Egg Freezing

What is egg freezing?

Egg freezing is a way of preserving a woman’s fertility so she can have a biologically-related child in the future. The woman’s eggs are collected, frozen and stored so they can be made available at a time to suit.

Why might you want to consider egg freezing?

There are many reasons why a woman might want to consider egg freezing:

• If a woman is soon to undergo medical treatment which might impact her fertility e.g cancer or endometriosis treatment, or gender re-assignment
• Social reasons e.g not ready to start a family yet due to career ambitions, not with a suitable partner, financial reasons etc

When should women consider freezing their eggs?

The best age to freeze eggs for a woman is under the age of 35. This is because as women age, the quality and quantity of their eggs decline. It is still possible to freeze a woman’s eggs if they are older than 35 however the success rate of a live birth using frozen eggs is higher for eggs collected from a younger woman.

What is the procedure for egg freezing?

1. For women interested in egg freezing, they would first attend an initial consultation to discuss medical history in addition to the tests and scans required to assess their ovarian reserve.
2. If you feel egg freezing is the right option for you, you will be put on medication (daily injections) to stimulate your ovaries to produce a good quantity of eggs. During this time (a few days) you will be scanned and closely monitored to determine the best time for egg collection. Your consultant will fully explain the process to you and the fertility nurses will be on hand to support you and guide you through the medication.
3. You will then have an appointment for egg collection which will be done under sedation. This is a fairly quick procedure and involves passing a probe into the vagina under ultra sound and aspirating the eggs from the ovarian follicles. Once the eggs are collected they will be placed in a special preservation substance and those suitable will be frozen and stored.

What happens when a woman wants to use her frozen eggs?

When you are ready to use your eggs and start a family you will meet with your consultant and agree a treatment plan. A number of your eggs will be thawed and will be fertilised with either your partner’s or donor sperm using the agreed fertility treatment e.g IVF or ICSI. A few days after fertilisation, one or two of the fertilised eggs will be transferred into the woman’s womb. This is a simple procedure which does not require sedation. A pregnancy test can be carried out 14 days after embryo transfer.

How much does egg freezing cost?

Egg Freezing Costs (Oocyte cryopreservation) include:

• Consultant-led care throughout treatment
• Nurse Consultation
• Blood Tests (as required)
• All Monitoring Scans
• One Counselling Appointment
• Sedation and Egg Collection
• HFEA Fee
• Egg Freezing and First-Year Storage
• One Follow Up Consultation Post Treatment

How successful is egg freezing?

Success rates are highly dependent on many factors including the quality of the frozen eggs. The younger the eggs, the higher number of live births.

According to the HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority), egg freezing is a rapidly changing field. The technology for egg freezing has also improved over the years which means older data is not comparable to current success rates. If you do decide to freeze your eggs, please contact us to find out our success rates for women your age.