In recent times egg freezing has been used as insurance against age related decline of fertility. This has been accepted across many countries, especially in the western world. The aim is to bank oocytes and use them in the future as natural fertility declines.
Recently, in a study done in one of Europe’s largest centres. Frenucity of Belgium suggested that women who froze eggs believed that they would never have to use it and commented that they recognised the experience as being positive. The majority of the women who froze their eggs also believed that they should have done it at an earlier age. This survey was conducted on 140 women who had frozen their eggs between 2009 and 2011. A third of the women believed that they would never have to use their eggs. Nearly all believed that would do it again and two thirds believed that they should have done it at a younger age.
Women who froze their eggs also showed that freezing of eggs of women who did it accepted motherhood at a later age. They also appeared to be little difference in the relationships that women had later and the reproductive potential, that is the chances of trying for a baby in the future. Women who froze their eggs and women who did not freeze their eggs seemed to have a similar steady relationship, similar attempts at natural conception and a similar attempt at infertility.
Thus, the investigators revealed that oocyte freezing (egg freezing) which is used to provide psychological reassurance is expressed as a positive experience for many of the women. They commented that although the group of women seemed satisfied, they felt that a more efficient system should have been in place so that they could try and freeze these eggs at a younger age.
At the present, in the world, a large number of eggs have been frozen but very few have been used to create a pregnancy, at present. Egg freezing continues to be an extremely well researched and safe method of preserving fertility for the future.