The lack of a partner or a career interferes with some women’s desire to have children. Is Egg Freezing the Solution?
You want to have children, but not the right partner? Many women feel a desire for more control over family planning. Is Egg Freezing the Solution? Celebrity ladies like Kim Kardashian (39) and Paris Hilton (39) rely on it. Dr. med. Lena Müller, author of "Understanding women!" Explains the method and reveals in an interview with the news agency spot on news which women it is suitable for.
How does egg freezing work?
Dr. med. Lena Müller: First there is a consultation, possibly supplemented by special preliminary examinations. If the decision to preserve the egg cells is made, egg maturation is stimulated by injecting hormones into the body. As a rule, ultrasound checks are then carried out to check the maturation of the egg cells. The egg cells are removed under short anesthesia with a needle through the vagina.
How are the eggs then stored?
Müller: During vitrification, during which the egg cells are stored in nitrogen (at -176 ° C to -196 ° C), no ice crystals are formed that could damage the cells. In this condition, they can be kept undamaged for many years. However, it should be borne in mind that storage costs money; a fee is usually due every six months or annually.
When is the ideal time to freeze eggs?
Müller: From a biological point of view, the best age to freeze the egg cells is up to the mid-twenties. Basically, the follicle pool decreases with age from birth, a faster decrease can be observed from the age of 37. Therefore: the younger, the better the quality of the egg cells. Cryopreservation of egg cells is often still possible between the ages of 30 and 35. For this purpose, the individual egg cell reserve can also be determined in advance. Several cycles may be necessary in old age in order to be able to preserve enough egg cells.
Is there an age limit for the method?
Müller: There is no strict age limit because every body and therefore also the egg reserves are individual. But with increasing age, the number of maturing eggs decreases – so the chances decrease. It is comparatively late to freeze egg cells at the age of 40 and it can vary from woman to woman whether it is still possible to stimulate and freeze enough egg cells at this age. A study from Washington retrospectively evaluated data from 828,000 women and it was found that pregnancies over 40 are more likely to carry risks for mother and child. For example, the risk of complications during pregnancy, childbirth and miscarriage increases.
Very late pregnancies, for example in their late 40s, some of which are shown in the media, may also have been made possible by egg or embryo donation. As a rule, women are already in or about to enter menopause by the age of 50. The impression should not be created that anything is possible through reproductive medicine. In medicine there are certain limits that are unfortunately sometimes difficult to accept. Reproductive medicine can also cost enormous amounts of money.
What are the costs of the method?
Müller: Depending on the center or clinic, around 2,000 to 4,000 euros per cycle, plus fees for storage and later, if the reserves are used, for ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection).
What are the risks with this technique?
Müller: There may be a feeling of pressure in the lower abdomen or tension pain in the chest. In addition, as with any operation or invasive procedure, infections, pain or bleeding can occur after the puncture. In addition, there is no guarantee of a later pregnancy. In very rare cases, the so-called "ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome" can also occur. If this occurs, inpatient therapy is required in the clinic, as it can be life-threatening.
Who are the main women who use this method?
Müller: In principle, a distinction is made between "medical freezing" and "social freezing", the boundaries can be fluid and the distinction does not always make sense. An example of "medical freezing" are women who have to accept damage to the egg cells from cancer or the corresponding therapies. Such urgently needed therapies can completely dry up the ovarian reserve within a short time. Therefore, some egg cells can be removed prior to therapy and preserved for a later date. Women who enter menopause very prematurely or young women with endometriosis who still have a good egg reserve (the more severe the endometriosis leads to infertility) can have their egg cells frozen.
"Social freezing" describes the freezing of egg cells from women who do not want to remain childless, for example because they do not have a partner. Of course, there are various other reasons as well: Some women want to take the pressure off themselves of "having to tick everything off" within a certain time. For other women, the focus is on their careers. However, only 20 percent of women explicitly name their career as the reason. Overall, one can say in summary: The gain in reproductive time is behind the freezing of egg cells.
So should "social freezing" be seen more as a lifestyle tool?
Müller: I see it primarily as an option for a certain group of women to increase their chances of having children despite certain living conditions. The word life decision may be a little better as a lifestyle tool. Sometimes it is about life dreams and life paths that fundamentally influence and change one's own life (one's own children). As a result of social change, there is no longer just one recognized path for one woman (housewife and mother). Many women are highly educated and see their job as an important task, so that living conditions are sometimes significantly more complicated than they used to be. Nowadays, the choice of partner does not take place at the beginning of 20, there is usually no more pressure to marry early or have children – until the biological clock starts ticking.
Does this method mean that women no longer have to worry about their biological clock?
Müller: With reproductive medicine, you may not be able to throw your concerns about the biological clock entirely overboard, but you can at least reduce it. Patients with a foreseeable desire to have children can minimize the pressure to a certain extent through "social freezing", but the biology of aging cannot be completely overcome at the egg cell level either.