Egg freezing is a process in which a patient with ovaries chooses to go through the first few steps of the IVF process: preparation, ovarian stimulation, and egg retrieval (see IVF). Instead of fertilizing the eggs, the eggs are frozen for later use if needed.
What is the history of egg freezing?
Why do people freeze eggs?
Other risks of infertility that freezing eggs may mitigate include:
freezing (cryopreservation)
after we have retrieved as many eggs as possible, all your mature eggs will be rapidly frozen in a process called vitrification. we will store these eggs in our cryo chambers until you’re ready to use them. we will let you know exactly how many healthy eggs have been frozen. it’s important to know that the cellular makeup of an unfertilized egg makes it a bit more difficult to freeze and lead to a successful pregnancy than the makeup of a fertilized egg (embryo). this entire process usually takes 2-3 weeks. when you want to use your frozen eggs, they’ll be thawed, fertilized with sperm in the lab, and implanted in your or a gestational surrogate’s uterus.
additional resources
egg freezing and embryo banking are both forms of fertility preservation through cryofreezing. embryo banking is becoming a more frequent choice, particularly for young couples just starting their careers. egg freezing is the process of cryopreserving unfertilized eggs while embryo banking is cryopreserving already fertilized eggs. some patients choose for a combination of both egg and embryo banking. the egg and embryo banking processes start like the traditional ivf process. medications are prescribed to stimulate the ovaries to mature multiple eggs at once that can then be retrieved and frozen. in women who have cancer, ovarian stimulation protocols are tailored to each patient’s medical needs.
your doctor will use an ultrasound to identify where your egg clusters are. by now you’ve been on ivf medications for 8-10 days so you should have plenty of eggs. your doctor will use a needle attached to a catheter to gently pierce the vaginal wall. the eggs will be removed 1 by 1 with light suction. your eggs will be collected tubes that are labeled with your name and unique identification number. the eggs will then be transferred to the adjoining embryologist. your doctor will then examine your vaginal wall and ovaries. you may bleed a little and some instances the doctor may cauterize the area. no stitches involved.
before a man’s sperm can fertilize a woman’s egg, the head of the sperm must attach to the outside of the egg. once attached, the sperm pushes through the outer layer to the inside of the egg (cytoplasm), where fertilization takes place.
sometimes the sperm cannot penetrate the outer layer, for a variety of reasons. the egg’s outer layer may be thick or hard to penetrate or the sperm may be unable to swim. in these cases, a procedure called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (icsi) can be done along with in vitro fertilization (ivf) to help fertilize the egg. during icsi, a single sperm is injected directly into the cytoplasm of the egg.