The Hot Topic Of Egg Freezing And What You Should Know

As more women postpone having children until they're older due to career or finding the right partner, some are choosing to freeze their eggs to use later, hoping to beat age-related fertility problems. Will the investment payoff? Maybe. Until recently, eggs were most often frozen for later use for medical reasons. A woman with cancer could opt to preserve her eggs before undergoing chemotherapy or radiation that could permanently damage or destroy her eggs. Freezing for medical reasons has been possible for three decades. Over the last decade, improvement in cryopreservation technology, namely ultra-rapid freezing by vitrification, resulted in higher pregnancy rates and the offering of egg freezing to non-cancer patients. The 2012 announcement by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) that egg freezing was no longer experimental led many fertility clinics to market these services to women concerned about declining fertility -- rather than a specific medical reason -- leading to the practice being described as "social" egg freezing. The strong interest and popularity of freezing eggs to delay childbirth has garnered extensive media coverage including stories about clinic "Wine and Freeze" parties that young women attend to learn all about the process from cost to success rates. Conversation about postponing motherhood through egg freezing has gone mainstream. Demographics, societal interest and aggressive marketing may be spiking demand for egg freezing ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news