For women that may be experiencing a lower number of egg reservoir in their late 20s or early 30s and if they are aware of this, there is the option to do egg freezing.
You might consider egg freezing if:
Anyone who is included in this group is likely to preserve their fertility
Patients reasons for egg freezing are multiple. First, let’s talk about the medical indications. The obvious first indication will be someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, who can be used treated with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Cancers such as breast cancer; the medications that are used for the chemotherapy are very toxic to the ovaries. And most women who use treatment to undergo chemotherapy for breast cancer treatment typically will go into early menopause. So anyone diagnosed with cancer, and they’re going to receive chemotherapy radiation therapy should consider freezing their eggs. There are genetic links or disorders called Fragile X, someone may carry a Fragile X premutation. And if you do carry the Fragile X premutation, it’s been shown that you’ll have earlier menopause. So this is an indication for egg freezing. A medical condition such as endometriosis, which requires multiple surgeries on the ovaries, may also lead to earlier menopause due to the decrease in blood supply that happens with these surgeries on the ovaries. This also leads to premature ovarian failure which is an indication for egg freezing.
Other things that are important to consider when you’re thinking about egg freezing are transitioning couples or transitioning person who’s decided they would like to transition from male to female. And it’s important for them to consider sperm freezing or if you’re transitioning from female to male, you want to consider this egg freezing prior to undergoing your transitioning process because… or the surgical process because this can also lead to sterility or loss of eggs. And then the final indication for egg freezing is just someone who decides they want to preserve their fertility for the future. And it’s what we call Social egg freezing.
Is it too late to ever consider freezing your eggs or is it too early? The answer is no. There’s the ideal time to consider freezing your eggs and that would be of course prior to medical treatment at any age. But for someone considering social freezing, you should consider freezing eggs in your early 30s. However, you can freeze eggs in your 20s, you can freeze eggs in your late 30s, early 40s. But we have to remember that the age and the quality of the egg that goes into the freezer is what’s going to come out in the future. So someone in their early 40s and they’re considering freezing their eggs you can definitely freeze your eggs. But the success rates may be very low because of the age and the quality of the eggs that were frozen. I’ve had patients who are 45 years of age, I’ve actually had a young lady who was on my schedule to be seen for this week who’s 50 and she wants to consider freezing her eggs. So in those cases, we discuss the process, discuss the pros and cons, and let the woman or the patient herself decide what she would like to do as long as she understands the risks and benefits.
