Egg Freezing

What is Egg Freezing?

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Egg freezing is a fertility treatment designed to preserve your fertility for the future by collecting and freezing your eggs when you’re at your peak fertility. The procedure involves using fertility medications to trigger the development of multiple eggs in a single ovulation cycle and then retrieving the eggs once they’ve reached the desired level of maturation. Once retrieved, the eggs are flash-frozen through vitrification, a cryopreservation technique that protects their structural integrity during freezing and thawing.

With the help of the most advanced fertility care techniques and technologies, egg freezing makes it possible for people with ovaries to take control of their future fertility potential, regardless of where they are in life.

Preserve Fertility Potential

Should I freeze my eggs?

A woman is most fertile from about age 18 to 29. Over age 30, her fertility progressively declines, and this decline accelerates in her late 30s and early 40s. That's why conceiving at these ages can be a challenge for many women.

Egg freezing allows you to delay conception to allow for time to develop a stable relationship, pursue an advanced education, or develop a business or career. Egg freezing is also an option for women undergoing treatment such as chemotherapy, which can impact your fertility.

How it Works

The Right Age to Freeze

When should I freeze my eggs?

When deciding when to freeze your eggs, it's important to consider factors such as your relationship status and education and career plans along with the age-related decline in fertility rates.

In general, the younger you are, the better the outcomes of egg freezing. Younger women produce higher numbers of better quality eggs that have a better chance of conception. Also, the longer you choose to delay family building, the more benefit you may gain from early egg freezing.

Age & Fertility

Is egg freezing safe?

Egg freezing is considered to be a generally safe procedure, but as with any medical procedure, there are some risks, including side effects from fertility medications (i.e., bloating, nausea, fatigue, hot flashes, breast tenderness, mood swings, etc.), irritations at the injection site, abdominal discomfort, and pelvic pain. There is also a small risk of developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), a condition characterized by enlarged ovaries, abdominal pain, bloating, and in severe cases, fluid accumulation in the abdomen and chest.

Rest assured that your fertility doctor will explain all of the potential risks and considerations before starting the process, including any symptoms that indicate the need for immediate medical attention.

Can egg freezing harm my natural fertility and ovarian reserve?

Egg freezing has no impact on your natural fertility or your available ovarian reserve. During ovulation, several ovarian follicles are activated, but only one egg reaches maturation and is released into the fallopian tubes. The other immature eggs simply dissolve and reabsorb into the body. However, by using fertility medications, egg freezing encourages multiple activated ovarian follicles to produce multiple mature eggs, instead of losing them. As such, egg freezing does not affect the number of available eggs you would have in a normal cycle.

Egg Freezing Pioneers

Trust Pacific Fertility Center

Pacific Fertility Center was one of the first groups to offer egg freezing care in Northern California. Our team developed techniques of embryo vitrification for use with eggs, and has taught these techniques to many other groups.

Our physicians all trained in some of the finest institutions in the United States, and continue to advance fertility technology through research and development. Our entire staff is highly trained and experienced and engages in ongoing learning and improvement.

About The Center

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