If you are a woman of this day and age and choose to have children later in life, it could be because of various reasons like focusing on your education or career. Egg freezing allows you to bear children later in life if you desire.
It can be a fantastic choice for women who are not yet ready to have children but intend to do so in the future.
What is Egg Freezing?
The technique of removing eggs from the ovaries and preserving them unfertilized for future use is known as egg freezing. IVF can later fertilize these eggs.
Oocyte cryopreservation is another term for egg freezing.
A woman is born with a set number of eggs. As a woman gets older, the quality of eggs starts to decline. As age is one of the most significant factors in egg freezing, many women choose to freeze their eggs at earlier stages.
If you are looking for egg freezing in Mumbai, you can visit Babies & Us IVF and ICSI Centre, one of the best IVF centres in Mumbai. Dr. Hrishikesh Pai is the IVF expert at this IVF centre. He has over 35 years of experience in treating IVF patients.
Who needs Egg Freezing?
According to Dr. Pai, from one of the best IVF centres in Mumbai, Babies & Us IVF, and ICSI Centre, egg freezing is an excellent option for you if you do not want to have children right away but are planning on it in the later future.
You might want to consider egg freezing in the following conditions:
- You have a medical problem that is interfering with your fertility: These disorders might include sickle cell anemia, lupus, or gender variance.
- IVF treatment: Some people prefer to store their eggs before undergoing IVF.
- You are undergoing treatment for cancer or another condition interfering with your fertility: Some medical treatments, such as chemotherapy, might impact your fertility. To increase your chances of pregnancy, you can freeze your eggs.
- You wish to save your eggs for future use: Freezing your eggs early might help you get pregnant later in life. You can utilize these frozen eggs to conceive with sperm from a donor or your partner.
Preparation
Before undergoing this treatment, your IVF expert will study your medical history. They will focus on your fertility and the duration of your menstrual cycle and will perform some blood tests to check your hormone levels.
Your ovaries release one egg every month. This one egg is not enough for freezing because the chances of pregnancy get lowered.
To increase this number of eggs, your IVF expert will make you undergo hormone treatment to stimulate your ovaries to produce more eggs. During this treatment, you have to inject yourself with 1 to 3 hormonal injections per day as per your doctor’s advice.
You will perform blood tests regularly to monitor hormone treatment’s effects. You will also require an ultrasound to obtain a picture of your ovaries to watch the growth of follicles where the eggs mature.
Procedure
- After around 10-14 days, they are ready to be removed, and injection or medicine is given to assist the eggs in developing.
- Egg retrieval is performed at a clinic or hospital under anesthetic. An ultrasound probe is put into your vagina to detect the follicles.
- A needle is inserted into the follicle through your vagina. A suctioning device attached to the needle pulls the egg from the follicle, and many eggs are extracted to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy.
- The eggs are cooled to shallow temperatures to preserve them for future use.
- The process of freezing eggs is called vitrification. High quantities of chemicals that prevent ice crystals from forming during the freezing process are employed in this procedure, combined with fast cooling.
The egg freezing in Mumbai is available at one of the best IVF centres in Mumbai, Babies & Us IVF, and ICSI Centre.
Risks
Dr. Pai says that these are the risks associated with egg freezing:
- Complications during egg retrieval: It is uncommon for the device inserted into your vagina during egg retrieval to cause bleeding, bladder infection, intestine infection, or damage to a blood vessel.
- Conditions associated with the use of fertility medications: Using medicines to promote ovulation seldom causes your ovaries to become enlarged and painful. Bloating, stomach discomfort, nausea, and vomiting are all possible symptoms.
- Risks associated with emotions: Because egg freezing cannot guarantee success, it might harm someone seeking to conceive after the treatment.
Success Rate of Egg Freezing
The following factors affect the success rate of egg freezing:
- Age at which the eggs are frozen
- Age at the time of thawing and IVF
- Sperm Quality
- The clinic you are taking the treatment at
- The number of eggs
The most commonly asked question about egg freezing is how long the frozen eggs can last? A frozen egg several years old might have a better chance of fertilizing than the frozen egg from an older woman.
Cost of Egg Freezing in Mumbai
The cost of egg freezing in Mumbai varies depending on the clinic. However, the typical cost of egg freezing in Mumbai is between Rs. 50000 and Rs.100000. The cost of retaining these eggs can vary between Rs. 15000 to Rs. 20000.
Conclusion:
Women nowadays want to give birth in their 30s due to educational and job opportunities. Egg freezing might be an excellent solution for this. Egg freezing is a safe and straightforward process that allows women to select when they wish to have children.