EGG FREEZING
With growing age egg production in a woman’s body is adversely affected. After 35 years of age egg production in a woman’s body starts decreasing. Not only quantity of eggs produced falls but quality of eggs also start deteriorating. Freezing of eggs gives a woman chance to get pregnant in future, when she is not able to produce eggs or her egg quality is not good to produce a baby.
Till recently, egg freezing or oocytes preservation was not very common and only few medical facilities or medical practitioners offered this service. Human oocyte preservation or egg freezing is a process to preserve a woman’s oocytes or eggs for later use. A woman’s oocytes or eggs are removed from ovary and is stored by freezing it. Later to use them, they are defrosted when necessary. After defrosting, these eggs are used for fertilization and resultant embryo is transferred to the uterus of the woman.
Women who are planning to get pregnant late in life but are concerned about complexities and risks associated with late pregnancy can opt for egg freezing. It enables them to get pregnant with their own eggs when they actually are not able to produce egg or have poor quality eggs due to age. Freezing eggs at an early reproductive age increases chances of future pregnancy as fertility decreases with age. Risks of miscarriage and certain abnormalities also increase with age. One of such abnormality associated with late pregnancy is Down’s syndrome.
Advancement in technologies related to Cryobiology and its related fields has made it easier and more successful to freeze your eggs. Many babies have been born with frozen and then thawed mature eggs.
WHO CAN OPT FOR OOCYTES PRESERVATION OR EGG FREEZING
Women may go for oocyte preservation or egg freezing for following reasons.
- If a woman will go for cancer treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation affecting her pelvic region or her ovaries, it is better to get her egg frozen, so that in case of any ovarian damage, she can conceive with the frozen eggs.
- If a woman is planning to delay her pregnancy, she can go for egg freezing to avoid adverse effects on her oocytes due to age.
- If a woman going for IVF doesn’t want to freeze surplus embryos, she can preserve her oocytes or eggs instead.
- There are many medical reasons, which ask for precaution of oocytes preservation, such as impaired ovarian function.
- Risks of miscarriage or certain abnormalities such as Down’s Syndrome increase with age, so it is better get your egg frozen if you are planning to have another baby in advanced age. .
Egg freezing is one of the most important factors in modern advanced fertility preservation techniques. It is now an established medical treatment for fertility. Freezing your eggs enables you to get pregnant, when you are not able to conceive due to decline in quantity and quality of your eggs.