A common misconception is that fertility preservation is just for cancer patients. Fertility preservation is exactly what it sounds like; preserving your fertility. For women, it involves stimulating your ovaries to release many mature follicles to then be retrieved and cryopreserved for your own use later in life.
Many women now are putting their education and careers before starting a family (or maybe they just haven’t found the right guy yet). When they decide that the time is right to start their family, very commonly they find out the sad fact that they have passed their “prime” fertility time. They may have to undergo IVF to achieve a family, or even have to use an egg donor if their own egg quality is poor.
Most women don’t realize that their fertility strongly declines after the age of 35. After age 35, there is a much higher chance of miscarriage and infertility in women. If that number is surprising to you, it should be. This was not anything we were ever taught in school. This is not a fact we normally find out about until it’s too late.
Key options for fertility preservation include egg freezing (oocyte cryopreservation) and embryo freezing. Your fertility specialist will recommend egg freezing or embryo freezing based on your specific needs.
Fertility preservation is not normally a procedure covered by insurance. However the cost of freezing your own eggs (or embryos) now is significantly lower than the cost of using an egg donor later. Patients who are using an egg donor typically say they wish they had engaged in fertility preservation when they were younger.
The easiest way to find out if this is right for you is to just simply ask your doctor.
To see a doctor who has been providing both egg freezing and embryo freezing for many years, make an appointment with a Board Certified physician at one of InVia's four Chicago area fertility clinics.
Vicki Meagher has worked with InVia Fertility Specialists since 2006. She is our Third Party Coordinator, so she works with our patients that need an egg donor, sperm donor, gestational surrogate, or any combination of the above. She recruits and screens the egg donors for our in-house donor program as well. She loves working with intended parents and is passionate about third party reproduction and the important role it plays in helping patients achieve their dream of starting or extending their family. She is a member of SEEDS - the Society for Ethics for Egg Donation and Surrogacy.
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