Egg freezing gives women the chance to become mothers at any age they want. Today, egg freezing is performed using the vitrification method. It is a reproductive method that allows women to postpone their pregnancy as long as they want or to become pregnant at any time they want by freezing their eggs. This method, which allows women to postpone their fertility as long as they want, is becoming increasingly popular. It helps women give birth to children with healthy genetics, even at an advanced age, using their own ovaries.
Is egg freezing healthy for women?
In women, as they age, their ovaries age as well. For this reason, the possibility of having a child decreases and the possibility of giving birth to a healthy baby decreases. The reason for this is that every woman has a certain number of egg reserves when she comes into the world. Women spend approximately 1000 eggs during each menstrual period. When women reach the age of 35, their remaining egg reserve is around 10%. During this period, the quality of the eggs gradually decreases and the chance of having a healthy baby is lower than for younger women. This is why older mothers have recurrent miscarriages and give birth to babies with congenital anomalies. Freezing eggs during the fertile age of a woman prevents future risks and allows healthy egg cells to be used to achieve pregnancy. For this reason, it is recommended that women who postpone their pregnancy have egg freezing before they reach the age of becoming a mother.
In what cases is egg freezing recommended?
Egg freezing is recommended for young couples who are considering postponing pregnancy for some reason, so that they can maintain their fertility.
When women need to undergo oncological treatment, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the ovarian tissue and eggs will be damaged. For this reason, freezing the woman's eggs or ovarian tissue before treatment can be recommended to preserve fertility.
Women who have to undergo a medical procedure that involves removing their ovaries are advised to undergo egg freezing to give them the chance to have a baby in the future.
During IVF treatment, the eggs collected from the woman are frozen because sperm cannot be obtained from the man. This process is done to prevent the eggs from going to waste and to use them later.
Women with diminished ovarian reserve are advised to undergo egg freezing to increase their chances of becoming pregnant.
If there are women in the family who went through early menopause, it is recommended that people undergo egg freezing.
How is egg freezing done?
In order to perform the egg freezing process, the women's ovaries are stimulated with hormone drugs. In this way, the aim is to obtain more eggs in women during the month. After the eggs are collected, the vitrification process is started. This process is applied to prevent ice crystals in the egg cell, which is mostly filled with liquid. Egg cells are frozen rapidly at low temperatures and hardened. In order to prevent cracking in the cell membrane during this process, a large number of cellular cryoprotectors are used. Egg cells frozen in this way are stored at -196 degrees. These are thawed when the woman wants to get pregnant and fertilized with sperm taken from the man. At this stage, embryo transfer is performed within 2-3 days without the need for hormone therapy. After this stage, the woman's pregnancy is monitored and she is ensured to have a healthy baby.
What are the factors that will affect the success of egg freezing?
Women who want to have a baby at a later age through egg freezing should realize this idea at an early age. Because frozen eggs are of the same quality as the period they were frozen. If a woman has egg freezing at a young age, she can have a healthy pregnancy at a later age, just like she did at a young age, and the baby to be born will be healthy. This is an important factor affecting the success of the procedure.
If the water in the egg cell turns into ice crystals during the freezing process, the egg cell will be damaged. Therefore, the chance of the thawed egg being fertilized by sperm will decrease. For this reason, the vitrification method is used in the egg freezing process. With this technique, a success rate of 77-95% is achieved in the egg freezing process.
The methods used in thawing frozen eggs and fertilizing them with sperm also affect the pregnancy rate. Fertilization can be done by leaving the egg and sperm together, or the ICSI method, in which the sperm is injected into the egg, can be used. Due to the hardening of the shell called zona pellucida around the frozen egg, the sperm may not be able to enter the egg and fertilization may not occur. Therefore, using the ICSI method during fertilization is a factor that will increase success.
The results are successful thanks to the use of the vitrification method in the egg freezing process, the woman being young and healthy during the egg freezing process, and the ICSI method being applied in the fertilization process of the thawed eggs with sperm. Pregnancies obtained with thawed eggs give the same results as pregnancies obtained with fresh eggs. No congenital anomalies have been observed due to this process. This risk, that is, the possibility of a congenital anomaly in the baby, is the same as in pregnancies obtained by normal means.
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