Egg freezing and storage
Preserve your fertility with egg freezing.
If you aren’t quite ready to start your family, freezing your eggs could give you the reassurance you need to wait for the right time. And as your egg quality can decline as you grow older, the sooner you do it, the better; it’s best to freeze your eggs before you turn 35.
Could freezing my eggs be right for me?
There are lots of reasons why you might want to preserve your fertility. Most commonly, you’ll be thinking of freezing your eggs because:
- You’re not quite ready to start a family, but you’re worried it might become more difficult as you get older
- You’re worried about the risks associated with having a family when you’re older, such as miscarriage and genetic conditions
- You’re having medical treatment or suffering from a condition that could affect your eggs, or make you less able to produce them in the future.
Ultimately, egg freezing is a good option if you think you might want to start or grow your family in the future and would like to preserve your fertility. If you’re unsure whether freezing your eggs is for you, we’d be happy to help; talk to your local clinic or contact us.
What does egg freezing involve?
We’re licensed by the HFEA to freeze and store eggs. First, however, we need to collect them, and this straightforward procedure takes about 30 minutes. Usually under mild sedation or local anaesthetic, we’ll collect your eggs from the ovaries using a needle guided by an ultrasound probe.
We then put your eggs into a special culture medium before assessing them, and those suitable will be frozen for possible future use. If you choose to have your eggs frozen, we’ll explain each stage of the process carefully and will let you know how many eggs are being frozen when we’re done.
Hundreds of babies have been born worldwide using frozen and thawed mature eggs, and we're one of the first clinics in the UK to have introduced a super-cooling technique for egg freezing called vitrification, which substantially improves egg survival rates.
Over 85% of eggs undergoing the vitrification technique survive the freeze-thaw process, and many of these can be used in treatment.
Emily talks about freezing her eggs
“After having my eggs frozen, I have that plan B”
For more information about egg freezing, get in touch with your local clinic or book a consultation.