Reproductive aging: Knowing egg freezing before it’s too late

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Freezing eggs so that they may be fertilized and implanted at a future time is now an option for women who plan to delay pregnancy. Egg freezing is a modern method used to preserve a woman's reproductive potential. It helps women take advantage of their body’s fertility at a time when eggs are at their prime age.

As the National Infertility Awareness has just concluded, more and more women have become aware that egg freezing is one of the easiest ways to radically slow down the biological clock. What should women know about this method? Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg shares and answers via CNN news two of the most common queries about egg freezing:

What’s the best age for a mother to undergo egg freezing?

Dr. Steinberg says that the younger the eggs the better, since they have the capacity to endure the freezing process. Hence, a mother in her 20s or 30s is the best candidate to undergo such procedure. Beyond that age range may be a little too late.

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Will a young mother run out of eggs due to egg freezing?

“This is a common misconception that could not be further from the truth. We're using eggs that you would have otherwise lost,” explains Dr. Steinberg.

A woman reproduces eggs, but she is only able to produce enough fertility hormones to ovulate an egg. This means that the eggs that didn’t get the fertility hormone just die naturally.

Ob-gyns, like Cristian Andronic and Michael R. Leb, can help mothers understand how egg freezing works, what the potential risks are, and whether this fertility method is right for all.

Image Source: edition.cnn.com

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