Is Egg Freezing Right for You?

As a woman, you’re encouraged to have it all—a fulfilling career, a loving partner, children to adore. But jobs, relationships, age and countless other factors impact even the best-laid plans, including starting a family. If you aren’t ready to have kids but your biological clock is ticking, egg freezing can potentially extend your fertility window.

Egg freezing is a relatively new (and improving) technology, but it’s rising in popularity, according to Mary Abusief, M.D., a reproductive endocrinologist at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. “I’ve seen a significant increase in the number of women seeking information about fertility preservation,” Dr. Abusief says. “Many are trying to understand how egg freezing might help them.”

For example, some women consider freezing eggs before they undergo chemotherapy or radiation treatments. Others do so because they don’t feel ready to be a mom just yet but know they may be better prepared down the road.

Although the procedure presents a profound opportunity, egg freezing isn’t ideal for everyone. First, it’s costly, running to tens of thousands of dollars. It also doesn’t guarantee a pregnancy. The chance that one of your frozen eggs will lead to a live birth is still only about 2 to 12 percent, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

As with any healthcare decision, Dr. Abusief says it’s important to weigh your options carefully and talk with your doctor about your specific situation.

Questions for Your Doctor

If you’re thinking about freezing your eggs, ask your physician:

• Am I a good candidate for egg freezing?
• At what age should I freeze my eggs?
• How many eggs should I freeze?
• How long can the eggs remain frozen?
• What are the success rates?
• Is there a higher risk for congenital abnormalities with egg freezing?
• Is the egg negatively affected by the freezing process?
• What are the risks?
• What are the costs?
• Will my insurance cover egg freezing?

Freeze Multiple Eggs Early

“If you are going to freeze your eggs, the earlier in life you do it the better,” says Tirun Gopal, an ob/gyn with California Pacific Medical Center. “It’s best done before age 35. After that, egg freezing is linked to the same risks as getting pregnant after 35,” including higher odds of miscarriage, congenital abnormalities, preeclampsia, high blood pressure and cesarean section.

Doctors suggest freezing about 15 to 20 eggs, although costs might dictate your decision. Multiple collection cycles skyrockets the price but may give you a greater chance of successful thawing and fertilization.

Because egg-freezing technology is still in its infancy, no one knows for sure how long eggs can safely stay frozen, Dr. Gopal says. No data currently shows whether duration impacts fertilization.

Weigh the Risks and Benefits

Although every medical procedure carries risk, egg harvesting is safe and well-tolerated by most women, Dr. Abusief says. You’ll first receive specialized hormone injections to facilitate the growth of multiple eggs within your ovaries. After about nine to 11 days of hormone therapy, your doctor retrieves and freezes the eggs.

The hormone shots raise your risk for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, a painful swelling of the ovaries that, in rare cases, also causes rapid weight gain, nausea and shortness of breath. This syndrome is more common among women under 35, but overall it’s infrequent. “We monitor people closely so we have a low risk of complications occurring,” Dr. Abusief says.

Because you might be 10 or 15 years older by the time you’re ready to use your frozen eggs, consider whether your body, especially your pelvic organs, will be healthy and strong enough to carry a pregnancy. In addition, success depends not only on the egg but on the health of the contributing sperm.

“While egg-freezing results are promising, we don’t yet have decades of experience and statistics to fully understand or predict how an individual woman’s eggs will function when thawed,” Dr. Abusief says. Think about your options and wishes to decide if this safe procedure is right for you.