To Freeze or Not to Freeze: Egg Freezing in 2023
At the beginning of every new year, there is an opportunity to assess what your goals are for the future as well as how equipped you are to achieve them. If you’re thinking about the possibility of having children in the future, freezing your eggs is an effective, popular option for women in their late 20s and early 30s, especially if your other goals in life are taking a higher priority right now.
While egg freezing can dramatically increase your chances of having a successful pregnancy later in life, it’s also important to consider the potential cons of undergoing the procedure. For example, egg freezing does not guarantee pregnancy and also comes with costs, risks, and side effects. Here’s everything you should consider when thinking about egg freezing.
Why Consider Freezing Your Eggs?
Social or elective egg freezing provides women with a future opportunity to conceive their biological child. With egg freezing, mature eggs are retrieved from your ovaries. They’re flash-frozen in their unfertilized state through a process called vitrification, which uses rapid cooling and high concentrations of cryoprotectants (substances that prevent ice crystal formation). Eggs are generally healthiest when you’re younger, so egg freezing is typically recommended for women who are under the age of 35. Women in their mid-30s to 40s are more likely to have a successful pregnancy when using a frozen egg than they are with a regular egg.
Before freezing your eggs, your doctor will discuss your motivation, ensuring that this is your best family planning option. Among the reasons women consider egg freezing are:
- Career, education, or travel plans are a priority
- You haven’t found the right romantic partner to start a family
- Financial issues, such as debt
- Other life goals, like buying a home
Egg Freezing Health Aspects To Consider
You shouldn’t think of freezing your eggs as an “insurance policy.” Certain factors may determine the treatment’s success, including your age. Egg quality cannot be determined during the retrieval process. Egg quantity also matters, as not all will make it through the thawing stage or be successfully fertilized.
Risk Factors & Side Effects of Egg Freezing
The egg-freezing process can be time-consuming, as you may need multiple rounds of blood work and ultrasounds. To ensure that your ovaries can produce the optimal number of mature eggs, you’ll need hormone injections, which may have such side effects as:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Headaches
- Cramps
- Mood changes, anxiety, and depression
You’ll need to take hormonal medications, which can have their own symptoms. For instance, you may be at risk for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). OHSS is your body’s reaction to the injectable hormonal medication that promotes ovulation. Among its symptoms are:
- Mild to moderate abdominal pain
- Abdominal bloating or increased waist size
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Tenderness in your ovaries
What Egg Freezing Costs Can I Expect?
Egg freezing typically ranges from $10,000 to $20,000, as its costs may include such services as injectable medications, repeated blood tests and ultrasounds, in-office procedures, and egg storage costs. Should a cycle fail to produce enough mature eggs, you’ll need another round (or more). Following retrieval, you’ll have the costs of fertility treatment, like in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Schedule An Egg-Freezing Consultation in NYC
Freezing your eggs is an effective way for women to preserve their future fertility journey. If you have questions, contact Chelsea Fertility Clinic NYC to schedule an appointment.
