Dr. Ory Discusses Oocyte Freezing
So you definitely want to be a mother someday, but you are in your 30’s and you are not ready to have a baby now. You are concerned about your fertility potential and you may have friends or relatives who are dealing with infertility and others who are considering oocyte cryopreservation (egg freezing). How do you decide if this is the right choice for you?
You are not alone. Generation X and Millennials are delaying child bearing to a greater extent than any generation in American history for a variety of reasons. While this decision is ideal for many aspects of their lives, it can make having a baby later more challenging because fertility potential in women declines with age. This is because women are born with all the eggs they will have and they lose a few thousand eggs each month up until menopause. Furthermore, the good eggs with the right genetic makeup are expended first and the chance of becoming pregnant decreases over time for all women as a result of the decline in egg quantity and quality.
Science has not figured out a way to arrest or slow down this process but it is possible to collect eggs from a woman with good fertility potential and save them for use at a time when she might have less potential to conceive. Egg freezing is a relatively new technology but it seems to be safe and effective particularly for younger women with a good number of eggs remaining.
Who are the best candidates for egg freezing?
- Women under the age of 35 in good general health
What are the advantages?
- It may allow women who otherwise may not have an opportunity to have a baby to conceive at an age of their choosing
- Peace of mind
What is the downside?
- Limited amount of information about long term success rates and safety
- Less successful than overall IVF
- Experience and success rates vary significantly among clinics due to complexity of process
IVF FLORIDA has been an industry leader in oocyte cryopreservation and has had a successful program for six years – a long time for a new technology. We would be delighted to meet you and review your situation and the opportunities that our fertility preservation program offers.
By Dr. Steven Ory at 19 Aug 2016