What is egg freezing?

Elective egg freezing is a feasible treatment option to offer to a certain subgroup of patients, and this has only been possible since the advancement of the freezing technology which is known as the vitrification.

Elective egg freezing is a well-defined option which for patients who have been going through cancer treatments or who want to preserve the fertility before they start their cancer treatment. Egg freezing has been in place for a long time, but other indications of fertility preservation for a woman mainly for the social reasons have only been coming to the horizon for the last few years.

Women nowadays want to maintain their professional priorities and delay the family bearing the later age. We are all aware of the reduction the fertility with age, and so are our patients. So, elective egg freezing can be kind of fertility insurance for the professional woman who wants to consider this as an option while they can delay it for the next maybe ten years or so based on whenever they are considering this option.

The ideal candidate in such a situation to do a fertility freezing or the egg freezing would be somebody who is less than 30 or less than 35 so that they can freeze the eggs and still have a good chance of a healthy live born child at the end of it.

However, they also have to be mindful that there are many challenges with elective egg freezing, such as the reduced survival rates (around 85%). They would require ICSI when it comes to fertilising these eggs, and obviously, they will need further fertility drugs and treatments.

The other subgroup of patients who should consider electric egg freezing, in my opinion, is those who are diagnosed with medical conditions, or they have started on certain treatments where either the condition or the treatment itself may have a potential of compromising fertility.

If you are anxious and you only want to consider being a biological parent, then doing an elective egg freezing is a wise option to consider.

These are the two primary indications where patients should consider elective egg freezing. It is important to note that I would discourage patients who are more than 37 or 38 of age to consider elective egg freezing because the chances of pregnancy drop. Also, the incidence of the genetic abnormalities the babies can have the can with natural conception or from the treatment can continue to rise at that age.

Also, the incidence of the genetic abnormalities the babies can have the can with natural conception or from the treatment can continue to rise at that age.

In summary, it is an option to be considered by

• Women less than 30, ideally less than 35.
• On a discretionary basis for patients between 35 and 37 who are healthy and wish to be a biological parent at a later age, or
• Women diagnosed with medical conditions and commencing a treatment that may have the potential to affect their fertility later in life.