Egg freezing

thebump.com: Why I Chose to Freeze My Eggs
These women took their fertility into their own hands – each for a very different reason. 
Written by Bethany Gumper, August 2015

By freezing eggs, a woman’s fertility potential is essentially extended from the time she freezes until the time she comes back to use her frozen eggs, if the need warrants. Why does this matter? Well, for women who face unexpected life changes such as the ending of a long-term relationship, the launch of a new business that needs undivided attention, or a cancer diagnosis , prior to egg freezing, there was really no alternative to the toll time and, in the case of cancer, radiation treatment, would take on a woman’s fertility. For former The Bachelor winner Whitney, former attorney turned entrepreneur Shana, and new mom and cancer survivor Mary, egg freezing was used for very different reasons but with the same purpose in mind: planning for their future and keeping their options open.

“I wanted to have an insurance policy.”

For Whitney, a fertility nurse herself, egg freezing was a means of insurance. “Over the past seven years, I’ve worked with so many different patients, including ones who had to use donor eggs…those women often said to me, ‘I wish I had known that I could freeze my own eggs.’” Even though she had a boyfriend at the time of freezing, she knew she wasn’t ready to have kids yet and was aware of the impact age could have on her fertility.

“I need to focus on my start-up business now.”

Shana was an attorney but had another passion – baking. At the age of 35 she took the courageous but risky step to quit her job and enroll in an MBA program to prepare her for starting her own small business. Knowing that her business would take years to grow, she was concerned about when she would be able to focus on having children. Luckily, a friend had just frozen her eggs and Shana felt encouraged to do the same thing. According to Shana: “… freezing my eggs has enabled me to stop worrying… motherhood is something I really want to enjoy, but at the right time.”

“I couldn’t let cancer take away my options.”

At the age of 34, Mary had just given birth to her son Liam when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Knowing she wanted more children and that chemotherapy can leave women infertile, Mary knew she had to take control of her future. When Mary came to Shady Grove Fertility 5 years ago, she and her husband decided to freeze embryos, given the current technology available at the time.

(Since this time, the advent of vitrification, a fast-freeze technology, egg freezing has become a very effective option.) Today, Mary is happy with her two beautiful sons, Gavin and Liam. Mary’s journey to motherhood has inspired her to do peer counseling with younger women who are diagnosed with breast cancer. She likes to remind them that cancer doesn’t have to signal the end to their childbearing years.

If you are interested in learning more about elective egg freezing, click to schedule an appointment with a Shady Grove Fertility physician. If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with cancer and are concerned about future fertility options, we encourage you to call right away. Prompt treatment allows us to work directly with your oncologist to give you the most options.

Since the Apple and Facebook announcement last year, in which they said they would cover the cost of egg freezing for employees—you can easily find the subject of egg freezing in the news, with topics ranging from why women freeze their eggs, to the cost, the best age to freeze, insurance coverage, and the list goes on. Fortunately, this awareness has been positive and more women are seeking information about this new option. Since this announcement, at Shady Grove Fertility alone, there has been a 30 percent increase in the number of women scheduling appointments to talk with a Shady Grove Fertility physician.

One recent article published in the Washington Post: “Biological clock ticking? What you need to know about freezing your eggs” covers a myriad of topics surrounding egg freezing such as: motivations of women who freeze, cost and age, steps in egg freezing, the egg retrieval, and more. One very important point made in this particular article was the fact that many fertility centers are now offering egg freezing for elective purposes and therefore it is more important than ever to get the facts. As you consider quality and investigate where to freeze your eggs, asking the right questions is very important in choosing the best center for your investment:

What is the method of freezing?
Freezing eggs is a highly sensitive procedure and the method of freezing is crucial. At Shady Grove Fertility, we strictly use vitrification which employs  flash-freeze technology , because the slow method creates ice crystals inside of the egg ultimately damaging the eggs.

How long has the center been freezing eggs?
Freezing eggs is a manual, hands-on procedure. So practice makes perfect. Shady Grove Fertility is the largest fertility center in the country and therefore our lab technicians have ample experience; we have been freezing eggs successfully since 2009.

Has the center had practice thawing eggs?
After freezing your eggs, the next most important factor is the thawing of the eggs. Again, this is an incredibly technique-sensitive, hands-on procedure. Make sure the fertility center has experience thawing and not just freezing. You want to be sure when or if you need to use your eggs in the future, they will be available for you to use. With over 37,000 babies born at Shady Grove Fertility, and a growing number of those babies born from frozen eggs and embryos.

How many eggs should I freeze?
Women should base this decision on their personal medical history, age, and ovarian reserve test results. On average, we recommend women who are 37 and younger to freeze 15 to 20 mature eggs and women 37 to 40 to freeze 20 to 30 mature eggs.

To learn more about egg freezing, please join our E-Newsletter Sign-Up, attend one of our online or in-person Calendar of Events, call 1-877-411-9292, or schedule an appointment.

Egg freezing for elective purposes has created a unique discussion among women across the country. As observed in the article, Egg freezing promises to liberate women – but creepy corporatism looms, written by social affairs writer, Mary O’Hara, “increased popularity has prompted observations and concerns, some to do with the procedure and cost, and others to do with potential ethical and social ramifications.” Many articles and discussions are focused around this premise and the two ends of the spectrum: is it empowerment or entrapment?

Egg Freezing is Empowerment and Freedom

Many women, like Isobel Taylor—a 34-year-old art director from Los Angeles, and her friend Mollie Moore—a senior music industry executive in her mid 30s who froze her eggs, find egg freezing to be an empowering and freeing option that allows them to pursue their dreams—for them, that dream is to have a family one day. In the article, Taylor explains that egg freezing is a reasonable backup plan. With the right man not yet in her life, freezing her eggs helped to take away the stress. Taylor also shared that she knew she didn’t want to have kids before she was 37 and acknowledged the increased risk of genetic abnormalities and pregnancy loss at that age.

Egg Freezing is Entrapment

On the other end of the spectrum are the concerns that employers will use egg freezing to pressure female employees into delaying childbearing, and that egg freezing will cause women to change when they decide to have a family–in essence, causing them to delay when they will pursue motherhood. According to Josephine Johnston, a bioethicist in New York, there is another feature of egg freezing that requires greater scrutiny: how it might shape women’s working lives. “If [egg freezing] becomes normalized, she suggests there is a risk that women may feel subtly pressurized to do it by employers who want them to delay motherhood. It could also, she argues, become a convenient excuse for employers and government not to design more family and women-friendly policies.”

The Reality of Egg Freezing

Egg freezing is a personal decision. It may not be the best or right option for everyone, but for women like Moore, it was the right decision: “I want people to know that it’s an option,” she says. “I wish I’d done it younger. [My partner] and I will never regret doing it even if we never unfreeze them.”

At Shady Grove Fertility, our physicians believe that egg freezing is a great opportunity for women between the ages of 30 and 40 who wish to extend their fertility potential. After diagnostic testing (to see if egg freezing is a viable option) and consultation discussing your personal options, should you feel that freezing your eggs is the right decision, we have the experience,  technology, and expertise to help you take the next step.

To learn more about egg freezing or to schedule an appointment at Shady Grove Fertility, please call 1-877-411-9292 or fill out this brief form.

Written by Shruti Malik, M.D., of Shady Grove Fertility’s Fair Oaks, VA, office

“Having a family is hugely important to me and I didn’t want to lose that opportunity. Because of egg freezing, I can now focus on my life in the present without having to worry about the future.”

A Career with a Sense of Purpose

I went into the field of reproductive medicine because it gave me a sense of purpose.  I sympathize with the women and men dealing with infertility. They position themselves to become such amazing parents, and to be able to help them achieve this goal is a privilege greater than anything else I could do.

As we continue to make technological advancements in the field, I’ve found that my role has expanded beyond treating infertility. I’m now in a position to empower women through egg freezing. Egg freezing technology has been around for many years, but in 2009, we achieved a major scientific breakthrough with a freezing technique called vitrification. Success rates with vitrification are now on par with fresh (i.e. non-frozen) in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. In part due to this advancement, egg freezing is no longer deemed experimental and is making its way into the mainstream.

The Best Position to Have a Family

An advancement like egg freezing allows women to position themselves to be in the very best place to have a family—when they’re ready. While having a child naturally may be the optimal form of conception, should that plan not work egg freezing is a reliable option for women. It allows women to focus on their life without the pressure of finding the right partner and starting a family right now. They don’t have to worry about losing out on the opportunity to have children at a later date, which is very reassuring to women.

This empowerment is something I’ve not only seen from the physician standpoint but in my experience as a patient. Like so many women, I hadn’t found the right person to start my family with yet, and I wanted to take the weight off of my shoulders without letting go of that hope. Egg freezing has afforded me the opportunity to do just that. Now I know that I will be able to pursue my family when I’m ready and continue to live my life in the present day. Having gone through the process of egg freezing provides me with a unique perspective to understand what my patients are going through. We have insurance policies for everything else in our lives, so why not one for our future family?

The Reality of Ovarian Reserve Testing

I’ve also seen how important it is for women to be aware of their fertility options and consider ovarian reserve testing to determine her current fertility potential. When I decided to move forward with egg freezing, one of my friends also had her ovarian reserve tested. Even though she was in her early 30s, she discovered that she had low ovarian reserve. Having this knowledge gave her the power to do something about it in the present, even though she was not ready for children yet. She successfully froze her eggs and gave herself an opportunity to have a family; an option she may not have had if she had waited a few more years.

Egg freezing may not be the right choice for every woman, but knowing that the option is there is incredibly empowering. We I generally recommend that women consider freezing their eggs in their early to mid 30s, as women in this age group will still likely have great results with the overall process, and excellent pregnancy rates in the future if they move forward with using their frozen eggs. Even if a woman is in her late 20s or late 30s, it is still reasonable to consider ovarian reserve testing and discuss the results with a physician.

The entire egg freezing process only takes a few weeks but the result can afford years of relief. If you’re even remotely thinking about egg freezing, speak to a physician. It doesn’t commit you, but the information is powerful and can help you decide what’s best for you. I’m very glad I made the decision to move forward with egg freezing. If you’ve ever considered egg freezing or are just thinking about it now, I urge you to at least talk to your physician and take the first steps towards insuring your future.

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Malik to discuss your options and egg freezing potential, please fill out this brief form, or call 1-877-411-9292. To learn more about egg freezing, join us for one of our upcoming Wine & Freeze egg freezing seminars.

The June 2015 issue of Washingtonian explores the latest advancements in fertility treatment that are helping patients to become pregnant. Eric D. Levens, M.D., of Shady Grove Fertility’s Annandale, VA, office explains these transformative fertility developments.

New Fertility Development #1: Egg Freezing

Vitrification—or fast-freeze technology—revolutionized the effectiveness of egg freezing, vastly improving success rates. What was once deemed “experimental” by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) (a label they lifted in 2012) has now moved to the forefront of public consciousness as a viable method to extend a woman’s fertility options.

Egg freezing provides an insurance policy, assuring women that they can have a family at the most optimal time, without having to worry about the proverbial “biological clock.” Egg freezing has become more readily available for women, and at Shady Grove Fertility there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of women freezing their eggs in the past 4 years.

New Fertility Development #2: Genetic Screening

Genetic screening has not only become more common, but testing has now expanded, screening for over 100 different diseases and syndromes. Known as preconception genetic screening (PGS), we test the male and female partners (if they choose) before moving forward with fertility treatment at SGF. Genetic screening tests for recessive gene mutations are available for the following categories:

• Mutations common in a certain ethnic group (for example: sickle cell anemia or Tay-Sachs disease)
• Mutations that have some likelihood of causing serious disease in affected offspring

In addition to screening before treatment, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is another form of genetic testing. We use this technique, which involves the biopsy of a few embryonic cells, in conjunction with in vitro fertilization (IVF). PGD allows for the differentiation of healthy embryos and genetically-abnormal embryos, without causing any harm to the embryos. PGD can particularly be helpful for couples who have experienced recurrent miscarriage or unsuccessful IVF cycles, and for couples who are at risk of passing on an inherited genetic disease to their offspring.

New Fertility Development #3: Fewer Twins and Triplets

Dr. Levens says, “The greatest risk in any fertility treatment is not the treatment itself but carrying twins or triplets.” Multiple pregnancies create greater risks for both the mother and the babies. The mother may experience higher rates of pregnancy complications, such as gestational diabetes or pregnancy-induced hypertension, and the babies can be adversely affected by smaller sizes or premature delivery, to name a few.

SGF has pioneered elective single embryo transfer (eSET) to reduce the chance of multiples in good prognosis patients. For these patients, the chance of pregnancy with one single embryo is just as good as with two embryos, but without the increased risks associated with multiple pregnancies.

• Read Washingtonian’s “3 New Fertility Developments that Make it Easier to Conceive”

As part of our commitment at SGF to providing excellence in patient care, we employ a full-time dedicated research staff to bring the latest advancements and fertility developments to our patient community. Whether we’re improving egg freezing technology, expanding the genetic testing options available, or striving to reduce the risks associated with multiples, we are hard at work to improve our patients’ care experience.

To learn more about fertility developments, or to schedule an appointment, please speak with one of our New Patient Liaisons at 877-971-7755.

Shady Grove Fertility physicians from our Fair Oaks, VA Office, discuss Egg Freezing

Before joining Shady Grove Fertility, reproductive endocrinologist, Shruti Malik, M.D., decided to freeze her eggs. According to Dr. Malik, she realized she was not at the point of starting a family yet, but she was also not ready to sacrifice that option for the future. In this short video, Drs. Stephen Greenhouse and Shruti Malik discuss egg freezing not only from a medical point of view but also from a personal, patient point of view. Learn more about why egg freezing is becoming so popular, what factors you should you consider when researching a fertility center, and how to decide if this is the right option for you. Dr. Malik shares personal insight into her own decision to freeze her eggs and how relieved she is to have made this decision when she did.

To learn more about egg freezing, join us at one of our upcoming patient education events. If you’re considering freezing your eggs and would like to speak with one of our New Patient Center Liaisons about Shady Grove Fertility’s unique Egg Freezing Program and what to expect, please call 877-411-9292 or submit an inquiry form online.