze your eggs, the better the odds of conception.
Vitrification has improved the success rate of egg freezing. There’s a 90-97 percent chance of egg survival, although the rate of successful pregnancy and a live birth varies from woman to woman.
Egg freezing starts with ovarian stimulation, a procedure that stimulates your ovaries to release multiple eggs at a time. These eggs are retrieved through a minimally invasive procedure and frozen immediately to prevent crystal formation.
This depends on the clinic, the technology used, and the quality of your eggs. Ideally, your eggs will stay viable for 10-15 years, given the right environment.
The cost of egg freezing depends on the clinic you choose and the complexity of the procedure.
