The Complete Guide to Egg Freezing: What You Need to Know
Ovasave goal is to empower women with knowledge about egg freezing, highlighting the process, benefits, and key considerations. Let’s explore your reproductive options and start planning for the future.
What is egg freezing?
Egg freezing is a process women use to save their fertility for when they’re ready to have a child. It means you get to decide when and if you’re ready to try for a baby — not your biological clock.
Prime baby-making years are our 20s and early 30s. When we’re younger, our eggs are gorgeous, high-quality, and ready to do their thing. We also have tons of them. As we enter our mid-30s, unfortunately, things can go south quickly — it’s easy to feel like time is running out. So what’s a woman to do when she refuses to be rushed into the biggest decision of her life? Freeze her eggs. Woman 1, Mother Nature 0.
Let’s talk science
The scientific term for egg freezing is oocyte cryopreservation. Oocytes, or eggs, are cryopreserved using a technique called vitrification, or flash freezing at an extremely low temperature using liquid nitrogen, which preserves egg quality. This means that thanks to huge medical advances in the last couple of decades, you can essentially suspend your eggs in time. When you’re ready to try to get pregnant, you can use eggs that are the same age and quality as they were the day you froze them — it’s like time travel for your eggs.
The truth about IVF
If you want to try to get pregnant using your frozen eggs, you’ll need to do IVF, a process during which a fertility specialist will thaw your frozen eggs, inject them with sperm, wait a few days for them to develop into embryos, and transfer the best one into your uterus.
IVF has gotten a lot of press lately, which we love. The world needs to know more about women’s fertility.
issues, stat. But you shouldn’t count on it as a one-stop solution for infertility later in life. Success rates from one IVF cycle vary somewhere between 4 and 32%depending on several factors, including your age. Women who go through IVF are often older, which means their egg quality is lower and they may have to do several cycles of IVF to get pregnant.
The great news is that using eggs that were frozen when you were younger — the younger the better — significantly increases your chances of getting pregnant through IVF. A younger frozen egg is much better than an older fresh egg. You’re more likely to end up with a baby, and with fewer cycles, which means a lot less money and stress. That’s a win.
Is egg freezing right for me?
There are a few things to consider if you’re thinking about freezing your eggs, including your personal goals (what do you want to do before having kids?), your financial situation (can you afford to freeze your eggs right now?), and your medical situation (is something compromising your fertility?).
1Your age.
Did you know that your age is the single biggest predictor of your ability to get pregnant? Your fertility declines sharply after 35–and sometimes much sooner than that. About 10 percent of women have low ovarian reserve, which means their egg supply is running out sooner than it should.
The good news is that your ovarian reserve can be assessed in a couple of different ways. One is what doctors call an antral follicle count, which counts the number of follicles in each ovary during an ultrasound. Another way is a simple blood test that measures the amount of AMH (anti-mullerian hormone) in your system. Low AMH levels signal low ovarian reserve. Why not start with an AMH test to check things out?
Keep in mind that even with a normal ovarian reserve, your egg quality still drops as you age – and egg quality is even more important for your fertility than egg quantity. So if you’re in your late 20s or 30s, and you’re not ready to have kids, consider freezing your eggs now. Your future self will thank you. We promise.
2Your personal goals.
You want to travel the globe, buy a house, conquer your career, be a boss, and meet Mr. Right? We love that for you. If you’re not sure where — or if — kids fit into that journey, but you want to keep your options open, consider freezing your eggs. It will take the pressure off. When you’re ready, they’ll be waiting.
3Your financial situation.
Egg freezing isn’t cheap. Believe us, we know. It’s an investment of thousands of dirhams that you need to plan for. Fortunately, Ovasave is making egg freezing more accessible through buy now, pay later options. We want egg freezing to be something every woman can consider.
Keep in mind that freezing your eggs now may actually save you money in the future. If you decide to pursue IVF later using fresh eggs twice, that you retrieve at that point, your chances of a baby are lower than if you use eggs that were frozen when you were younger. That means you’re likely to need more IVF cycles to be successful — and it adds up fast.
4Your medical situation.
This is a tough one. Some women have obvious medical challenges that can make getting pregnant challenging, such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, thyroid issues, or obesity. Some women are facing medical treatments that could damage their fertility. And some women’s fertility challenges are totally invisible. Remember our talk about your declining egg numbers? For some women, it happens a lot earlier than they expect — professionals call this low ovarian reserve. Whatever the case, a fertility assessment can help you determine whether your medical situation might call for egg freezing.
What is the best age to freeze your eggs?
Perhaps the single most important factor to consider when it comes to egg freezing is your age. As we explained above, your fertility — including your egg quality and quantity — drops significantly after 35.
Chances of getting pregnant by age
With this in mind, we suggest asking yourself some questions: How old are you? How old do you imagine yourself being when you become a mom? Maybe it’s time to plan a few steps (or years) ahead. Maybe it’s time to freeze those eggs.
Quality over quantity
Age doesn’t just determine the number of eggs you have left. It also determines how good those eggs are, or how many of your eggs are baby quality.
When you’re 20 years old and probably not thinking about having kids at all, your eggs are in their prime. (We know, life isn’t fair.) Almost all of them are completely chromosomally normal and able to grow into a healthy baby. Only a few of your eggs are abnormal, which means they might grow into a baby with chromosomal abnormalities, they might lead to a miscarriage, or they might not lead to pregnancy at all.
As you age, these numbers reverse themselves — slowly at first, and then much faster after about 35 years of age. By 40, unfortunately, most of your eggs have degraded and only about 10 percent are normal, or baby-quality.
What is AMH, anyway?
Your AMH, or anti-mullerian hormone level, is a more scientific way of measuring your fertility — specifically, your ovarian reserve. Generally, most women experience a sharp drop in their ovarian reserve (and fertility) after 35. But unfortunately for some women, ovarian reserve can drop a lot earlier than that, and they don’t even know it.
Here's a quick crib sheet on what your AMH level might mean. If it is low or extremely low, your fertile window may be closing soon. Consider freezing your eggs now to keep your options open.
| Too high – you could have PCOS, or polycystic ovary syndrome | More than 6 ng/mL |
| Too high – you could have PCOS, or polycystic ovary syndrome | More than 6 ng/mL |
| High – Lots of eggs left | 3-6 ng/mL |
| Normal – An average number of eggs left | 1-2.9 ng/mL |
| Low – Not many eggs left | 0.3-0.6 ng/mL |
| Extremely low – Very few eggs left | Less than 0.3 ng/mL |
Okay, so how do I find out what my AMH is?
We’re glad you asked. You could ask your doctor for an AMH test, which is a blood test. Keep in mind that clinical AMH tests are not usually covered by insurance. You might find it cheaper and easier to test your own AMH from home with one of Ovasave’s easy finger-prick tests.
We suggest getting your AMH tested even if you’re on the fence about having kids or about egg freezing. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is freedom.
What to expect during an egg freezing cycle
Egg freezing takes place over about 2 weeks, and has 4 parts:
1. Initial blood tests and ultrasound
You start by visiting your fertility specialist on the second day of your period and doing some tests, including a blood test that measures several hormones, including your AMH level.
The doctor will also do an ultrasound to examine your ovaries and count the number of follicles in each. One follicle can produce one egg, so a lower follicle count means you’ll produce fewer eggs, and a higher follicle count means you’ll produce more eggs.
The ultrasound is usually done internally (through your vagina). You might feel some pressure, but it shouldn’t hurt.
2. Ovarian stimulation
Typically, you produce one mature egg every month. During an egg freezing cycle, you’ll give yourself daily hormone injections to stimulate your ovaries to produce a bunch of eggs. The needles are small — you’ll just feel a little pinch. Some women experience some bruising and a warm sensation at the injection site (your abdomen), but the discomfort should be mild and will pass quickly.
You may also experience some emotional side effects from the injections. You’re loading your body up with extra hormones, which, of course, can affect your mood. (PMS, anyone?) It’s normal — be kind to yourself. Your body is doing something amazing.
From ovarian stimulation to egg retrieval
Remember, everyone’s egg freezing cycle is a little different. Your doctor will create a protocol just for you, but it will probably look something like this:
3. Monitoring and more medication
Throughout your cycle, you’ll visit your doctor 3 or 4 more times for ultrasounds to see how your egg follicles are developing and adjust your medication if you need to. Later in the cycle, you’ll add an additional daily injection to make sure you don’t ovulate naturally. Then, 36 hours before collection day, you’ll give yourself a “trigger” shot to tell your ovaries to release your eggs.
4. Collection and freezing
The egg collection itself is a 10-15-minute procedure. The doctor will insert a probe with a needle attached to it through your cervix and into your ovaries to aspirate, or vacuum, an egg out of each follicle. No cutting or stitches required. You’ll be under general anesthesia, so you won’t feel anything. Your eggs will go off to the lab to be flash frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen until you’re ready to use them in an IVF cycle.
You might experience a little cramping when you wake up and over the next day or two. Most women can go back to work the next day.
More real talk: The numbers game
We promised we’d always be straight with you, so here goes: Egg freezing isn’t a guarantee you’ll be able to have kids. We wish it were. The good news is that it will dramatically increase your chances. An egg you freeze now, in your 20s or early 30s, has a much better chance of resulting in a healthy birth than an older egg you use fresh later on — whether trying naturally or during an IVF cycle.
On average, you should plan to freeze about 15 eggs for each future baby — but of course, those numbers vary based on your age and other lifestyle factors. Here’s a general breakdown:
| Age | Number of eggs to freeze for a 50% chance of having a baby | Number of eggs to freeze for a 60% chance of having a baby | Number of eggs to freeze for a 70% chance of having a baby |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 35 | 6 | 8 | 9 |
| 35-37 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| 38-40 | 11 | 13 | 16 |
| 41-42 | 20 | 24 | 28 |
| > 42 | 50 | 70 | 80 |
Why do you need to freeze so many eggs? Largely because Mother Nature is annoyingly inefficient. That is, some of your eggs aren’t baby-quality — even if you’re young. The other sobering reality is that even though egg freezing and IVF technologies have revolutionised women’s fertility, they aren’t perfect. A few of your eggs won’t survive thawing, and only a fraction of those that survive will fertilise and develop into embryos.Only about 60%of healthy, good-quality embryos will result in a baby.
Keep in mind that egg quality and numbers can vary from woman to woman — even among women the same age. Genetics, lifestyle, and other factors play a role in the number of eggs you have left and can produce in one egg freezing cycle. A young, healthy woman with normal ovarian reserve may produce 10-15 eggs in a cycle. A woman in her late 30s or early 40s with low ovarian reserve may produce only a few eggs, or even no eggs during a cycle.
