If you know you want to have a baby in the future but can’t do so currently, you may want to consider egg freezing. It’s an especially great choice if you have fertility problems, plan on having a child after you turn 35, or you’re undergoing certain medical treatments.
Here at YourEggs, serving the Del Mar and Torrey Pines areas of San Diego and Newport Beach, California, our team of fertility experts has the answers you need about egg freezing.
What is egg freezing?
Egg freezing is a fertility preservation method where the woman’s eggs are removed, frozen, and then stored in a special egg bank. Our team accomplishes this through a process called vitrification, where we add cryoprotectants to the eggs.
Cryoprotectants protect the eggs from crystallizing before our team freezes them via ultra-rapid cooling methods. When you decide you’re ready to have children, our team takes them out of storage, thaws them, and fertilizes them in a lab.
Advantages of a frozen egg cycle
Using a frozen egg cycle has some advantages over a fresh egg cycle. First, if you undergo frozen egg in vitro fertilization (IVF), it removes the need to coordinate your availability with an eligible donor. When you’re ready to begin the process, the eggs are ready, too.
Frozen eggs also tend to be more affordable than fresh eggs, making it a good choice for families on a budget. While the success of frozen eggs depends on their quality and the number our team thaws for you, the success rate is almost as high as traditional IVF.
Transgender individuals benefit from a frozen egg cycle by harvesting their eggs before undergoing hormone replacement treatment, so they may have biological children later in life.
The egg freezing process
It typically takes about two weeks to prepare for the egg-freezing process. During this time, you receive hormones to produce multiple mature eggs at once.
Our team sedates you once the eggs have matured and it’s time to extract them. Your doctor removes the mature eggs, and the lab supercools them to minus-358℉.
We store your frozen eggs until you’re ready to have children. While frozen eggs have no exact lifespan, experts believe they last as long as your reproductive lifespan.
If you want to learn more about how the frozen egg process works or if it would be a good fit for you, our team is here to help. Contact us today or schedule an appointment online at one of our offices in Newport Beach and San Diego, California.
