There are many reasons why you may be considering the option of freezing and storing your eggs for future use. Fertility preservation can used be for both social and medical purposes. Women often use this service when planning for future pregnancies when they know they want to work on furthering their career, education or need time to triumph over a newly diagnosed illness.
At Cryos, we value your journey, whatever it may be and want to help you achieve your goal of having a family when you are ready.
What is the process offertility preservation?
Step 1: Ovarian stimulation
Physicians use hormone injections to stimulate both your ovaries and develop multiple mature eggs. During this period, you will need to make 5 – 7 visits to a physician’s office for ultrasounds and bloodwork to monitor your stimulation progress.
Step 2: Egg retrieval
When the ovarian follicles are determined by a physician to have reached the appropriate maturity, ovulation induction is performed with a specific medication. Timing is vital to the success.
Exactly 36 hours after ovulation induction, your eggs are retrieved with the use of a vaginal ultrasound guided needle. This procedure is done under intravenous sedation and most women never feel anything.
Step 3: Egg freezing and storing.
Following the retrieval, the eggs are evaluated to assure that only mature eggs are frozen in a process called vitrification. Because more eggs are matured during the stimulation process than would be during a regular cycle, some of your retrieved eggs will not be mature enough to freeze. This is normal and expected. The mature eggs will then be vitrified. Vitrification is a process in which the eggs are “flash frozen”. Our vitrification process results in an egg survival rate of over 90%.
Why should I freeze my eggs?
The chances of becoming pregnant begins to decline in women after the age of 28. Age negatively affects the quality and quantity of your eggs. It also becomes increasingly possible that your eggs may have chromosomal abnormalities as you age.
Therefore, egg freezing gives you a better chance of successful conception through IVF. The eggs you freeze now will remain at the same “age” you are now, so regardless of your age when you decide to start a family, your eggs will still be in their prime.
Does the egg retrieval process hurt and how soon after can I return to work?
The egg retrieval process is generally fast and uneventful; however some women experience temporary soreness and tenderness after the procedure. Every person has a different experience, but most women are able to return to work the next day.
Will preservation methods affect my fertility?
No. Each month many eggs are dissolved and absorbed by your body prior to the selection of a single egg that is released during ovulation. The fertility medications mentioned above preserve a portion of these excess eggs, which the body would have ordinarily discarded, and tells them to mature. Therefore, additional eggs are never used in the process.
Questions about fertility preservation?
Cryos has both the experience and the capability to provide this service for you. Our onsite surgery center and state-of-the-art embryology lab, located at our US headquarters in Orlando, Florida, has performed this procedure hundreds of times.
Contact us to speak with one of our knowledgeable bilingual Customer Care Representatives, call us at (407) 203-1175 or email us [email protected]. We also have a live online chat that you can access through our website.