Our doctors are commonly asked – Who should freeze eggs?

With egg freezing technology now making it possible for women to preserve their fertility for future motherhood, we get a lot of questions about this process. Who should freeze eggs? Is it safe? Will it really give me the ability to delay motherhood until I’m ready? Our San Antonio egg freezing specialists have answers to all of these questions, and we are happy to help you decide whether fertility preservation is right for you.

For decades, successful egg freezing was a challenge for fertility specialists and embryology laboratories. Eggs are single, delicate cells, and older methods of freezing (dating back to the 1980s!) would create ice crystals that would harm the egg’s chances of working in the future. However, through vitrification, a new technology introduced several years ago, patients now have outstanding rates of success in cryopreserving eggs and using them in the future, making egg freezing mainstream and no longer experimental.

Women freeze eggs for many reasons

One thing remains true: We all get older, and so do our eggs. Women who freeze eggs are keeping options open to use them later. There are many reasons women come to our doctors at Texas Fertility Center – San Antonio to freeze eggs. You, or someone you know, might fit into one of these categories of people who should freeze eggs for the future.

• Not ready to start a family. You might be single and waiting for the right partner, or with someone but not ready for the next steps right now.
• Not sure if you want to start a family. You know that getting pregnant is harder when you get older, and you don’t want to “miss your chance” if you decide in the future to start a family.
• Not able to proceed with pregnancy right now due to medical conditions. For people recently diagnosed with illnesses such as cancer or rheumatoid diseases, it might be many years before they are cleared for pregnancy. Some types of chemotherapy, radiation or immunotherapy can damage ovarian tissue. Freezing eggs before cancer treatment gives patients the hope of having a chance at family-building after treatment.
• Not enough confidence to get to the destination. Some women are diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve, by routine screening or ultrasound examination. While ovarian reserve does not predict your ability to conceive, it can tell us about how much time you might have left to try to have a baby. Women who may want a larger family and have diminished reserve, or a smaller window of opportunity, might choose to bank eggs now to help them get to their desired family size in the future.

A safe, effective option for women who should freeze eggs

Egg freezing is a safe, effective option for increasing chances of pregnancy in the future. When a woman freezes her eggs, the chance of them working is related to the age at which they were frozen, not the age at which she uses them. This is why egg freezing makes sense for women who know they won’t be starting a family until later. Anyone thinking about delaying motherhood until closer to menopause might be a good candidate who should freeze eggs and bank them now.

It’s important to understand that freezing eggs does not take away eggs from the future or make someone go through menopause earlier. Each month, the ovary recruits eggs, but only one typically makes it to ovulation. Through an egg freezing cycle, our San Antonio fertility specialists are able to recruit the other eggs to make it to a mature stage, so they are not wasted.

Our clinic has years of experience freezing eggs for commercial egg banks, which is important when considering where to place your trust in future fertility. Not all labs and scientists are the same; you can trust the experts at TFC to help you achieve your future family goals.

If you are thinking about egg freezing, please call us to schedule a new patient appointment to explore who should freeze eggs, if it’s right for you, and how the process works. We are happy to help you get on the path to protecting your future fertility.