The Basics of Egg Freezing By Dr. Rubin
Posted on January 21, 2020
Nowadays, you hear about egg freezing everywhere. It is on the news, social media blogs, and a common topic of conversation among friends. Egg freezing is similar to how it sounds –preserving eggs (medical term is oocytes) for future fertilization and pregnancy. As women age, both the quantity and quality of oocytes diminish and achieving pregnancy can become more difficult. We see the first changes in fertility around age 32, with more marked fertility impairment after the age of 35.
Egg freezing is a wonderful decision for women who desire to delay reproduction. There are a wide array of reasons to consider egg freezing, ranging from personal (have not met your partner) to professional. Overall, the egg freezing process involves 10-12 days of injectable hormones followed by an outpatient surgery where eggs are retrieved vaginally. We retrieve as many eggs as possible (on average 10-15 eggs), since in the future not all eggs will fertilize or grow.
Let’s be real—there used to be a stigma around egg freezing. Fortunately, the process of fertility preservation has become more common, as more women are learning about the impact of age on fertility. If you are interested in fertility preservation, the next step is to reach out to a fertility doctor to schedule a consultation and assess your anti-mullerian hormone (blood test which is informative about your egg number). As a young professional who elected to freeze my eggs, I am so happy to have made this reproductive choice!
-Dr. Jessie Rubin