Is It Painful To Freeze Eggs
In short, egg freezing does not hurt your future fertility.
What if I cant afford to freeze my eggs?
Look for centers or companies that offer financial assistance. If saving or borrowing to pay for egg freezing isnt practical, you might be able to qualify for help. There are non-profit organizations that offer financial assistance for fertility benefits, including egg freezing.
What is pregnancy after 35 called?
Advanced maternal age is a medical term to describe people who are over age 35 during pregnancy. Pregnancies have an increased risk for certain complications when the birth parent is 35 or older.
What Is The Success Rate Of Freezing Your Eggs
There is no guarantee that freezing your eggs will successfully result in a baby when you’re ready. And as it turns out, most women who freeze their eggs dont end up warming them and using them to attempt a pregnancy some estimates are as low as 10 percent.
Because so few women have warmed and used their frozen eggs, there isnt yet robust data on the success rate. The data available so far shows that the odds of one frozen egg resulting in a baby are about 2 to 12 percent in women under the age of 38. The data also suggests that the older you are when you freeze your eggs, the lower the chances of successful fertilization later.
There is some good news, though. Preliminary stats show that frozen eggs may be as likely as fresh eggs to be fertilized and result in a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. And so far, frozen eggs dont seem to be linked with an increased risk of pregnancy complications or birth defects.
Does Insurance Cover The Cost Of Freezing Your Eggs
Unfortunately many insurance companies today do not cover the full cost of freezing your eggs. This is because freezing your eggs is not typically deemed medically necessary. However, there are portions of the process that your health insurance provider may cover.
For instance, things like a fertility specialist consultation, diagnostic testing, or embryo storage may be covered. There are also specific medical situations that may allow for your egg freezing costs to be covered by insurance.
Today, many companies are now offering egg freezing as a benefit or additional insurance option. Be sure to take time to do your research and explore all available options.
Also Check: Papa John’s Egg Harbor Township
How Likely Is It That Egg Freezing Will Eventually Result In A Healthy Baby
Dr. Shahine tells us that its impossible to say exactly how good your chances are of having a live birth as a result of egg freezing, but emphasizes that success is dependent on factors like the age at which the eggs are frozen , how many eggs are frozen and the experience and quality of the IVF lab you choose. She recommends using this egg freezing calculator from doctors at Harvard Medical School, which lets you plug in your age and number of eggs and get an estimate for the number of live births predicted.
The Egg Freezing Process
The process of egg freezing is relatively simple.
While it is ideal for women to freeze their eggs before they are 35, the rule of thumb is that freezing your eggs today is better than tomorrow.
For example, if you are 37 and want children but do not yet have a partner, its best to freeze your eggs now instead of at 38.
When you are ready to use your eggs , you return to the clinic, have your eggs thawed and begin the In Vitro Fertilization process with fertilization.
Also Check: Big Green Egg Built In
How Does The Process Work
Egg freezing is just like the first half of an IVF cycle, Dr. Shahine explains. Preparation, planning, approximately two weeks of shots to recruit and mature eggs and finally an egg retrieval under sedationa 20-minute procedure to exact the eggs. After the eggs are retrieved, theyre frozen. And then when you want to get pregnant later, you finish the IVF cycle, she continues. So you would thaw the eggs, fertilize with sperm, create embryos, maybe test embryos and then transfer an embryo to the uterus to get pregnant.
Considering Freezing Your Eggs Heres How Much It Will Cost
Dr. Nafeesah Allen is a migration scholar and multicultural communications expert, who transformed trauma from pregnancy discrimination into a new relationship with parenting, wealth, and serial entrepreneurship. Leveraging over 15 years of editorial experience, she has a passion for crafting diverse stories that challenge what we think we know about identity, money, and cultural iconoclasts. She is an expat wife and the proud mom of third-culture kids.
Zerah Isaacs is a technical research assistant with experience in both academic and industry biomedical research.
According to a Yale Medicine article, in 2009, only 475 women froze their eggs in the United States. Since then, the costs have gone down and the technology has improved. In 2016, 7,276 women had done it. A 2022 report from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine found more than 73,000 babies were born through assisted reproductive technology cycles completed in 2020.
Read Also: Eggs Up Grill West Ashley
The Ontario Fertility Program
Canada provides universal healthcare to its citizens for any essential and emergency treatments. If you live in Ontario, IVF counts! The OFP will cover 1 IVF cycle per lifetime for women under the age of 43 who have an OHIP card.
Presently, no other provinces are offering any coverage for IVF with their health plans. However, the costs of freezing your eggs and IVF are eligible for the federal Medical Expense Tax Credit!
How Successful Is Egg Freezing
Like most fertility procedures, egg freezing has no guarantees. A general figure for success is almost impossible to calculate because it depends on so many affecting factors that are specific to the individual, including age and how many eggs are frozen. But generally, frozen-thawed eggs perform equally well as fresh eggs do in IVF treatment , and between 90% and 97% of frozen eggs will survive being thawed, according to one Canadian study from 2015.
Age is a major influence when it comes to egg freezing. The chances of a live birth following IVF decrease the older you are, as well as with the number of unsuccessful cycles youve completed before, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Its also vital to take into account the age you are when you do egg freezing. Generally, the younger you freeze your eggs, the more chance of success youre likely to have when you use them in fertility treatment.
There are plenty of other factors that can impact your chances of having a baby from a frozen egg, too. If youve previously been pregnant, you may be more likely to have a successful IVF treatment because you have demonstrated fertility already. A healthy lifestyle is also recommended for improving success rates . Stopping smoking, drinking no more than one unit of alcohol per day, and keeping caffeine consumption at a moderate level could all help to increase your chances, too.
You May Like: Healthy Breakfast Ideas With Eggs
How Much Does It Cost
This is going to largely depend on the extent to which your insurance covers and your benefits.
In the Philly area, one egg-retrieval cycle costs about$6,500, not including medication which can be several thousands of dollars. So, you could be looking at about $10,000 to $20,000. Plus, youll need to pay for the annual egg-storage fee which can reach $800 per year and is almost never covered by insurance. You can opt to have your eggs stored elsewhere for a cheaper cost, but those less-expensive storage centers often arent nearby and require your eggs to be transported. Though its highly unlikely, theres always the risk that something will happen en route a vehicle accident, for example which is why many people opt to pay more for peace of mind.
Not only is the process expensive, but it involves multiple doctors visits, especially toward the end of your stimulation period when youll be going to the clinic nearly every day. Youll need to have the time and schedule to accommodate all the appointments, and parking and transportation costs can factor in depending on where you have to go in relation to where you live, Elizabeth says. Also, keep in mind that you dont know the exact date of your extraction because it depends on how your eggs are growing, so you have to be ready for any day toward the end of that two-week window, Reyna adds.
What Decisions Do I Need To Make About My Eggs
Youll need to complete consent forms before you start treatment specifying how you want your eggs to be used. This includes information on:
- how long you want the eggs to be stored for
- what should happen to your eggs if you were to die or become unable to make decisions for yourself
- whether the eggs are to be used for your own treatment only, or whether they can be donated for someone elses treatment, or used for training if you don’t want to use them
- any other conditions you may have for the use of your eggs.
You can vary or withdraw consent at any time, either before treatment or before the eggs are used in research or training. If this happens, your eggs will not be used.
Read Also: Are Quail Eggs Good For Dogs
How Much Does Freezing Your Eggs Cost
While prices vary from clinic to clinic and will also depend on how many treatment cycles are required, the cost to harvest your eggs may range from $9,000 to $20,000, including the egg retrieval and the hormonal drugs that help stimulate ovulation.
There are also costs associated with storing harvested eggs, which could run over $1,000 per year. Finally, youll want to factor in the costs of fertilizing and implanting the embryos once youre ready to get pregnant, which could add another several thousand dollars to the total cost.
Some clinics offer payment plans or loans to help defer the upfront costs of egg freezing.
Egg Freezing Storage Cost
Lets be real, youre not freezing your eggs so they can be left in an igloo. Your eggs need to be stored in liquid nitrogen inside special cryotanks that are monitored regularly to make sure your investment is safely protected and preserved. That comes at a cost. It may not be much per day but like a cup of Starbucks coffee, those costs add up quite a bit over time.
Generally speaking, when someone freezes their eggs, they will be storing them for some relatively long period of time, think 3-10 years. The first six months to a year of storage is often included in the cost of the initial egg freezing procedure. And of course, like all things when talking about the cost of egg freezing, the cost of storage is incredibly variable from clinic to clinic with the average cost around $650 per year. Here at CNY Fertility we include the cost of the first year of storage in the price and charge $450/year afterwords.
Also Check: Are Eggs Good For Cholesterol
How Much Does Freezing Eggs Cost In Canada A 2022 Guide
Coming to terms with the fact that your childbearing years have an expiration date is a kick in the face. Although were all aware fertility declines with time, many women arent ready to undergo pregnancy and dive into motherhood during their prime. And with the mounting costs of raising a child, thousands think they should hold it off.
Thus, weve seen considerable growth in egg freezing worldwide. But how much does egg freezing cost in Canada? And is it as physically and emotionally taxing as they say?
Lets find out!
Keep Your Contact Details Up To Date
Make sure you tell your clinic if any of your contact details change. Because your clinic needs to contact you about your consent to storage, you should always inform your clinic if your contact details change or if your circumstances change . If your clinic is unable to contact you to obtain your consent, then your eggs will be removed from storage and disposed of when they can no longer be lawfully stored.
You May Like: Super Mario Bros Google Easter Egg
The Cost Of Egg Freezing
As a leader in fertility treatment for more than 30 years, CCRM can help you preserve your fertility through egg freezing. Freezing your eggs in your 20s and 30s allows you to take advantage of your bodys fertility at a time when your eggs are at their healthiest. At CCRM, we freeze and thaw eggs, and then fertilize them with in vitro fertilization when you are ready to have a baby. This is all performed under one roof and on your timeline.
At CCRM, physicians partner with each patient to develop customized treatment protocols. These treatment variables mean that costs can fluctuate greatly from patient to patient. Once your personalized treatment plan has been developed, our experienced patient support team will contact you to provide you with detailed cost estimate of the total fee and out-of-pocket costs for your fertility treatment.
CCRM is committed to providing our patients with the highest quality treatment available at the most affordable cost. Below you will find the estimated fees for egg freezing at CCRM. Testing and storage fees are not included in the costs.
| Treatment |
When You Freeze Your Eggs Matters
Its recommended you freeze your eggs before age 36. Unfortunately for women, our best childbearing years coincide with those we are typically pursuing higher education and climbing the corporate ladder. These are the same years we are paying down student loans and trying to survive on dismal starting salaries.
The result? Many women cant actually afford to freeze their eggs when it would be most beneficial to do so. If youre currently in your 20s, you may want to begin saving for the procedure if its something you may want.
Recommended Reading: What Is In Just Egg
How Many Eggs Can Be Frozen
The number of eggs that can be stored depends on the age of the woman. In general 6 out of 8 eggs will survive the freezing and thawing process. Of these 6 eggs the chance of a live birth is somewhere between 32% and 18% depending on the age of the woman at the time she freezes her eggs.
Therefore approximately 30-40 eggs need to be stored to give a woman a reasonable chance of a live birth. To store 30-40 eggs a woman will need to undergo at least 2-5 treatment cycles to ensure that sufficient mature eggs are stored. Having a large number of eggs in storage doesnt guarantee having a live birth.
Does Health Insurance Cover Egg Freezing
There are two types of egg freezing elective and medically indicated and depending on which youre experiencing, you may or may not be able to get egg freezing covered by your health insurance. Elective egg freezing is when you freeze your eggs so that you have the choice to have a baby later in life, whereas medically indicated egg freezing can occur when youre going through a necessary treatment that could affect your fertility, like chemotherapy.
In the United States, elective egg freezing is rarely covered by health insurance, while some plans may cover egg freezing for medical reasons. Its a similar story in Canada, although if you live in Ontario and have an Ontario health card, youre entitled to one treatment cycle of fertility preservation, which includes egg freezing, for certain medical reasons.
In the UK, elective egg freezing is not covered by the National Health Service, but you may be eligible for medical egg freezing if a treatment youre having could affect your fertility. If you live in England, the number of rounds of IVF you could be entitled to can change based on the area you live in. To determine what you could be eligible for, find your local Clinical Commissioning Group here.
In Australia, Medicare can cover some of the costs of the egg freezing process, but you will likely still have to pay the rest yourself. You can find more information about that here.
Don’t Miss: The Big Green Egg Grill
How Much Does Frozen Egg Ivf Cost
If youre considering freezing your eggs, dont forget to factor in the cost of actually using the frozen eggs in the future. The eggs will need to be thawed, fertilized with intracytoplasmic sperm injection to develop into an embryo, which is then transferred to your uterus. In total, from thawing to transfer, this process costs around $5,000 per cycle.
Based on our estimates for each stage of egg freezing, the total cost of egg freezing and embryo implantation starts at around $20,000 for one cycle.
| Service | |
|---|---|
| Total Cost for 1 Egg Retrieval Cycle and 1 Embryo Transfer | $20,500 |
As we mentioned, there are many factors that can affect the overall cost of egg freezing. If you have low ovarian reserve, you may need additional medications. Also, both egg quantity and quality decrease significantly over age 35, so if you are over 35 you may wish to do multiple egg retrieval cycles to increase the chances of getting more and higher quality eggs. Similarly, you may need more than one embryo transfer to become pregnant.
How Do I Pay for Egg Freezing?
In some cases, insurance may cover your egg freezing cost, either through your state or through your employer. Where states offer coverage, it usually only applies to patients with cancer looking to freeze their eggs before going through chemotherapy. However, some companies offer coverage to any employee interested in egg freezing, as a benefit of employment. RESOLVE has a helpful list of fertility insurance coverage by state here.