When is it too late to freeze your eggs?

If you would like to conceive in the future but are not ready to do so now, you may consider freezing your eggs for future use. Facebook and Apple Make Headlines Providing Egg Freezing Benefits to Employeespresumably so that they can focus on their careers now and still have a baby laterBut the reality is more complicated.

egg-Freezing was originally considered an experimental technique for people who would lose their fertility, possibly women who were about to start cancer treatment. donate eggsBut over the past decade or two, it’s been marketed as a girlboss movement. This is something you can do to focus on your career or take the time to find the right partner. (Jezebel’s friend Learn more about problematic marketing.)

Even if you’re sure you want to freeze your eggs, you’ll have to make some big decisions: When? new study A paper published in Fertility and Sterility found that people who freeze their eggs:than-Either you didn’t freeze enough eggs in the first place, or you waited too long to anticipate a possible pregnancy.

If you are under 38, the odds may be the best

A new study that followed 543 people found that those who were younger than 38 when their eggs were frozen and those who thawed at least 20 eggs when they were ready to try to conceive had the highest success rates. understood.

(To get 20 eggs in the first place, you may need to go through multiple egg retrieval cycles while the eggs are frozen. Each cycle costs about $10,000, New York Times. report.)

However, freezing eggs at a young age does not guarantee a baby. In this study, even in the most likely group, she had a live birth rate of only 51%, and some groups required him to undergo more than one transplantation cycle before successfully conceiving. Those who had their eggs frozen later in life or used less eggs had lower success rates. was.

previous study I saw the question another way: They used a known estimate of success rate, but the age of the eggs themselves when used (longer storage reduces success rate) and the likelihood that you’ll eventually want to use frozen eggs The study found that freezing eggs between the ages of 30 and 34 had the highest chances of having a baby. You will want to use eggs.

But they also found that those who freeze their eggs compared to those who decided not to do so have a little more time: 37 is the age at which freezing is most cost-effective. The success rate is still high enough that it might be worth it.If you’re 37 and haven’t had a baby yet, freezing your eggs is a good idea. At 32, one could imagine a scenario of freezing eggs, and a few years later having a baby the old-fashioned way.)

So, these studies suggest that if you freeze your eggs, you’re more likely to freeze them before you’re in your mid-30s. There are other risks and considerations.