What is Egg Freezing Meaning?

It is a method for women to achieve fertility preservation and delay childbearing to a later age. This medical procedure is also known as Oocyte Cryopreservation. The method involves medically harvesting eggs from a woman’s ovaries and freezing them to be able to conceive at a later age.

The human body is designed to go through numerous biological changes as we grow older. One of many such changes in a female is the decline that occurs in her capacity to produce quality eggs that help with reproduction. The quality of eggs deteriorates after females reach a certain age when the eggs may carry higher chances of chromosomal abnormalities. Also, when menopause begins (usually between 45 to 55 years), females stop ovulating because of the decrease in egg reserve present in the ovaries. This leads to ovaries no longer releasing eggs, weakening the possibility of pregnancy.

How is Egg Freezing Performed?

The procedure of egg freezing begins by discussing your needs with a doctor who will perform some blood tests to assess your hormonal levels and an ultrasound to analyse your ovarian health. The preparation for egg freezing usually requires about two weeks. After the preparation, the process then involves the retrieval of eggs using surgical methods. Next, the eggs are placed in labelled containers and stored in cryopreservation tanks which are filled with liquid nitrogen. The frozen eggs can be used later when the female is ready to conceive. However, the process does not guarantee successful childbirth, which can be due to various other biological factors such as the quantity of the eggs, quality of sperm, and age of the female at the time of egg freezing.

Is Egg Freezing a Vital Option for Fertility Preservation?

Freezing one’s eggs is a viable solution to avoid going through the stressful period of unsuccessful attempts at conceiving. The eggs are frozen at a younger age and can be used at a later point in life when the female feels ready to bear a child biologically. As technological advancements continue to take place in the medical field, freezing eggs has become as vital of an option as in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The method, which involves cryopreservation of a female’s eggs for use in the future, has become popular among the female masses who do not wish to conceive until they are in their late 30s, 40s or beyond, providing them with freedom of choice in their lives.

Egg freezing is a vital option for more reasons than just the age factor. This medical process has not only reached a point of breaking societal norms that try to entrap females but also provided a major help to patients suffering from cancer. Going through drastic cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiotherapy can decrease a woman’s fertility. This can be the case if a female is suffering from cancer of any reproductive organ or an organ in the abdominal region. Such cancers lead to the depletion of ovarian reserves or become an obstruction in getting pregnant. In such cases, freezing the egg before one starts taking the treatments can help one bear a child later.

As the medical world continues to receive various technological advancements, more and more women continue to be empowered and make life decisions of their own choice. Egg freezing and IVF are some such methods which Indira IVF can provide you with more knowledge about.