In today’s modern life, the average marriage age for women is higher compared to the past. One of the reasons for this is the desire to advance in education and career. On the other hand, the most important criterion determining the chance of having children is the age of the woman. As age increases, the rate of chromosomal abnormalities in eggs rises, leading to proportionally fewer pregnancies, more miscarriages, and an increased incidence of Down syndrome-like abnormalities. Egg freezing essentially means stopping the aging process in terms of having children.

In recent years, due to a regulatory change, we can freeze the eggs of single women who wish to postpone marriage and pregnancy. Another group of women benefiting from this method includes those scheduled for surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy due to cancer or similar health reasons. In this group, the eggs of single women are frozen without delay before the planned treatments, and then the scheduled surgeries or treatments are carried out.

Treatment Process:

So how does the process proceed? After the necessary evaluation and preparation, we start using stimulating injections for the ovaries at the beginning of the menstrual cycle, just like in IVF treatments. Our patient needs to be seen 3-4 times over a period of about 10 days. When the egg sacs (follicles) reach a certain size and the blood hormone levels are appropriate, maturation injections are administered. The next step is egg retrieval. The retrieval process is performed under light anesthesia and is a short procedure; a few hours after the procedure, our patient can go home. The retrieved eggs are evaluated, and the quality and mature ones are frozen, completing the process.

There are some important points regarding the egg freezing process that provide reassurance for future use. While a younger woman may find a smaller number of eggs sufficient, older women with diminished ovarian reserve may require multiple egg retrievals.

Of course, our wish is for our patients to conceive naturally and give birth to healthy babies in the future without needing the frozen eggs. There is no rule that every woman we perform egg freezing on will need those eggs to have children in the future. However, if needed, the frozen eggs become invaluable.