Egg freezing

To maximise your chances of conception following egg freezing, you may need a number of stimulation cycles. From our egg thaw cycles themselves (up to Dec 2018) 1 in every 19 eggs thawed has achieved a pregnancy and 1 in 22 a live birth/ongoing pregnancy.

Dividing by age:

• 1 in 18 eggs frozen when a woman is under 35 have achieved a live birth/ongoing pregnancy
• 1 in 25 eggs frozen between 35 to 40 have achieved a live birth/ongoing pregnancy
• Many more are required over 40 to achieve a live birth/ongoing pregnancy

Bearing the above in mind, we recommend women freeze their eggs at as young an age as possible and aim to have at least 20 eggs in storage. However, there is no guarantee of success with any number of eggs as other factors such as egg quality are also relevant. Some women may achieve success with only a few eggs, while others may be unsuccessful with over 20.

• To increase your chances we offer egg freezing packages for those considering more than one stimulation cycle.

The main benefit of freezing your eggs is that it allows you to preserve their quality at the time they were frozen. They can then be used at a later stage when the quality of your remaining eggs may have significantly reduced. However, it’s not as simple as “the sooner the better”.

Despite the age-related decline in both quality and quantity, there are pitfalls and risks to both freezing too early as well as too late. It is, therefore, a delicate balance between social benefit and the physical, emotional and financial burden of treatment.

From a social perspective, while freezing your eggs may give you the peace of mind of a potential "fertility insurance policy" for the future if needed, there’s no absolute guarantee of success. Freezing should never be seen as a definitive alternative to natural conception. In fact, this kind of false reassurance could be detrimental to your overall chances of conception.

We recommend considering the following:

1. If you’re embarking on any treatment (such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy) that may impact on ovarian reserve and future fertility, egg freezing could be a good option.
2. Ideally, you would look to freeze your eggs in your early to mid-30s if you have no imminent plans to start a family.
3. For those over 35, depending on social circumstance and your egg reserve, the numbers of eggs needed to yield a potential success will be higher, and your overall chance of future success lower.

Once the eggs are stored, the success rate is "locked-in" at the age they were frozen. The duration they spend cryopreserved has no bearing on the future outcome of treatment.

So, you could freeze them two or 10 years before you want to have children with similar outcomes. The key, as we have discussed above, is deciding at what age to freeze them.

No, but this is a common misconception. In any given cycle, a number of follicles with eggs in them will be recruited from your stores ready to respond to your hormones and grow.

In a natural cycle, in response to your "follicle stimulating hormone" (FSH) your follicles will begin to grow, before one becomes the dominant follicle. As this matures, so does the egg inside it, which is then released when you ovulate. The rest will die away before a new batch comes through ready for next month, if you’re not pregnant.

When we stimulate your ovaries with FSH injections for IVF or egg-freezing, all we’re doing is making this process more efficient by stimulating more of those that have already been recruited. As more follicles grow, we are able to collect as many eggs as possible. We do not recruit any more than are already there, so it shouldn’t have any long-term effect on your fertility or bring menopause on earlier.

Nevertheless, one of the non-intended social consequences is the false sense of security that may lead to someone delaying trying for a baby naturally. Should the frozen eggs prove unsuccessful, the patient may face the prospect of trying for a baby with fresh eggs at an older age, thus lowering their chances of success.