How long can I store my eggs? Our team provides the answer
How long can I store my eggs? It’s a common question that women often ask the team at our Louisiana fertility center. We often hear this question because women who freeze their eggs to delay motherhood are often unsure as to when they’ll want to use their eggs in the future.
How long can I store my eggs?
Innovations in egg freezing have transformed how long eggs can be stored. As a result, we can now store frozen eggs indefinitely, and babies have been born from eggs stored for over a decade. However, it’s important to understand the factors that affect the answer to the question of how long can I store my eggs.
- Vitrification has revolutionized egg freezing. Vitrification, or flash freezing, dehydrates then cools eggs to a sub-zero temperature of -196 Celsius. This method helps to prevent ice crystals from forming in the eggs and suspends the biological processes of the cells.
- All eggs remain in a secure and high-quality facility. We store all eggs frozen with our Louisiana fertility center at Ovation Fertility™, which offers a state-of-the-art lab and storage facility. Ovation provides 24-hour monitoring of stored materials as well as back-up power. In addition, their lab maintains CAP certification and is under the direction of a high-complexity lab director certified by the American Board of Bioanalysis.
- Freezing and storing eggs doesn’t diminish their quality. Women want the peace of mind that time won’t diminish the likelihood of their eggs resulting in a healthy pregnancy. As long as the eggs were healthy at the time of freezing, they should not diminish in quality, regardless of how long they are stored. To increase the likelihood of retrieving healthy eggs, it’s best for women to have eggs frozen no later than the age of 35.
Our knowledgeable and caring staff is happy to answer any additional questions you have about egg freezing, or frozen egg storage.
What about eggs being utilized for upcoming IVF cycles?
Some women who visit our Louisiana fertility center are curious about temporary storage of eggs for an upcoming IVF cycle. In this case, we provide temporary storage for six months or less. If needed, we can transfer the eggs to long-term storage. When a woman is ready to utilize her eggs, Ovation quickly returns them to our clinic, in a pristine state, where we will thaw and fertilize them in the lab.
Contact us to learn more about storage of frozen eggs.