If you stumbled across the news that Priyanka Chopra froze her eggs when she was 30 and are wondering how to freeze your eggs, here’s everything you need to know about it.
Motherhood in their 20s or 30s is not every woman’s vision of life. Some women also want to make a career first or wait until they have found the right man. Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas recently revealed in a podcast interview how she took the advice of her mother, Dr. Madhu Chopra followed and froze her eggs at the age of 30. Last year, when Priyanka was 39, and her husband Nick Jonas gave birth to their first child, Marie Maltie, through surrogacy.
Priyanka said in an interview: “I felt so free, I did it in my early 30’s and I could continue on my ambitious warpath that I wanted to achieve and I wanted to reach a certain point in my career. Also, I hadn’t met the person I wanted to have children with. So, with that anxiety trigger and with my mom, who’s a gynecologist (obstetrician and OB/GYN) saying, ‘Just do it’.”
Well, egg freezing is a concept you need to know. HealthShots spoke to Dr. Archana Dhawan Bajaj, gynaecologist, obstetrician and IVF expert at Nurture Clinic in New Delhi to understand the process of egg freezing.
What is Egg Freezing?
dr Bajaj says, “Egg freezing basically means removing the eggs from the ovaries and storing them for later use. Ovarian stores a number of ova in a woman’s body that are used up over time, and as a woman begins to age, the ovarian depletion leads to infertility or the inability to conceive with her ova because the ova are depleted over time .” Many women use this concept to store eggs in their 30s so that later in life, whenever they want to implant a pregnancy before a certain time of menopause, they can use those eggs.
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How is egg freezing done?
This involves a whole process. Here how it’s done:
1. The first step involves hormone injections
You all know that a woman’s ovaries normally release an egg cell for fertilization by sperm every month. So, in order to stimulate several oocytes to mature at the same time, hormone injections are given for 10 days before the oocytes are retrieved under anesthesia. These injections are nothing more than doses of hormones that stimulate the ovaries to produce more eggs, such as B. follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). In general, the more eggs you have, the better your chances of subsequent fertilization.
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In most cases, the treating women can administer the injections themselves as they are very patient-friendly.
Also read: What’s the right age to freeze your eggs? A gynecologist answers
2. In the second step, eggs are collected
Three to four ultrasound scans will be performed while the patient is receiving injections for these 10 to 12 days. On the day of the procedure, the patient is discharged after spending six to eight hours in the hospital for egg retrieval.
The extraction process does not involve any surgery or dissection, so don’t worry. Instead, the treatment is performed transvaginally under anesthesia and leaves no scars. Egg collection takes 20 to 30 minutes.
3. In the third step, the eggs are frozen
For women between the ages of 30 and 35, it is recommended to freeze at least eight to ten eggs. If egg freezing is performed after the age of 35, 10 to 15 eggs should be frozen to ensure future fertility.
Is egg freezing similar to IVF?
Egg freezing is somewhat similar to IVF egg stimulation. Injections are given to make a woman superovulate to produce large numbers of eggs. These eggs are then physically removed from the body through a transvaginal, ultrasound-guided egg retrieval, which is done vaginally and under light anesthesia. The procedure is short; it is in good hands. It is usually very safe and these eggs can be saved if the woman is in her late 30s or early 40s and wants to conceive.
Egg freezing is the best option for women undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy!
dr Bajaj says, “Freezing can also be used on women with diseases that require chemotherapy or radiation therapy! Women undergoing ovarian removal or ovarian resection can also freeze their eggs if they have the opportunity to do so before the operation.” Egg freezing is therefore not only suitable for women in the older age group, but also for younger women with malignant diseases or Medical conditions that require radiation and chemotherapy can take advantage of this.
The last word
It is important to have good clinical judgment from the fertility specialist to understand whether or not you need a freeze. If you do this, it should be done in a clinic that is well equipped, follows all safety norms and is trained by inclination for the purpose and has extensive knowledge of egg stimulation and egg retrieval. The lab should be well stocked with the ability to freeze and store the praesidium for future use.
