The ins and outs of egg freezing

Egg freezing raises large hopes and questions

Egg freezing offers options for women, contempt outgo and concerns | 60 Minutes 26:43

While commencement rates successful the United States are near historical lows, much and much American women are freezing their eggs to sphere their fertility. 

The fig of procedures has accrued much than six times over, from 6,000 successful 2014, to much than 39,000 successful 2023. The process, which lone became an accepted signifier 12 years ago, has allowed women to frost some their eggs and, immoderate say, their biologic clocks. Women who privation children, but aren't acceptable yet, spot it arsenic a mode to sphere their options for later. 

There utilized to beryllium a stigma astir the process, arsenic though freezing eggs meant thing hadn't worked retired successful a patient's life, but that's not the lawsuit anymore, says Dr. Tomer Singer, strategy main of reproductive endocrinology and infertility astatine Northwell Health.

"It became a communal thing. It's astir empowering. You travel in. 'I'm successful my 30s. I'm not acceptable for a baby,'" Singer said. "'I privation to frost my eggs. I'm not gonna compromise connected the incorrect guy.'"

How does ovum freezing work

Women walk astir 2 weeks giving themselves regular hormone injections — sometimes respective successful a azygous time — earlier their eggs are retrieved. The shots induce the ovaries to ripen aggregate follicles, the sacs that incorporate eggs. 

A surgeon volition past spell successful with a tiny needle and drain the fluid successful those follicles. That fluid is taken to an embryology laboratory wherever embryologists bash the delicate enactment of searching for the eggs.They maneuver tiny pipettes nether a microscope to find and isolate ovum cells. 

Dr. Tomer Singer and Lesley Stahl 60 Minutes

Once found, the eggs are enactment onto tiny peculiar straws, past plunged into liquid nitrogen and stored successful tanks kept astatine -320 degrees Fahrenheit. The eggs enactment there, perchance for years, until their proprietor is acceptable to thaw them, adhd sperm and crook them into embryos, which is efficaciously the 2nd fractional of successful vitro fertilization. 

According to the information frankincense far, arsenic with IVF, determination are nary differences successful the wellness of babies calved from frozen eggs.

How overmuch does freezing your eggs cost?

Freezing eggs is expensive. A azygous cycle, including medication, costs an mean of $12,000 to $15,000, positive different $500 to $1,000 each twelvemonth for storage. Thawing and fertilizing the eggs aboriginal connected costs an further $10,000.  

Back successful 2014, Apple and Facebook made headlines erstwhile they started offering ovum freezing arsenic a covered payment for their employees. Today much than a 3rd of the largest corporations successful the U.S. — those with 20,000 oregon much employees — screen ovum freezing, 60 Minutes' genitor institution Paramount among them. 

Why much women are turning to ovum freezing 

While much companies are covering ovum freezing, galore women, similar Tina Rampino, wage retired of pocket. Rampino's doc suggested the process during a regular sojourn astatine property 35, telling her she was moving retired of time.

"'You tin get joined whenever you privation to get married, but you can't person kids forever,'" Rampino recalled her gynecologist saying. 

It was worthy it for Rampino, contempt the cost. 

Tina Rampino 60 Minutes

Yasmine Higbee, 29, works successful consulting and has a superior boyfriend. She's definite she'd emotion to person children, but she's not acceptable yet. Higbee said she wants to bask herself with her spouse alternatively of rushing to person kids, truthful she turned to ovum freezing. 

Nameetha Jacob, a 38-year-old wellness attraction administrator, said she isn't acceptable for kids yet due to the fact that she hasn't recovered the close partner. She knows she's going to beryllium an older mother, truthful Jacob views having frozen eggs arsenic akin to insurance. Jacob froze her eggs twice, erstwhile once she was 34 and again erstwhile she was 36.

"You're not pressured to find idiosyncratic and settee down and get married," Jacob said. "You don't perceive the ticking successful your caput constantly."

The biologic timepiece and ovum freezing

The biologic timepiece is simply a world each pistillate faces. Women are calved with each the eggs they'll ever have, Dr. Lucky Sekhon, a fertility specializer astatine RMA of New York, said. New ones are ne'er made, and eggs can't beryllium fixed oregon repaired. The fig is ever decreasing. 

"It beauteous overmuch starts decreasing adjacent earlier you're born," Sekhon said. "You're a fetus successful your mother's womb astatine 20 weeks, and that's erstwhile you person the highest fig of eggs, 6 to 7 million." 

The numbers spell down from there.

When an ovum is frozen, it stops aging, which is important due to the fact that ovum prime besides decreases arsenic women age, Sekhon said. Even astatine highest fertility, successful women's 20s, immoderate 25% of eggs, erstwhile combined with sperm, volition make embryos that are chromosomally abnormal and volition apt pb to miscarriages. The percentages emergence from there. 

Dr. Lucky Sekhon 60 Minutes

Sekhon says the precocious 30s are a turning point, a clip successful a woman's beingness erstwhile astir fractional of her eggs, erstwhile fertilized, volition go abnormal embryos. Some women incorrectly deliberation if they pb a steadfast lifestyle, doing yoga and refraining from smoking, for example, past their eggs volition beryllium successful bully health, too.

"And I person to explicate to them that we person nary information to suggest that you tin power your ovum prime successful that way, unfortunately," Sekhon said.

She said the optimal clip to frost eggs is erstwhile a pistillate is successful her 20s. 

"Because that's erstwhile you're astatine your lowest imaginable complaint of familial errors successful the embryos that effect from those eggs," Sekhon said. "And you besides person a batch much eggs astatine that age."