Should I be freezing my eggs?
Australian women are having their first child now later than ever before…. And why not? Why not get their careers established, their financial situations under control and live their lives a little first? The old wives tale “your biological clock is ticking” is just that….. an old wives tale….. isn’t it?
WRONG.
Women are born with a finite number of eggs, and we start to lose these the minute we start ovulating (or getting our period). Compounding this issue is the fact that we use our best eggs first, with this process speeding up significantly around 35 years of age. By the time we are in our mid 40’s nearly all our eggs will be gone rendering us completely infertile.
Another misconception is that we will be saved by IVF. Every year older we get, the less likely IVF is to work with the success rate at the age of 45 years being approximately 0%.
In Australia now, we are seeing an increasing rate of involuntary childlessness due to age related infertility. For those couples who are successful in having children later in life, they are often not successful in achieving their desired family size.
It is important to know these facts before delaying your family planning.
BUT WHAT IF I AM NOT READY TO HAVE KIDS OR HAVEN’T MET THE RIGHT PERSON?
This is where egg freezing may be considered.
Previously, egg freezing was reserved for women who were needing this for medical reasons. E.g. they were about to undergo a medical procedure which might render them infertile or thrust them into the throws of menopause.
Now, egg freezing is available as an elective procedure.
Whilst this offers an option for women not ready to conceive, there are factors which need to be considered.
1. This procedure does not guarantee the delivery of a successful pregnancy and live baby when you are ready to conceive.
2. Age
The younger a woman is, the more likely the egg is to result in a pregnancy.
Conversely, the older a woman is, the reverse is true.
However, if you freeze your eggs under the age of 30 years you are more likely to find a partner and fall pregnant naturally, meaning that you will have wasted your money. Therefore, the best time to consider egg freezing is 32 – 38 years.
A woman’s age will also determine how many harvesting cycles they will need and how many eggs should be frozen. E.g., a younger woman will need to freeze less eggs as they are likely to be of better quality and more likely to produce a pregnancy.
3. There is a significant cost to this procedure.
It is only available under Medicare for women who have suffered premature menopause (menopause under the age of 40 years) or who are about to become menopausal. E.g., they are about to undergo chemotherapy.
The cost is $5000 - $10 000 per cycle.
4. It is not an easy process.
It requires self-administration of hormone injections for 10 – 16 days, whilst having close monitoring of your ovaries and eggs with ultrasound.
When the eggs are ready, you will be given a trigger injection to achieve final egg maturation.
Under sedation and USS guidance you then undergo egg collection.
5. There are medical risks from the process of egg preparation.
Ovarian hyperstimulation
6. There are medical risks from the egg collection.
Pain, infection, bleeding, and complications of the anaesthetic.
7. What will you do with eggs that aren’t needed?
Throw them out?
Donate them?
However, the outcomes so far have been good. Egg freezing is not considered experimental. It is as successful as traditional IVF. Essentially the eggs are snap frozen and then thawed when needed. The survival rate of the egg is 97% and the survival rate of pregnancies from frozen eggs is similar to pregnancies from traditional IVF.
Therefore, egg freezing is a good solution to combat the rise in infertility due to age and involuntary childlessness in Australia.
Source
Polyakov, A., Piskopos, J & Rozen, G. Australian Journal of General Practice Elective egg freezing: State of the ART.
