Egg freezing is useful at the moment for young, unmarried women with cancer or other diseases that require treatment with radiation or chemotherapy that will render them infertile. Eggs can be frozen for later use. Then, when they have recovered and want to start a family, it may be possible for them to do so using their own eggs that have been previously frozen.
Other applications of egg freezing still need a little time to develop. I believe the next practical application of egg freezing will be to develop egg banks that will freeze young women’s eggs for the purposes of egg donation to women unable to produce their own eggs. This will give results quickly with regard to pregnancy rates and birth rates, which is most important to know before you consider freezing your own eggs purely for fertility preservation, which you may or may not need.
At twenty-nine, you are still young. If you have good ovarian reserve, pregnancy rates for someone thirty-five and younger are good. You still have time. Give this technology a year or two to develop before you make the decision to freeze your eggs. Watch the news for reports of pregnancy rates. Keep in touch with the ASRM for changes in their recommendations.
Read the June Fertile Thoughts Column
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