The benefits
“Egg freezing gives women the chance to have it all because in reality your fertility declines from the age of 27. After 35 it becomes more complicated to plan a family, women are born with their all eggs so by the time you are 35, you are only left with 35 eggs. This is why women have higher chances of children with Down Syndrome or other birth defects at the age of 35 or above. Freezing your eggs early is an investment.”
The process
“The procedure is very simple and takes about 14 days to do; you can keep your eggs indefinitely. It’s important to note that the quality of your eggs depends on the quality of your body and age, if you’re not leading a healthy lifestyle your eggs won’t be healthy.
The first step is to wait for your period and on the third day of your period the doctor will give you stimulating medication.
That’s followed by the administration of fertility medications designed to allow your ovaries to begin the growth of the several eggs, which will be removed for subsequent freezing.
Third step is around eight to ten days later
when your eggs are extracted after being matured and ready. The retrieval
process is simple and you will be put under sedation. It should be over after
three hours.”
The costs
“You will be paying for the:
* Consultation and ultrasound.
* Hormonal blood testing.
* Infection tests - including HIV, Hepatitis B and vaginal infection tests.
It costs about R 28 600. This will include all the costs involved in obtaining eggs, but this amount excludes the medication needed to stimulate the ovaries. The average cost of the medication is R13 000.
Thereafter the cost of egg storage is R1 200 per year.”
The success rate
“The success rate will be determined by how many eggs were extracted. Ideally, we want between 15 to 20 eggs. We all have normal and abnormal eggs so the higher the number of eggs frozen the higher the pregnancy rate will be.”
