No matter your fertility timeline, it’s never a bad idea to have the answer to the popular question: When Should You Freeze Your Eggs? From emotional wellness tips for your egg freezing journey to how to communicate with family about your egg freezing choice and everything involved in the egg freezing process, we covered all of the bases for you.
Below, nationally recognized New York OB-GYN and Reproductive Endocrinologist Dr. Anate Brauer, M.D., FACOG, gives Mini the important answers we’re all wondering about egg freezing.
SHOULD I FREEZE MY EGGS?
If this is something you are even considering, talk to a doctor about it. It is important to at least get tested and understand what the process is to be able to decide if you want to do it. Every month, women continue to lose eggs and should be aware of the options they can take to protect their fertility. The most important thing for me is that my patients feel complete and in control of their fertility journey, like they achieved their goal the way they wanted to achieve it.
WHEN SHOULD YOU FREEZE YOUR EGGS?
Freezing your eggs is stopping time from a reproductive perspective. Every month, women start with a group of resting eggs. One of them is chosen to ovulate by the brain, producing FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), and the rest will die off. Due to the cycle, it is important to freeze the eggs when you have more and better quality eggs.
“Freezing your eggs is stopping time from a reproductive perspective.”
HOW CAN I FIND OUT HOW MANY EGGS I HAVE?
When you see your doctor, they can do one of three things. A doctor can do a blood test for AMH (anti-müllerian hormone) that’s made by the small, resting eggs in the ovaries and can be tested for at any time in a woman’s cycle. AMH levels show about how many eggs that are expected to get in the stimulation cycle in order to be frozen.
A blood test and ultrasound can be done on the second or third day of your period to see the follicles that are housing the resting eggs, to get an idea of the quantity. Lastly, an FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) blood test can be performed to see how many eggs are growing during a cycle.
WHAT IS THE FREEZING EGGS PROCEDURE LIKE?
During a regular cycle, you start off with a lot of resting eggs and your brain produces FSH to stimulate one of the follicles to grow. As the egg grows and matures, it makes estrogen. Once you reach the peak level of estrogen, it tells your brain to stop making FSH which will grow one egg every month and the rest of the eggs will die off.
When trying to freeze your eggs, your doctor will give you more FSH than your body typically makes to be able to grow all the eggs, not just the one. Patients will take small insulin syringes every night for 10-14 days. Every 2-4 days, they will see their doctor for an ultrasound and bloodwork to measure follicles and estrogen level. One final injection will trigger the final step of maturation and the egg retrieval can be done 35 hours later before your body has the opportunity to ovulate.
The process is definitely taxing on your mental and physical health, so make sure your close circle is aware of what you’re going through so they can check in.
HOW MANY EGGS DO I NEED?
As you get older, the quality of your eggs decreases and you will need more eggs to assure a positive result. Egg quality is directly linked to genetics of the eggs which is directly linked to age. Between 30-34, 40-50% of eggs are genetically abnormal. This percentage increases with age.
Since the genetics of frozen eggs cannot be assessed until they are made into embryos, we have to have enough eggs in the freezer to afford a really good chance of making a baby with those eggs. At 30-34, the ideal number of mature eggs in the freezer is 20.
“Between ages 30 to 34, 40 to 50% of eggs are genetically abnormal.”
If the eggs are used later in life, they are thawed, fertilized with sperm, and grown out to a blastocyst and embryo that has two cell layers: the inner mass that becomes the fetus and the outer layer that becomes the placenta.
The embryologist can test blastocysts for the number of chromosomes to see if they are compatible with life and then choose which egg is the best to transfer into the uterus.
This article appeared in the Summer 2024 Issue of Mini Magazine.
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