Egg freezing is one way of preserving a woman’s fertility so she can try to have a family in the future. It involves collecting a woman’s eggs, freezing them and then thawing them later on so they can be used in fertility treatment.
A woman’s chances of conceiving naturally fall as she gets older because the quality and number of her eggs drops. Egg freezing can be an attempt to preserve fertility by freezing the eggs when the woman is young and the eggs are of the highest quality.

Normally this will involve taking drugs to boost your egg production and help the eggs mature. When they’re ready, they’ll be collected whilst you’re under general anaesthetic or sedation.
A cryoprotectant (freezing solution) will be added to protect the eggs. The eggs will then be frozen either by cooling them slowly or by vitrification (fast freezing) and stored in tanks of liquid nitrogen. Latest statistics show that vitrification is more successful than the slow cooling method.
Most women will have around 15 eggs collected although this isn’t always possible for women with low ovarian reserves (low numbers of eggs). When you want to use them, the eggs will be thawed and those that have survived intact will be injected with your partner’s or donor’s sperm.

The standard storage period for eggs is for a maximum of 10 years, but it can be longer for women who are at risk of becoming prematurely infertile through medical treatments such as chemotherapy.
Your clinician will be able to advise whether you meet the criteria for extended storage and explain what you need to do if you do meet the criteria. It is important to understand that currently if you are storing eggs for social reasons they can only remain in storage for up to a maximum of 10 years.
You must let the clinic know if you change address. This is important as if the clinic can’t reach you at the end of the consent period, they may have to take your eggs out of storage and discard them.