Egg Freezing for Future Fertility

Written by: Alicia

I was sitting in a waiting room the other day, reading a magazine to pass the time and came across an article on freezing eggs. There is a company out there offering to freeze women's eggs for the purpose of future fertility. Their marketing tactic is to go after women who are aging and have yet to find the man of their dreams but know they want to become pregnant someday. They encourage these women to continue to wait and freeze their eggs and come back when they are ready to start a family.

I kinda sat on the fence about this for a few days. However, the more I think about it the more disturbed I become. They are basically telling women it is okay to wait to get pregnant later in life. "Freeze your eggs with us and later on down the road when you are ready to start a family, come back in. It is that simple." Okay, so that is not a real quote but that is the feeling I get from their marketing campaign.

It seems deceptive to me. The egg freezing company says, "[our] breakthrough egg freezing service offers women the opportunity to preserve their fertility and take control of their reproductive health." And that is a real quote. I get concerned about this because it makes a woman believe there will be no problem if she waits until her late 30s or 40s.

I wonder how many women know the dangers of freezing eggs. I was told when considering to freeze my blastocysts (fertilized eggs) after my IVF that only 50% will most likely be viable after thawing. Can you imagine freezing your eggs, being told your eggs will be waiting for you and then when you are ready to conceive you learn half of them are no longer "good" eggs? You may also learn a few more of them have chromosomal abnormalities. Your chances of conception are a lot less than you started off thinking they would be ten years earlier. I just hope this company is informing their clients of all of the possible complications in egg freezing.

If you have done a Google search for "freezing eggs" and landed on this page, then I am glad I can inform you on some of the other dangers in waiting to conceive later in life.

Most of us women know we were born with a certain amount of eggs in our ovaries. Once those eggs are gone, they are gone. We do not "grow" more. For this reason, many women solely focus on the amount of eggs they have and their quality. However, as you age other problems can arise that affect your fertility. Eggs are not the only concern:

1. Hormone levels change. Although some fertility drugs can help balance your hormone levels they are never a sure bet.

2. Menstrual cycle changes as we age. They can become irregular and shorter.

3. The lining of the endometrium becomes thinner and less hospitable for a fertilized egg.

4. Mucus/vaginal secretions can become less fluid and more hostile to sperm. During an IVF procedure you will obviously not have to worry about the sperm swimming up your fallopian tubes but this is worth mentioning for general fertility education purposes.

5. Diseases affecting the reproductive system can damage the reproductive organs as time passes, or worsen if not treated properly; including endometriosis, PCOS and chlamydia. Note: I know the company offering to freeze your eggs says this will help women preserve their fertility if they suffer from endometriosis; for instance. Women can save their eggs now and hopefully not have as much trouble conceiving later in life. However, many of us do not even realize we suffer from these diseases until we start our infertility battle. It would be nice for this company to find out if you have any of these diseases before they pull your eggs.

6. As women age, many gain weight due to health and lifestyle changes. We all know being overweight can make it more difficult to conceive.

7. We can't forget about the men. If women are waiting to conceive then most likely their mate will be older as well. Genetic defects in the sperm increase as men age; possibly leading to decreased fertility, increased chance of miscarriage and increased risk of some birth defects. Note: I know with egg freezing they will pick that "one" sperm to insert into that one egg. I guess you just cross your fingers that the man you have waited for so long to find still has one good sperm left. Chances are pretty good (I would assume) but it is certainly a point worth bringing up.

In certain cases I think this is a great idea. Such as if a woman is fighting cancer and going into treatment. She can freeze her eggs before the powerful cancer fighting drugs enter her system. So, I can certainly see the positive aspect of this option. However, I worry about the marketing aspect of telling women it is "okay to wait" when I truly feel it is not. I would like to see society change and start encouraging women AND men to consider creating their families earlier. Young parents need to be supported through college and companies need to support a family lifestyle as well. We need to make it easier for women to have a family and a successful career at the same time.

I guess you can say I feel this egg freezing marketing campaign is taking us in the opposite direction than I would like for our society to go.

Take care,
Alicia