Egg freezing

Oocyte freezing or vitrification/cryopreservation is a popular method whereby a woman's eggs are frozen for future use. Many world experts believe that vitrification allows for quite promising and positive results. A woman is a fragile creature. The same is true for eggs. That is why this procedure should only be trusted to true professionals.

Vitrification allows you to postpone motherhood to a later date. At the same time, the method is considered one of the most effective, since when freezing oocytes, 100% of eggs survive. In addition, a frozen egg has the same characteristics as a normal one. Thanks to this, a woman can receive embryos for implantation or become pregnant even after 50-60 years.

It is believed that vitrification is best performed at a young age (up to thirty years), since after thirty-five women not only have a reduced number of oocytes, but their quality also deteriorates significantly. There is also a method of slow freezing of eggs, which has been popular quite recently. But with it, a woman cannot always be sure of a successful outcome. Thanks to vitrification, ice crystals do not appear during freezing, which destroy the egg after some time. In addition, rapid freezing does not destroy the structure of oocytes.

Indications for egg freezing

According to the latest statistics, vitrification and cryopreservation are popular methods among women aged 25 to 35. Who is this method indicated for?

1. If the couple has an unstable financial situation at the moment. The woman tries to wait until their family starts to receive a stable and high enough income to afford having a child. But eggs age, so freezing them is an excellent solution to the problem.
2. The impossibility of creating a family at this stage of life. Not every woman finds her soulmate right away. Sometimes it takes years to find a suitable man, and you don’t really want to give birth to a child yourself. It is cryopreservation that will help you in this case not to worry about aging and get pregnant from the person you choose to be the ideal father.
3. If it is necessary to perform surgical operations or other similar procedures for cervical canal stenosis or endometriosis, as well as in the presence of tumors. Sometimes, taking some important medications can cause infertility. Therefore, you can freeze your eggs before the procedure in order to have the opportunity to become a mother in the future.
4. If a woman works under constant exposure to harmful or aggressive substances.
5. In case of genetic diseases, vitrification allows selecting those oocytes that do not have genetic defects for the birth of a healthy child.
6. Some experts believe that defrosting eggs significantly improves their characteristics, so a woman can become pregnant with a higher percentage.
7. If there is a need to remove the uterus or ovaries.

Preparing for freezing

To prepare a woman for egg freezing, a procedure is performed that is similar to ovarian stimulation during artificial insemination. Ovarian stimulation occurs according to all protocol rules. After this, the doctor collects eggs through the vagina using a transvaginal sensor.

On the same day, after a few hours, the obtained eggs are frozen. The patient must sign an agreement on the collection and storage of oocytes before the collection procedure.

Egg freezing technique

To perform cryopreservation, the egg is first completely dehydrated so that the water after freezing does not damage the structure of the oocytes. After that, all cavities are filled with special substances (cryoprotectors), in which the structure of polysaccharides and monosaccharides is preserved. It is very important that the specialist correctly selects the exposure time, as well as the ratio of non-penetrating and penetrating cryoprotectors.

Thanks to this technology, almost 100% survival of biological material is achieved over a long period of time.

In cryopreservation, a correctly selected temperature regime plays an important role. The standard temperature for this procedure is not lower than -196 degrees Celsius. Capsules with the obtained oocytes are placed in liquid nitrogen, due to which all biochemical processes in the cells stop. Thus, the eggs can be stored for a very long time.

When using low temperatures, living objects may die. That is why it is very important to implement all necessary protective measures.