Egg Freezing

Egg freezing uses the most up-to-date technology to allow women to freeze their eggs with an excellent post-thaw success rate. Egg freezing gives women the opportunity to conceive later in life with the use of her “younger eggs.” Pregnancies using younger eggs have higher pregnancy rates due to the decreased DNA abnormalities associated with maternal age. These frozen eggs can be fertilised with ICSI from a partner’s sperm or donor sperm and women are generally able to conceive and carry a pregnancy, even if their own periods have stopped at that time. At Shire IVF we offer a streamlined Egg Freezing program that minimises the number of injections required and allows you to undergo your egg freezing cycles with the least possible disruptions to your daily life.

ShireIVF partners with Demeter Fertility to provide scientific and embryology support throughout all our treatment cycles.

Egg freezing uses the most up-to-date technology to allow women to freeze their eggs with an excellent post-thaw success rate. Egg freezing gives women the opportunity to conceive later in life with the use of her “younger eggs.” Pregnancies using younger eggs have higher pregnancy rates due to the decreased DNA abnormalities associated with maternal age. These frozen eggs can be fertilised with ICSI from a partner’s sperm or donor sperm and women are generally able to conceive and carry a pregnancy, even if their own periods have stopped at that time. At Shire IVF we offer a streamlined Egg Freezing program that minimises the number of injections required and allows you to undergo your egg freezing cycles with the least possible disruptions to your daily life.

ShireIVF partners with Demeter Fertility to provide scientific and embryology support throughout all our treatment cycles.

F.A.Q’s

In general, the women who seek egg freezing fall into two main categories; 1. Women with medical issues affecting future fertility including those with upcoming cancer treatments, surgical procedures that require removal of part or all of the ovaries and also those with the known possibility of early menopause.  2. Women with relatively normal fertility that are not planning to have children just yet. Known as “social egg freezing”, Dr Sonya Jessup is very supportive of this group of women who are taking proactive measures to give them choices later in life. Freezing younger eggs generally results in more quality eggs being frozen and a higher chance that embryos conceived from these eggs will be genetically normal and result in a higher pregnancy rate.
This involves an initial appointment with Dr Jessup, including a full history and examination and bloods tests. The egg freezing procedure starts with your period and involves taking between 1 and 2 injections a day for 7-10 days. Between 1-3 ultrasounds scans, blood tests and a trans-vaginal egg collection procedure is required. After the egg collection, the process is completed, no further action is required and you will get your next period two weeks later.
Dr Jessup recommends 3 cycles of egg freezing to give you the best chance of later success. Egg collection is a relatively simple procedure and Shire IVF gives you the options of undergoing the procedure under local anaesthetic in our clinic for a more cost-effective alternative to that of a day procedure in hospital under a general anaesthetic. There is no guarantee may eggs will be collected each cycle, so undergoing three cycles is a safe minimum option.
Frozen eggs can be stored for years with little effect on egg quality. Once a woman is ready to conceive the eggs can be unfrozen, fertilised and implanted in the uterus in the hope of falling pregnant. It should be noted that egg freezing is still a relatively new procedure and although there is ample clinical evidence to support it, there are no guarantees. Women who wish to undertake egg freezing must understand the likely success rates for someone of their age taking into consideration any other relevant circumstances. Consideration should also be given to undergoing further fertility assessments to identify any potential underlying fertility issues. Ready to take the next step? If you would like to meet with Dr Sonya Jessup, book an appointment today by calling 02 9 256 2030