When Ovally‘s founder Kathy first did her research on egg freezing, there were lots of things she worried about, like so many of us: Is the procedure safe, is it painful, will there be long-term effects? Putting hormones into her body and giving herself injections sounded like no small procedure (unlike what a lot of Instagram ads will have you believe). Most of the content available online is written by fertility clinics without scientific references – so we’ve looked for peer-reviewed, scientific studies underlying various claims about egg freezing. We’ve summarized what we found with references below. As usual, always consult your doctor with your questions and concerns as well – we try our best to summarize and reference the best evidence but don’t replace medical advice.
1. Safety of the procedure:
- Egg freezing has been an established medical procedure: The American Society for Reproductive Medicine deemed it “no longer experimental” in 2012
- Even though the freezing and thawing parts of the procedure were mainly developed over the past 5-10 years (with the first baby born from a frozen egg in 1986), IVF, which includes the stimulation, retrieval, fertilization, and implantation of eggs, has been around since the 1980s and has significant data available:
- Most children conceived through IVF are healthy; a higher risk for birth defects and genetic disorders (esp. for multiple pregnancies) exists, but the parents’ fertility issues are likely key to these risks rather than the procedure
- Similarly, IVF and hormonal stimulation are not associated with a higher risk for cancer if the effect of the parents’ fertility issues is taken into account
- The likelihood of complications during egg retrieval is extremely low, and there have been no reports of any adverse effects on future fertility
- Previously frozen eggs don’t seem to increase issues with implantation, pregnancy, or birth compared to eggs that were implanted immediately after retrieval as part of IVF
2. Success rates:
- The likelihood that a frozen-thawed egg will result in a live birth is about 5-10% and higher for younger women (more on this in the next post)
- Outcomes and techniques have been improving (e.g., faster freezing allows more eggs to survive the process)
3. Potential prevention of negative outcomes:
- Preventing potential infertility (whether caused by disease or aging) is the main premise behind egg freezing
- Using frozen younger eggs can also help prevent abnormalities associated with older eggs and reduce the costs and risks associated with multiple cycles of IVF that a woman with older eggs might otherwise have to go through
4. Psychological benefits:
- Women who participated in a survey after freezing their eggs reported feeling empowered by the process; in another group of egg freezing patients, 90% were happy to have frozen their eggs, even if they might never use them
- Undergoing the initial diagnostic tests provides you with more information about their fertility (e.g., whether your follicle count is below average for your age)
5. Duration of treatment:
- The actual treatment phase (injections & retrieval) only lasts about 2 weeks
- Recovery typically takes no more than a few days
6. Attractiveness for specific populations:
- Egg freezing may be particularly compelling for women expecting to have to undergo IVF in order to get pregnant (e.g., cancer patients, women with blocked fallopian tubes, endometriosis, or early menopause, women with an infertile male partner)
However, there are also risks and other factors to consider – go to the next post to read our “food for thought” on egg freezing.
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