Procedure To Freeze Eggs: Benefits, Risks & Beyond

 Over the last few years, society and patterns in childbirth have gone through many changes. Women today are choosing to have children at a later age as priorities have changed substantially. However, despite the societal change, the biological realities of fertility still remain the same. This is because most women enter their menopause when they are in their late 40s and early 50s. Their fertility is known to decline in the years before menopause and thus conceiving a child is not as easy for women in later years as it is when they are young. This is where the concept of fertility preservation comes into play and it has already gained a massive prominence among women today. 

Among other methods, egg freezing is widely common and it enables women to delay pregnancy until a later stage. Women may freeze eggs to preserve their fertility so that they may conceive later. It usually comprises collecting a woman’s eggs and thereafter freezing and thawing them so that they may be used for fertility treatment later (Petropanagos, A., 2010. Reproductive ‘choice’ and egg freezing. Oncofertility: Ethical, legal, social, and medical perspectives, pp.223-235). In women, the chances of conceiving naturally fall with age as the number and quality of her eggs drop. Thus, egg freezing is an effective attempt to preserve fertility by freezing eggs when women are young and when their eggs are of the best quality. For the most effective insights on the journey to freeze eggs, follow DocTube.

Procedure to Freeze Eggs

Before the process of egg-freezing begins, the doctor is likely to take a comprehensive medical history emphasizing fertility and assessing the regularity of menstrual cycles. A range of blood tests are also performed to assess hormone levels. Women’s ovaries generally release one egg each month and thus when fewer eggs are available for freezing, there is a reduced chance of successful pregnancies. To maximize the total number of available eggs, women have to go through hormone treatment to stimulate the production of more eggs. In this kind of treatment, women are usually required to inject themselves with hormones at home around 1-3 times a day. In most cases, women also take birth control pills for around a month before receiving these hormone injections. This helps to suppress the natural cycle while increasing the effectiveness of the hormones. During this procedure, doctors will also perform blood tests regularly to monitor the effects of the hormone treatments. Patients will also have an ultrasound in order to detect ovulation and to examine the extent of egg development. 

The procedure involves the doctor inserting a needle into the ovarian follicle to retrieve the eggs after they ripen (Harwood, K., 2009. Egg freezing: a breakthrough for reproductive autonomy?. Bioethics, 23(1), pp.39-46). In most cases, an ultrasound is done to guide this procedure. In cases where the eggs are not visible during the procedure of ultrasound imaging, abdominal surgery may be performed to remove them. This invasive approach includes making a small incision in the abdominal area under pain medication and sedation and thereafter inserting a needle for egg extraction. The freeze eggs procedure needs to take place once the doctor retrieves the egg. 

However, to freeze eggs, special care must be taken as the eggs are full of water and may become damaging ice crystals if the freezing takes place immediately. In order to prevent this, doctors inject a special solution into the eggs before freezing them.

The woman will undergo the process of in vitro fertilization whenever she is ready to use her eggs in the future. In the case of IVF, the fertility specialist would be fertilizing her eggs in the lab and using sperm from the woman’s partner or in other cases, from a donor. If this procedure is successful, the egg and sperm develop into an embryo which thereafter undergoes implantation within the woman’s uterus after a few days. In most cases, fertility specialists try to grow several embryos simultaneously as this helps to increase the possibilities of a successful pregnancy. 

Freeze Eggs & Enjoy its Benefits 

The procedure to freeze eggs has gained immense popularity among women today.  Social egg freezing is usually offered to women under 35-38 years of age who want to preserve the option of having healthy and genetically related children at a later age (Petropanagos, A. (2015) "Social egg freezing: risk, benefits and other considerations", Canadian Medical Association Journal, 187(9), pp. 666-669. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.141605). The procedure to freeze eggs is usually followed by in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer and this offers major benefits to women who hope to get pregnant at an advanced age. It offers them the opportunity to become biological parents using their frozen eggs and also reduces the risks of having babies with chromosomal abnormalities linked to ovarian aneuploidy. This also helps women who do not have a partner and also women who may have some moral concerns regarding the status of a developing embryo. In these cases, the procedure to freeze eggs is widely regarded as a preferable alternative to the process of embryo freezing.

Before You Freeze Eggs, Know About its Risks

All kinds of medical risks associated with egg retrieval and ovarian stimulation must be communicated to women who are preparing for the process of freezing their eggs. For example, young, fertile and healthy women must know about the procedure minutely and about what kind of implications it may have on them. The most common medical risks that a woman may face are those that may result from ovarian stimulation, including ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (Baldwin, K. and Culley, L., 2018. Women’s experience of social egg freezing: perceptions of success, risks, and ‘going it alone’. Human Fertility). It must be noted that mild-to-moderate ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome may involve nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue, headache, irritability and breast tenderness. However, all these adverse effects can be easily managed.

In some rare cases, patients may face severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome that may lead to shortness of breath, blood clots, dehydration, vomiting and abdominal pain and these may necessitate hospital admission. Women attempting to get pregnant using their eggs that have been frozen and thawed are automatically susceptible to the risks associated with IVF. Such risks may include pregnancy-related high blood pressure, multiple pregnancies, premature delivery and infants with a low birth weight.

 

What to avoid during the egg freezing procedure?

 

   

During the egg-freezing procedure, it is important to avoid excessive caffeine, alcohol, tobacco and processed food. It is also crucial to minimize stress, follow a healthy diet and maintain a healthy weight.

 

 

Are there any side effects of egg freezing?

 

   

Some of the most common side effects of the egg-freezing procedure include breast tenderness, cramps and bloating. These are usually caused by hormonal medications that lead up to the egg retrieval process.