Should You Freeze Your Eggs? Here’s 4 Reasons to Consider.

Do you want to have a baby, but not just yet?  There are some good reasons why you may want to freeze your eggs instead of taking a chance that you’ll be able to get pregnant down the road.  Egg freezing, or oocyte cryopreservation, is a relatively new technique for fertility preservation.  It allows you to “stop the clock” on the aging of your eggs.  Here are 4 very good reasons why you may want to consider egg freezing.

1. You’re Over 30, and You Haven’t Met the Right Partner

There are two parts to this one, age and life circumstances.  Many women don’t know that their fertility starts to decline around age 28.  The rate of decline increases substantially at age 35, and declines even more as you approach 40.  The average woman between 20 and 24 years old has a 20 percent chance of getting pregnant each month when she has unprotected intercourse.  By age 40 a woman has only a 5 percent chance of getting pregnant.  Declining fertility is caused by aging of your eggs.  As they get older, the quality and quantity become lower, and so do your chances of conceiving.  Freezing eggs helps preserve your fertility until you find a partner you want to parent with, or until you’re ready to become a single parent using a sperm donor.  Most experts do not recommend egg freezing after age 38, as the egg quality is usually on the decline.

2. You’re Not Ready Now, But You Want a Biological Child Someday

There are many personal and professional reasons why you may not want to bear a child when you’re at your peak fertility.  Military deployment, job issues, a recent divorce, financial uncertainty, or other challenges may mean you don’t want to get pregnant now, but you do want to have a baby later on when these issues are resolved.  Many high-tech companies are offering egg freezing as a benefit to their employees, so they don’t feel the pressure to choose between advancing a career and having a family.

3. You’re Going to Have Cancer Treatment

Fertility preservation is a concern when you’re going to have radiation, surgery or chemotherapy for cancer treatment.  Ask your oncologist what effects your treatment will have on your fertility.  For women, freezing eggs or embryos (if they have a partner) can enable them to have a biological child after cancer treatment, even if a gestational surrogate is needed. For cancer patients the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) concluded that the pregnancy rates were similar with fresh eggs and with eggs frozen by vitrification (flash freezing).

4. You Have Other Medical Issues

Some medical conditions, such as severe endometriosis or large or recurring ovarian cysts, may limit a woman’s fertility.  Progressive diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus, kidney disease, or sickle cell disease can also raise the issue of fertility preservation.  Frozen eggs can make biological parenthood possible through gestational surrogacy, if you are no longer able to carry a child due to health reasons. Egg freezing is not a decision to make lightly.  Besides the cost of freezing, which runs from $7,000 to $15,000, the cost of fertility drugs, and storage costs for the frozen eggs, when you are ready to use those ‘eggsicles’, you will have to undergo a thaw, ICSI to inseminate the eggs with sperm and then a Frozen Embryo Transfer, or have IVF treatment with a gestational surrogate in order to use the frozen eggs.  ASRM no longer regards egg freezing as an experimental procedure for cancer treatment, but it does not yet recommend egg freezing to postpone childbearing.  There’s a lot to think about, and there’s no guarantee that it will work for you.  But egg freezing is increasingly viewed as a way to keep your options open by young women who can afford it or who have fertility benefits that cover it.

Is It the Right Time for IVF?

If you’re ready to pursue IVF treatment, WIN Fertility can help.  WINFertility’s FertilityCoach^SM Nurses or professionally-trained Patient Specialists can help you find an excellent reproductive endocrinologist in your area and get discounted treatment packages and financing options. WINFertility provides lower than market-rate Treatment and Medication Bundles which combine medical services for a single IVF treatment, genetic testing and medications at a discounted “pay-as-you-go” price saving you up to 40% off the total cost of your treatment cycle.   The bundle is tailored for your specific treatment plan, and you only pay for the treatment you need, unlike traditional multi-cycle discount plans in which you pay for up to 6 attempts that you may never need in order to receive a discount.  For those patients who think they may need an additional IVF attempt to become pregnant, the WINFertility 2^nd Chance IVF Refund Program helps control costs, maximizes your chance of success and minimizes your risk of overpaying. Are you ready to take the next step?  Contact us today!