Olive Fertility Centre in Vancouver has seen an exponential increase in the number of women coming into the clinic interested in social egg freezing. According to fertility expert and Olive co-director, Dr. Niamh Tallon, We are seeing more women in their early to mid-thirties who are not yet in a position to have a family, because of finances, career, or most often they just havent found the right partner, deciding to take control of their fertility by freezing their eggs.

Dr Tallon will be giving a free information talk on egg freezing at Olive Fertility Centre on Feb 26th for women who want to find out more about the process.

While egg freezing has been around for several years, the use of a technology called vitrification, which involves flash freezing the eggs, has significantly increased the odds of pregnancy for women using frozen eggs. With vitrification, the eggs are frozen so quickly that damaging ice crystals dont get a chance to form.

This makes them much more likely to survive thawing later.

We continue to see excellent results with high egg survival rates and pregnancy rates mirroring what is expected for the age of the egg. says Dr. Tallon.

The egg freezing process is the same as traditional IVF. It involves a woman injecting medications that stimulate egg growth to the point they can be harvested. However, instead of fertilizing the eggs with sperm, the eggs are frozen unfertilized and stored until a woman is ready to conceive sometime in the future. At that point, the eggs are thawed and fertilized to hopefully result in viable embryos that can then be transferred into the uterus.

According to the latest Statistics Canada report in 2016, more babies were born to Canadian women over the age of 35 than women in their early 20s. Deferring starting a family until later in life comes with the increased risk of infertility. A 2012 study shows that infertility rates in Canada have almost doubled in the last two decades due, in part, to the fact that on average women are starting their families later in life.

Fertility in women is directly associated with the age of a womans eggs. Not only does the quantity of eggs decline as a woman ages, but the genetic quality declines as well. Poor egg quality leads to a longer time to achieving a pregnancy, infertility, more frequent miscarriages, and a greater risk of chromosomal disorders in the offspring. Egg freezing halts that ongoing genetic decline in quality associated with the biological clock. In addition, a woman who freezes her eggs at a younger age tends to have more eggs than if she froze them later in life.

However, many women still underestimate the effects of age on fertility. A survey conducted by UBCs counselling psychology department found that many women believe that overall health and fitness levels are better indicators of fertility than age.

The fact is that, despite how fit you are or how young you look, 40 is not the new 30 when it comes to our fertility. Our eggs are exactly as old as we are, says Dr Tallon.

The egg freezing process allows women to safeguard some of their best eggs for potential future use. Most women express feeling empowered and, even though pregnancy is not a guarantee, they understand this is the best outcome they could expect using this technology. At least it offers an opportunity to act today. Egg freezing is one of many options for someone wanting or needing to defer pregnancy to a later time.

While a few American companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon cover egg freezing in their medical plans, social egg freezing is not covered by government health plans in Canada. The cost for an egg freezing cycle is approximately $7,000 for an egg freezing cycle, plus the cost of drugs, which can range from $3,000 to $5,000. The entire procedure, including hormone injections, takes about three weeks.

Lets Talk Egg Freezing

Feb 26th, 6:30 to 8:00 pm

OLIVE FERTILITY CENTRE / 4thFloor

400 East Tower, 555 West 12th Avenue.

Spaces are limited. To register, go to http://www.olivefertility.com/egg-freezing-social or e-mail info@olivefertility.com.

Olive Fertility Centre is one of Canadas largest fertility clinics, offering an advanced IVF lab, personal care teams and innovative programs that include the PGT-A, specialized genetic testing, egg freezing, and prenatal NIPT testing.

See the original post here:
More single women choosing to freeze their eggs - The Asian Pacific Post

Comments are closed.