In an eggshell...
- The clinic you use to freeze your eggs are responsible for storing your eggs
- You can choose how many eggs to thaw, but should be done with the advice of your doctor
- Eggs are thawed extremely carefully to prevent damage, with the survival rate being around 98%
You accomplished your career goals, met your special someone, decided you’re finally ready to have kids or all 3! It is time to unfreeze your eggs, but how do I get to my frozen eggs? Stick around as we will explain more about the unfreezing journey below.
You might be thinking, after thawing my eggs, how do I use them? IVF, ICSI, IUI? These might be some acronyms you’ve heard being used in the fertility world. We will cover this topic and more in the next blog. Stay tuned!
Where are my frozen eggs?
With the egg storage laws changing recently, you could have stored your eggs from a few weeks to 55 years. It is time to locate them and find a way to get them to your old fertility clinic or a new one to start your fertility process. Most of the time your eggs are stored in your fertility clinic itself, but if it has been a while the clinic might have moved them to long-term storage. Worry not, you will not need to worry about the nitty gritty, you simply need to inform the clinic you are ready to thaw your eggs and they will take care of the rest for you.
If you want to know more about egg storage, we have another dedicated blog about it here.
How many eggs should I thaw?
You might have 1 or 50 eggs, the number you want to thaw is completely up to you. You might want to unfreeze a few and leave the rest frozen for a later date if you want to do another fertility procedure in the future. Your fertility specialist might recommend thawing a certain number but this is a discussion they will have with you. How many unused eggs you want to keep for future use is something worth thinking about.
How are my eggs thawed?
The egg thawing process returns the eggs from a cold frozen state to a warm usable state for implantation or fertilisation. The storage container is retrieved from the liquid nitrogen storage tank and individual eggs in their straws are retrieved from the container. Before starting the thawing process, all details are checked by multiple professionals to ensure there are no mix-ups. The last thing you want is an egg mix-up! The eggs are removed from the straws and placed in a prepared dish. A special thawing material is dropped on the eggs to start the thawing process and the dish with the eggs is later transferred to a heated surface to complete the warming process. What, you’re going to heat my eggs! Fear not, it's gentle heating to just warm them up, not cook them!
Success rates
With any medical procedure, there are specific success rates. When it comes to egg thawing, the rates are in your favour. The average success rate for frozen eggs surviving the thawing process is around 98%.
Amilis - who are we?
Here at Amilis, we are looking to break down the barriers to information women struggle to find on fertility - we are talking stats, costs and everything else the internet hides from us. You can find a clinic we have partnered with on our website and through us secure a free initial consultation with them.
