The 21st-century woman has a lot more ambitions for herself than only raising a child for the family. How many times have married women in India heard the saying Your body clock is ticking! from their friends and relatives? We bet they can't finish naming instances in a whole day! Not everybody may want to have a baby before the age of 35 to 40.However, with the advancement of technology in the medical field, this is no longer a problem for women. After IVF, the next big thing in the field of assisted reproductive technology is the concept of egg freezing!
Egg freezing is essentially the process of retrieval of eggs from the woman's ovaries and freezing them for later use when the woman feels she is ready for conception and pregnancy. These eggs that are frozen are good for use and are not compromised in quality for up to 10 years after the freezing process is done. The medical term for egg freezing isoocyte cryopreservation.
Women can opt for egg freezing for multiple reasons.— They do not wish to conceive a child immediately but do not want to shut out the option for a biological child— Women with cancer often opt to have their eggs frozen since chemotherapy and treatment tend to affect their fertility.— Even in the case of IVF treatments, in case the male partner is unable to produce sperm on the day the eggs are retrieved, the eggs are frozen and later thawed before fertilization.
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The process of egg freezing is not very different from IVF.— Hormone injections are given to the woman to increase her production of eggs to more than one egg each month.— The eggs are retrieved from the ovaries through minor procedure.— The eggs are then frozen and kept in the protection of the lab for future use. These eggs are good for fertilization for up to ten years after being frozen
Quite interestingly, the process of egg freezing is cheaper in India than in most other countries. In India, it costs approximately between 150000 and 170000 INR. This cost is inclusive of the charges of IVF protocol, which are the medicines and injections given for ovarian stimulation, along with the charges for the procedure of egg retrieval and subsequent freezing.
Egg freezing, like all other methods of assisted reproductive technology (ART), comes with its own set of risks.— It can give women a false sense of hope. While most women view this option as a safety net, egg freezing does not always ensure pregnancy— Frozen eggs are at risk of damage during the cryofreezing process. In such cases, women will have to opt for IVF again, or other methods of conception.— Although this is a rare incident, but frozen eggs carry the chance of contamination during cryofreezing.— In some rare cases, accidents during the egg retrieval process may lead to the rupturing of blood vessels or damage to bowels.