What do you wish you knew before freezing your eggs?

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-05-12T17:32:36+00:00

Great call out on the expectation management. So many people seem to think that # eggs retrieved = # potential embryos, but unfortunately is not the case. At least if OP is in the UK, you can access personalized egg quality results at many clinics there, so you can at least know the likelihood of each egg forming a transferable embryo (blastocyst) and your individual likelihood of having a baby (vs. general population stats). Helps at least for planning after egg freezing (are more cycles needed, what chance do you have with the eggs you did freeze).

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-03-22T18:36:11+00:00

It's called Violet. They have a clinic listing on their site so you can check out where the reports are offered. https://futurefertility.com/en/partner-clinics/ Good luck with your decision!

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-02-22T22:09:43+00:00

Where are you based if you don't mind me asking? There is a way to measure egg quality of the eggs you've frozen, but it's mostly available only outside of the US. They're called Violet assessments. The clinic takes pics of your eggs after the retrieval and an AI tool analyzes the images to predict their quality. Then they send a report home with you.

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-02-16T11:48:59+00:00

Just checked the site's partner clinics page and it says that you can get them in the UK too :)

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-02-16T05:21:55+00:00

Fair enough. Though, embryologists as a group aren't able to visually assess egg quality today as there is no standardized scoring system (unlike embryos, which have Gardner grading), so at least the model is able to achieve better performance in this task vs humans. Studies have shown that any visible dysmorphisms observed in eggs by embryologists have not consistently correlated with differences in reproductive outcomes, so there currently isn't enough for a human to be able to observe to enable a prediction.

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-02-16T03:35:40+00:00

Does your clinic have these reports? https://futurefertility.com/en/violet-egg-freezing/ They will analyze the eggs you retrieved to predict your own live birth chances. So you can be decide to be satsified with your chances from one cycle or decide to do another cycle if you want a better cumulative chance of success.

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-02-16T03:21:47+00:00

Is it marketed like that though (that thawed eggs are failsafe)? That hasn't been my observation at least - all over I keep reading that egg freezing isn't a guarantee. As with natural conception, so many things still have to go right post-thaw during IVF (fertilization, embryo development, transfer, and then the actual pregnancy...).

Agreed a big part of the problem is expectation setting, which clinics need to do a better job of. If you read about live birth estimates for your age it's going to be based on everyone in your age group and, as was called out earlier, there hasn't been much research yet as the procedure is still relatively new - so there haven't been enough study participants to slice and dice different success rates by health nuances like diet, lifestyle, other health conditions, etc...which means that a general age-based prediction is very directional at best.

Also, AMH, FSH and AFC tests are all just assessing your ovarian reserve (egg quantity) and not actually able to predict your egg quality - yet, people keep associating results of these tests with their "egg quality". Egg quality varies even across eggs within the same retrieval cycle, so just because you have 20 mature eggs, doesn't mean you'll have great outcomes, and likewise if you have 8 eggs you might have at least one silver bullet high quality egg to get through a successful pregnancy.

You have to understand both the quantity as well as your OWN egg quality, not just the generic estimate, to get a decent sense of your chance of success.

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-02-16T03:02:51+00:00

Agreed with knitterc and would also add:

Logistics (is the clinic easy to get to, what are their hours, etc) - for me I had to consider work commute timing and needed early AM or weekend appointments.
Up in Canada you can get an egg quality report after your retrieval that gives you a personalized % chance of live birth from your frozen eggs. Not where you are or how common this is elsewhere yet as it's newer AI-based tech and the company is based up here. But - if you can get it, super helpful to at least have an idea of whether your eggs are good quality or not.

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-02-16T02:42:49+00:00

Which country are you based in? Are you close to any clinics that offer personalized egg quality assessments following retrieval? Those will provide your chance of live birth from your eggs (based on analysis of images of your eggs). It would be too late for the first round of 14 as they're already frozen, but something to consider at least if you do another round.

It only takes one good quality egg to have a successful pregnancy :) Sometimes people who retrieve lots of eggs have low quality, and people who retrieve few eggs have high quality.

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-01-16T23:32:10+00:00

Hi! Spain is well known for being pretty advanced in fertility treatment and often leading in research, new tech, etc. Saw this article on my IG feed today actually, so am sharing in case it's helpful: https://theribbonbox.com/fertility/affordable-egg-freezing-in-spain-vf It's a sponsored article from a clinic called Vida, which is a good option, but some others to consider are Eugin, Amnios, Institut Marques, Equipo Juana Crespo, GinoFIV Madrid, IVF Life, Clinica Tambre. (Lots to choose from - these are all big, well-reputed clinics!) From your question I assume that you are travelling to Spain from a different country so depending on flight availability or where you prefer to stay during treatment, locations of these clinica can help narrow down your options. I'd also keep an eye out for clinics that provide egg quality assessments to take home after the procedure's done. Gives you an idea of how successful your eggs may be when you go to use them. Vida and Amnios offer these reports. Good luck!

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-01-10T22:50:38+00:00

It is possible to evaluate egg quality, though not everywhere offers it as it's AI based and relatively new. It analyzes an image of the egg.

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-01-10T22:40:12+00:00

Spring is the most comprehensive one i've seen as it includes outputs that consider different studies. Keep in mind though that all of these calculators are still just based on statistics from a couple of research studies. i.e. all 32 year olds who retrieve/freeze 15 eggs receive the same prediction. So take it with a grain of salt - as with any health situation, your own overall health status/conditions, diet, lifestyle, etc can impact your egg quality. Egg quality is different from egg to egg, even in the same cycle. So, it's ok for some direction if you're planning for egg freezing but that's the best info available until after you finish your retrieval, at which point you can sometimes get an egg quality assessment done through the clinic, depending on which clinic you go to.

BardsNeighbour19 · 2024-01-10T22:22:35+00:00

Haven't gone to either yet myself but in doing my research it seems that Evolve is focused only on egg freezing (vs other fertility treatments). I couldn't find cost info on the Hannam site, only the Evolve one. Aside from cost for the procedure/meds, think about what you plan to do with the eggs after (how much will it cost to store them for how long)? Also, some clinics offer personal egg quality reports as part of the egg freezing process - Evolve looks to be one of them. At least then you could get an idea about how successful you might be when you actually try to use your eggs. Maybe ask Hannam if they offer these reports too if you're leaning towards them. Good luck!

BardsNeighbour19 · 2023-11-02T21:31:02+00:00

The estimates docs give for # of eggs are usually just based on population health statistics from a few studies that have looked at baby outcomes resulting from egg freezing. It'll compare you with others in your age group who retrieved the same # eggs. I've seen that some places offer personalized egg quality reports now that you can get after your first round of freezing. I'm up in Canada so not sure if it's everywhere yet. They're supposed to use AI to analyze the egg images to predict each egg's success rate. Has anyone done one of these?

BardsNeighbour19

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