To freeze or not to freeze?
Freezing her eggs in her early 30s gave actor Priyanka Chopra complete freedom to pursue her career doggedly, and choose when to have a child. She did, at 39, three years after she met her husband, Nick Jonas. Her public confession has gone viral, endorsing the choice available to women, that most women are aware of yet few take: the choice of favouring age-related fertility preservation.
It is an elective decision: one that most women fleetingly think of, yet feel awkward about taking. Tucking away good quality eggs when you are still young, and in good reproductive health is a choice worth considering especially if marriage isn’t your mission in life while searing ahead in your career with your fast paced urban lifestyle.
So, here’s your guide to oocyte vitrification or egg freezing:
Ovaries over Time
While you’re working overtime, those ovaries are aging. Keeping in mind that IVF, IUI, egg freezing – nothing offers a 100 percent guarantee of conception – it is vital to examine your best possible options, to have the liberty of exercising a choice later. Oocyte vitrification makes delayed pregnancy an option by freezing your healthy eggs. When you’re ready to have kids, have your eggs fertilised with the resultant embryo implanted in your uterus. But it’s a little more complex than it sounds.
So, what is the best age to have your eggs drawn and frozen? “Scientific data suggests freezing your eggs in your late 20s or early 30s. It gives you the best chance of success because, at a young age, the vitality is transferred to the egg quality. The energy of the mitochondria and the energy of the egg depends on your age. In your 20s and 30s, you will get both quality as well as an optimum amount of eggs,” says Dr Bharati Dhorepatil, Consultant Infertility Expert, NOVA IVF Fertility, Pune.
The higher your fertility reserve, the healthier your eggs. “Target wrapping up egg freezing within 35 years of age,” says Dr Surabhi Siddhartha, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Motherhood Hospital, Kharghar.
Shilpi Madan for MoneyControl