Fertility preservation is a medical field that helps you preserve your fertility to have kids in the future. In women, it may involve saving eggs or reproductive organs. You can consider Wayne fertility preservation due to age, autoimmune diseases, transgender care, reproductive health conditions, and if you are undergoing certain treatments like chemotherapy. Research shows most people get healthy babies after fertility preservation. The main benefit of fertility preservation is that you can still have a biological kid, despite your condition. There are various fertility preservation methods for women, which include:
Egg freezing
Egg freezing, also known as oocyte preservation, involves your fertility specialist retrieving eggs from your ovaries and freezing them for future use. Your ovaries usually release one egg monthly. Fewer eggs reduce the chances of pregnancy. So during the egg-freezing process, you undergo hormone treatment for about two weeks to stimulate your ovaries to release more eggs. Your specialist then harvests the matured eggs and freezes them for storage. You can freeze your eggs for future use or to donate them to someone else to help get pregnant.
Embryo freezing
Embryo freezing, also known as embryo banking, is the process of freezing one or more embryos to save for future use. It is the most effective fertility preservation technique. Embryo freezing involves your specialist removing mature eggs from the ovary and combining them with sperm in a fertility lab to form embryos.
You may use hormones or medications to stimulate the production of fertile eggs. The specialist then freezes the embryos for future use. You can consider embryo freezing if you have cancer and want to get kids after radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or surgery, which can lead to infertility.
In-vitro maturation
In-vitro maturation (IVM) involves your doctor collecting immature eggs from your ovaries and maturing them in a fertility lab. The doctor then cryopreserves the mature eggs. Unlike egg and embryo freezing, in-vitro maturation does not require hormone injections to stimulate egg production. You will not use any medications before egg retrieval.
Your doctor can recommend IVM if you have polycystic ovary syndrome. People with the polycystic syndrome have a greater risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, a condition where you get an exaggerated response to medications used to induce ovulation. You can also benefit from IVM if you have limited time to produce mature eggs before your cancer treatment.
Ovarian tissue freezing
Ovarian tissue freezing is where your specialist uses laparoscopy to remove tissues from the surface of one of your ovaries containing immature eggs. Usually, doctors remove one ovary to harvest enough amount of tissue. The specialist divides the extracted tissue into small pieces, freezes, and preserves them in special storage facilities. You can consider ovarian tissue freezing if you want to undergo cancer surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. These treatments can impair your fertility or hormone production.
Fertility preservation involves saving your eggs or reproductive organs to be able to have kids in the future. There are various fertility preservation methods for women, including egg freezing, in-vitro maturation, embryo freezing, and ovarian tissue freezing. Schedule an appointment at University Reproductive Associates for fertility preservation to be able to have children in the future.
