Why freeze your eggs?

You may cryopreserve your eggs for a variety of reasons, including:

• The desire to delay having children, perhaps in pursuit of professional or educational aspirations or because you haven’t yet found a partner with whom you want to have children. Your eggs become less and less viable as you age, so having a reserve of your own younger, healthier eggs available can greatly improve your chances of success in getting pregnant with ART later.
• To preserve your potential for a family after certain illnesses or medical procedures that can cause a loss of fertility, including certain types of cancer and cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
• As an alternative to freezing embryos for religious or ethical reasons.
• Egg donation.

What is the process for freezing eggs?

Egg freezing is a three-step process:

1. You take fertility medications to help stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple eggs.
2. Your eggs are retrieved from your ovaries during a minor, ultrasound-guided outpatient procedure. The short procedure is done with sedation, so you will need to have someone drive you home.
3. After your eggs are retrieved, they are put into a protective solution and frozen in a specialized tank.

If and when you decide you are ready to use your eggs, they will be thawed and prepared for insemination (fertilization) for use in IVF.