A Comprehensive Guide to Preserving Your Fertility
Finding the right time to start your family can take planning. Certain life circumstances or medical conditions can sometimes affect your future fertility.
If you plan to have a child in the future but you’re not ready yet, egg freezing may offer an option. Egg freezing can empower you to take control of your family planning timeline. It may also help improve your chances of having a baby if you’re facing a cancer diagnosis or other conditions that can affect your reproductive health.
What Is Egg Freezing?
Egg freezing – also known as oocyte cryopreservation – is the process of freezing your eggs so they can be used to help you have a baby in the future. This can help expand your fertility options.
Who Should Consider Egg Freezing?
Egg freezing candidates may include:
- Women who are undergoing cancer treatment. Certain cancer treatments, such as radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery, may affect your future fertility. Egg freezing may offer a fertility option to help you start your family when you’re ready. Dedicated oncofertility care can help guide you through this.
- Women who wish to postpone childbearing for personal reasons. You may be prioritizing your career or looking for the right partner. Or you may have other reasons for delaying childbearing. Egg freezing may expand your options to start a family when the time is right for you.
- Women with a family history of early menopause and other health conditions. Early menopause can reduce the amount and quality of your eggs. Egg freezing may protect the chance of a pregnancy. Conditions such as endometriosis, sickle cell disease, and autoimmune diseases like lupus can also affect future reproductive plans and may make you a possible candidate for egg freezing.
If you’re considering egg freezing or other fertility preservation treatments, we can talk to you about your family planning goals and help you decide if it’s right for you.
The Egg Freezing Process
The egg freezing process involves several steps:
- Consultation. During a consultation with one of our fertility specialists, you can discuss your health history and goals to determine if egg freezing is right for you.
- Preparation/ovarian stimulation. If you decide to proceed with the process, our team will use medications to stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs. We will then use ultrasound and hormone checks to evaluate your egg follicles (which can produce mature eggs).
- Oocyte (egg) retrieval. Next, we perform a minimally invasive procedure to collect the mature eggs. For this procedure, we use a needle guided by ultrasound. You will be sedated and should not feel pain.
- Freezing and egg storage. Finally, we freeze the collected eggs using a process called vitrification, which preserves them for future use. Your eggs can then be securely stored until you’re ready to use them.
The amount of time it takes for the egg freezing process can vary. In general, you can expect it to take about two to three months, from the consultation to the time eggs are retrieved.
Benefits of Egg Freezing
Egg freezing has several benefits, including:
- Increased chances of pregnancy later in life. Freezing your eggs at a younger age can help you retain your future fertility and significantly improve your chances of achieving a successful pregnancy through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
- More control over family planning. Egg freezing empowers you to make informed decisions about your family planning timeline.
- More reproductive options and peace of mind. Knowing you have taken steps to help protect your reproductive options can give you added peace of mind if you’re facing a cancer diagnosis or other conditions that can impact your future fertility.
Risks and Side Effects of Egg Freezing
We’re committed to helping ensure the safety of egg freezing. Still, this procedure carries some risks. Possible egg freezing risks and side effects may include the following.
- The egg collection process could potentially cause bleeding or infection. Also, the hormones you take at the start of the process could cause symptoms similar to PMS, such as cramping and bloating.
- Though not common, you may face possible complications from going under anesthesia.
- There is a small chance that the needle used in the egg retrieval process could possibly puncture an organ such as the bowel or bladder, but this is uncommon.
- Ovarian stimulation could possibly cause ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). OHSS is a potentially serious condition that can occur if the body has an exaggerated response to excess hormones, causing the ovaries to become swollen and painful, among other symptoms.
Success Rates of Egg Freezing
Egg freezing success rates show that many women can have successful pregnancies with this fertility preservation method, but it does not always result in a baby
.Fertility preservation outcomes for egg freezing can be impacted by different factors, such as your age when the eggs were frozen. Freezing your eggs at a younger age can significantly improve your chances of a successful pregnancy later in life.
Egg Storage and Duration
Getting eggs ready for storage begins immediately after they are retrieved.
- First, specialists will examine the eggs to determine which are mature. “Mature” means they are capable of developing into an embryo.
- Next, the mature eggs will go through a deep-freeze process called vitrification.
- Finally, the eggs will go into liquid nitrogen tanks, where they can be preserved for future use.
Eggs are stored long-term at a secure facility. Regular monitoring and temperature control help preserve the eggs throughout the storage process.
The duration of egg freezing depends on you and your timeline. The eggs can stay in storage for years until you’re ready to start your family.
Costs and Financial Considerations
Egg freezing costs can vary. It usually starts around $10,000 or more for a single cycle – and you may need more than one cycle.
Insurance coverage typically does not cover egg freezing. But it’s still good to ask your insurer in case they provide benefits.
We understand that financial considerations can be an important factor in your decision-making. We want to help make care as affordable as possible for you by providing competitive pricing and financing options.
If you have questions or concerns about how to pay for egg freezing, we can talk with you more about the different options and answer any questions you may have.
Preparing for Egg Freezing
Egg freezing preparation can be an exciting but emotional time. Taking good care of yourself can help you prepare mentally and physically.
Try to stick to a diet of nutrient-rich foods and avoid processed foods. Also, try to reduce stress, and avoid alcohol, tobacco, and excessive caffeine.
In preparation, you can expect to follow a series of steps:
- First, you may have testing – such as a blood test or ultrasound – to help determine how many eggs you have (which is called your ovarian reserve).
- Next, to help stimulate your ovaries to produce mature eggs, you will begin hormone injections. You can expect to self-administer these shots each day for about 10-12 days. The hormones help grow the follicles, which are small sacs of fluid in the ovaries that contain developing eggs.
- We will monitor you during this time. When the follicles have reached a certain size, we’ll give you a “trigger shot” for egg retrieval. The trigger shot helps your eggs mature in preparation for collection. This is one of the last steps in oocyte (egg) retrieval preparation.
- The egg retrieval typically occurs about two days after the trigger shot.
What Happens After the Eggs Are Frozen
After your eggs are frozen, they are stored in a storage facility, where specialists monitor them to keep them at the correct temperature and ready for use when you want them. There is no data showing any issues with keeping them for shorter or longer periods of time. Therefore, you can store your eggs for as long as you’d like.
When you’re ready to use your eggs for in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility specialist will thaw them and fertilize them with sperm to create an embryo. Your partner may supply sperm, or you can use a donor.
After fertilization, the embryo (fertilized egg) is typically kept in a lab for about five or six days to develop before being placed in your uterus. Or you may use a gestational carrier to carry your baby throughout the pregnancy.
Getting Started with Egg Freezing
If you’re considering fertility preservation to help with future family planning, egg freezing can offer a possible option.
The first step is to schedule a consultation with one of our fertility specialists. They can discuss your individual situation, answer your questions, and help you determine if egg freezing is the right choice for you.
Contact Us: Have questions? Contact our fertility experts today. Call us at 305-243-8642.
Why Choose UHealth?
Patient-centered fertility preservation care. The ideal approach to fertility preservation varies for each patient. Factors like age, diagnosis, family planning goals, and potential fertility challenges all play a role. We work closely with you to understand your specific risks and fertility preservation options. This ensures you receive the best possible care.
Focus on urgency and personalized care. Early action is key, particularly when treatments such as radiation or chemotherapy pose a risk to fertility. Our compassionate team works closely with you to explore fertility preservation options and prioritize your consultations in our schedule.
Wide range of innovative treatments. If you need specialized services such as genetic testing to aid you in your fertility planning, you can find them right here with us. We offer treatments for both women and men, including diagnosis of infertility, pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS), semen analysis, and microsurgeries that restore the normal function of the reproductive organs.
High pregnancy rates. We can support you through every stage of your family-planning journey – from fertility preservation to in vitro fertilization (IVF) when you’re ready to pursue parenthood. We have some of the highest pregnancy rates in not only South Florida, but in the entire United States. Our success stories include even the most challenging cases. When caring for each of our patients, we strive to always maintain the highest ethical standards and practices.
Academic medical center expertise. Faculty members at the Miller School of Medicine, a nationally recognized institution, currently conduct nearly 2,000 research projects in science and clinical care in a variety of fields. Our emphasis on research and innovation ensures you receive the most sophisticated diagnostic tests and advanced fertility treatments available. This combination of our physician-directed practice within a university-based health system emphasizes research and innovation in fertility medicine.
Active members of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SART). Our experts strive to uphold the highest standards in our field of medicine. As members of SART, we follow the strictest guidelines and rules set forth by this industry-leading organization.
Affordable fertility care. We offer cost-effective treatments and make the process as affordable as possible with our competitive pricing, view our financing options. Our center prides itself on integrity and we are dedicated to providing a transparent process. Your treatment options are clearly outlined and presented to you at the time of consultation. We provide financial consultations and will show you how our plans differ from what other centers in our area offer. We are committed to making sure you know what to expect upfront. We offer financing through Lending Club Patient Solutions. In addition, we do not bundle price for our in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles, which means if you get pregnant within one cycle, you will only be charged for that one cycle. If pregnancy does not occur in the first cycle, we provide discounts for second and third IVF cycles.
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