Our fertility centers present egg freezing FAQs

Egg freezing is growing in popularity as more women decide to wait to start a family. Our Lafayette and Baton Rouge fertility center, Fertility Answers, addresses your questions and helps you decide what’s best for you. Here are answers to frequently asked questions about egg freezing.

Is egg freezing for me?

You may be a candidate for egg freezing if you want or need to delay having a baby to pursue educational, career or personal goals. Egg freezing can help you work around medical considerations such as cancer. Or, you may consider egg freezing if you object to storing frozen embryos for religious or ethical reasons.

What’s the ideal age?

Egg freezing before age 35 provides optimal results. The quantity and quality of eggs you produce with each cycle declines as you age. Access to more eggs matters because some eggs don’t survive the thawing process and some that are retrieved won’t fertilize.

What does it cost?

Testing, monitoring, medications and egg freezing cost about $10,000. Storage is another $500 per year. When you are ready to use your eggs, the egg thaw, fertilization and embryo transfer procedure costs about $5,000 more. Ask our Lafayette or Baton Rouge fertility center team to explain options for payment plans.

How long does it take?

Plan for about 12 days, with most of that devoted to hormone injections and morning visits to our Lafayette or Baton Rouge fertility center for monitoring. About 35 hours before egg retrieval, you will administer a trigger shot to prompt ovulation. Egg retrieval takes about 15 minutes and is performed in our office while you are under sedation.

Will I experience pain or side effects?

The hormone injections, which you self-administer with a needle, normally aren’t painful, but you may feel some discomfort. Temporary side effects include weight gain, abdominal discomfort, bloating and irritability. These may intensify just before egg retrieval, when medication dosage peaks.

What preparation or lifestyle changes will I need to make?

We always encourage women and men to protect their reproductive health by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and BMI. Eat organic produce, whole grain foods and concentrated nutrient sources. Avoid drinking alcohol in excess and don’t smoke. While taking stimulation hormones, avoid high-impact exercise.

How long can my eggs remain frozen?

Research and our own observations show that long-term storage of frozen eggs – up to a decade – is viable.

What happens when I’m ready for a pregnancy?

You’ll meet with your fertility specialist for some tests. At the right time, you’ll start oral medications for two to three weeks to prepare your body for embryo transfer. Your eggs will be thawed and fertilized via intracytoplasmic sperm injection, ICSI. This is a process of injecting a single sperm into a single egg. One of the resulting embryos is then transferred to your uterus. A pregnancy test 10 days after transfer will determine your results.

Our Lafayette and Baton Rouge fertility center team can answer your additional questions. Please contact us.