Rumors suggest that Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston has frozen her eggs. In a recent episode of the U.S. reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim Kardashian prepared for the same procedure by injecting herself with hormones.
Women are postponing childbirth like never before… the average age for a woman having her first child is now 31, compared to 24 in 1962.
It is widely acknowledged that fertility significantly decreases after the age of 35… beyond 40, the likelihood of a woman getting pregnant using her own eggs is around three in ten. However, the reality surrounding egg freezing is far different from the hype.
The probability of conceiving from a frozen egg remains low, and the preparation involves a painful and expensive process that requires powerful fertility drugs, chemicals, and surgery.
When the first baby was born from a frozen egg, it appeared that technology had finally conquered the limitations of the biological clock. Nevertheless, since that moment, only 12 babies have been born from frozen eggs in the country.
Regardless, a report from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) indicates that egg freezing is no longer classified as experimental technology and has advised women to freeze their eggs in their 20s and 30s to aid with future conception.
Surprisingly, American facilities specializing in egg freezing aggressively promote ‘fertility preservation’ to the parents of single women in their 30s, who invest in egg-freezing cycles for their daughters to enhance their potential for becoming grandparents.
Seeking the right partner in time for having children often feels too uncertain, leading women to consult fertility centers.
Since the licensing of egg freezing by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), around 6,500 eggs have been stored in the past decade.
A substantial number of eggs are collected from women whose fertility has been compromised due to cancer treatment; however, an increasing number are preserved for women opting to start a family later in life.
If a woman decides to thaw her eggs, an IVF technique known as Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is employed to insert a single sperm into the egg, costing approximately $4,000.
Nonetheless, postponing parenthood through egg freezing poses significant risks, and concerns exist that women may develop a misleading sense of assurance regarding their future opportunities to have children.
‘Proclaiming something as no longer experimental is quite different from asserting it will be successful,’ states Professor Robert Harrison, a consultant gynecologist and obstetrician, previous president of the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS), and author of The Smart Guide To Infertility.
‘Women who are fertile and choose to freeze their eggs in order to delay motherhood may be subjecting themselves to discomfort, risks, and significant expenses, with an uncertain chance of obtaining a baby in return.’
‘A frozen egg from a 38-year-old will be superior to a fresh one from a 42-year-old, yet the chances of pregnancy remain quite low.’
‘From a biological standpoint, the prime age for a woman to consider egg freezing is 30,’ he explains. ‘At that age, she has a 50/50 chance of having at least one baby later.’
He points out that the likelihood of a woman successfully having a baby from eggs frozen at the age of 40 drops to merely 10 percent.
Even freezing eggs at 30 may have drawbacks, with concerns that the freezing and thawing processes could affect egg quality.
Chemicals used during the flash-freezing process could possibly harm the egg. Only eight out of ten eggs manage to survive the thawing stage. Additionally, there are indications that egg freezing may pose risks even for healthy women.
For instance, in approximately five out of 100 instances, ovaries may react excessively to fertility drugs, leading to a condition known as Ovarian Hyper-Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS), where ovaries can swell to multiple times their standard size.
by Susan Floyd
