Egg freezing is a way to preserve your future fertility options. Just because your body is biologically at its peak for conceiving, doesn’t mean your mind or life situation is in the same place. If you would like to have a family one day, or just want to keep your options open, egg freezing may be an option for you which can provide you options for the future.
Egg freezing is a method of collecting, preserving and storing your unfertilised eggs. Your eggs are frozen through a process called vitrification, which means they are frozen in time. They are stored safely in our lab until you determine if you need to use them.
Egg quality and quantity declines with age. You can’t put a pause on your biological clock – but you can freeze your eggs, because frozen eggs don’t age. Age is the most important factor affecting fertility and the success of IVF treatment.(1,2) As females age, the numbers of egg decreases(3), and the quality of our eggs also decreases(4). Consequentially, the success of egg freezing is strongly impacted by the age at which you freeze your eggs, with much higher success rates eventuating when eggs are frozen at the age of 35 years and under(5). Ultimately, the younger you are when you freeze your eggs, the better quality your eggs will be and the higher your success rates will be when the time comes to use your eggs.
Who might consider Egg Freezing?
At Repromed, we know that fertility declines with age making it harder for some women to fall pregnant naturally later in life.
We also know that Australian women on average are choosing to fall pregnant later in life as the percentage of women giving birth who are 35 years or older increased from 16% in 1998 to 22.3% in 2007. And the average age of first-time mothers has also progressively increased over the past 10 years from 28.9 years to 29.9 years (source: The Australian Department of Health 2019).
You might consider egg freezing if:
- you are not in a position to have a baby right now but would like the opportunity to start a family beyond the age when fertility naturally declines (ie 35 years of age)
- you have low ovarian reserve
- your fertility is at risk from an illness such as cancer or severe endometriosis
Generally, women in their early 30s are relatively fertile, with their ovaries still containing good numbers of healthy eggs therefore egg freezing is often a viable option for them. Women in their late 30s generally have lower quality and quantity of eggs therefore freezing becomes less beneficial as only a small number of suitable eggs may be collected.
Book a Free Fertility Nurse Chat to discuss your options
When should I freeze my eggs?
Age is the biggest indicator of fertility potential however if you’re under 25 years old, it’s unlikely you need to be worried. If you’re within this age bracket, egg freezing may not be recommended because your ovarian reserve should be high. However, if you are concerned about pre-existing family conditions, medical or lifestyle factors that may impact your fertility, you should speak with one of our fertility nurses or book an appointment with a
Repromed Fertility Doctor for personalised guidance.
Fertility declines with age, so it’s a good idea to be proactive about your fertility when you’re younger. Ultimately, the younger you freeze your eggs - the better. If you’re considering egg freezing, or just want to have your fertility assessed, speak with one of our nurses or an book appointment with a
Repromed Fertility Doctor for expert advice.
Early-mid 30s is a common age that patients decide to freeze their eggs. Early-mid 30s is a common age that patients decide to freeze their eggs. Evidence shows that there’s a sharp decline in fertility after the age of 35.
(source: Impact of Oxidative Stress on Age-Associated Decline in Oocyte Developmental Competence 2019) The takeaway? It’s important to have conversations with medical professionals early and put a plan in place to preserve your fertility if you have concerns or if medically warranted.
If you’re between 35-38 years old and want to have a baby one day but are not ready yet – it’s important you see a
Repromed Fertility Doctor sooner rather than later. It’s better to understand the options available to you when you’re younger, to avoid disappointment and heartache in the future.
By the time you reach the age of 40, your chance of falling pregnant naturally drops to around 5% each month. If you’re older than 39 years of age, egg freezing may not be a suitable option for you. Please see a
Repromed Fertility Doctor to understand the options available to you, and if you are ready to start your family now, book an appointment with our team for guidance about your next steps
Why freeze my eggs?
There are many reasons to freeze your eggs.
Everyone’s reasons for choosing to freeze their eggs are different. Common reasons for egg freezing include:
- I want to have a baby one day, but I’m not ready to be a parent yet.
- I’ve recently broken up with a long-term partner that I was planning to start a family with.
- I’ve got health concerns that might be a threat to my fertility, like severe endometriosis or a cancer diagnosis.
- I haven’t found the right person to settle down with yet.
- I’m not sure if I actually want to have kids – but I want to keep my options open.
Whatever your reason for freezing your eggs, we’re here to help you explore if it’s right for you.
Egg freezing Cost
There are four main costs associated with egg freezing:
Repromed’s fee per elective egg freezing cycle is $5,551.90 AUD. At Repromed, we are also able to offer flexible payment plans to help you manage the cost of egg freezing through ZipMoney. ZipMoney allows patients to access treatment straight away with no payment required upfront. Patients apply directly to Zip Money for a 24 or 36 interest free payment plan. To find out more about Zip Money at Repromed,
click here. Terms and conditions apply.
Medications are required to stimulate your ovaries as part of the egg freezing process. These are prescribed by your Repromed Fertility Doctor. Medication costs depend on your treatment plan and can vary from person to person. Prior to commencing treatment you will be given an estimate which includes the cost of medications required during your treatment.
There are theatre and anaesthetic fees required for the egg collection procedure. If you have private health insurance, your insurance may cover some of these fees. Speak directly with your private health insurance provider for information about your hospital cover.
Please note that there is also a freezing fee associated with each egg collection cycle.
Once your eggs are frozen, they need to be stored until you decide to use, donate or discard them. At Repromed, the first 6 months of storage is free. After that it’s a $320 fee every 6 months.
Egg freezing Costs – Medical Reasons
Medicare provides a rebate for fertility treatment if there is a medical need for the treatment. For some people that come to us for egg freezing, it is the first time they have had their fertility investigated. During the initial testing, our doctors may discover underlying medical conditions which may impact fertility, meaning freezing eggs is required for a medical reason, not an elective one.
When this happens, you would be eligible for a Medicare rebate that will significantly reduce your out-of-pocket costs on the cycle fee, the medication fee and the theatre and anaesthetic fees.
If you’re choosing to freeze your eggs for non-medical reasons, unfortunately you won’t be eligible to receive Medicare assistance for your egg freezing treatment cycle.
The Egg Freezing process
During every monthly cycle, eggs grow in fluid-filled sacs (called follicles) on the ovaries. Only one egg will mature and be released through ovulation. The rest will be naturally reabsorbed. The egg freezing process - as with an IVF cycle - helps more eggs to mature.
To do this, you’ll take hormone medication for approximately 10 to 14 days to help stimulate your ovaries. Your Repromed Doctor will discuss the best medications and stimulation techniques for you. This medication usually takes the form of hormone injections using a tiny needle under the skin.
The idea of injecting yourself can feel daunting at first - we completely understand this. That’s why our fertility nurses will take you through the process step-by-step, showing you exactly how and where to give your injections. During the stimulation period, you’ll be monitored via blood tests and ultrasounds.
When your eggs are ready to be collected, you’ll visit the hospital for a short procedure. You’ll be asleep, so you won’t feel a thing as the procedure is usually carried out under light general anaesthetic or sedation.
The procedure itself only takes around 10-15 minutes. Afterwards, you’ll wake up in recovery, where we’ll keep you warm and comfortable. You can usually go home an hour or two later.
During the procedure, a Repromed Fertility Doctor will extract the fluid from the follicles on your ovaries (where the eggs grow). The eggs are extracted vaginally, so there are no cuts or scars.
As with any anaesthetic, you might feel tired or groggy afterwards. You will also be required to bring a support person along as you won’t be able to drive for the reminder of the day after this procedure.
Once your eggs have been collected, they are passed directly to our Embryologist. These skilled scientists identifies the mature eggs to be frozen. We only freeze mature eggs as immature eggs do not create viable pregnancies.
Your mature eggs are then transferred directly into our Embryology Lab where they are frozen. Eggs are frozen in our labs using a method called vitrification.
Scientifically speaking, there’s no time limit on how long eggs can stay frozen. At Repromed, eggs are frozen and then safely stored until you are ready to fall pregnant. Please note however that Repromed is unable to provide fertility treatment to a woman past her 53 birthday.
Request a fertility nurse chat
Common Egg Freezing Questions
There’s no time limit on how long eggs can stay frozen. At Repromed, eggs are frozen and then safely stored until you are ready to use them. Please note however that Repromed is unable to provide fertility treatment to a woman past her 53rd birthday.
The egg freezing process, involves stimulating your ovaries using hormones to produce multiple eggs. Mature eggs are then retrieved from your ovaries and taken to our laboratory, where they're exposed to a cryoprotective solution before being frozen to subzero temperatures via vitrification.
Egg freezing is becoming popular for women who don't want to fall pregnant immediately. Women also use it before having cancer treatment. By storing your unfertilised eggs now, you can preserve the possibility of fertility in future years.
When you decide to use your frozen eggs to try for a pregnancy, our team of scientists will thaw your eggs to create embryos with your chosen source of sperm (be it the sperm of a partner or donor sperm).
Thawing involves the warming of the frozen eggs and the removal of the cryoprotective solution. After a short period of recovery, the eggs are then suitable for insemination, usually by injecting a single sperm into the egg (a process called ICSI). After fertilisation, embryo culture is performed using world-class standard techniques. You will then be able to undergo an embryo transfer cycle.
Scientifically speaking, there’s no time limit on how long eggs can stay frozen. At Repromed, eggs are frozen and then safely stored until you are ready to fall pregnant. Please note however that Repromed is unable to provide fertility treatment to a woman past her 53 birthday.
You should consider egg freezing if:
- You’re not in a position to have a baby right now but would like the opportunity to start a family beyond the age when fertility naturally declines (i.e. 35 years of age).
- There is a threat to your fertility, such as severe endometriosis, cancer diagnosis, low ovarian reserve, or major abdominal surgery.
Generally, people in their 20s and early 30s are relatively fertile with their ovaries still containing good numbers of healthy eggs. Egg freezing can be a viable option for people at this age.
People in their late 30s generally have lower quality and a lower number of eggs. If you’re in this age group, egg freezing may be less suitable, as there is a chance only a small number of suitable eggs will be collected for freezing.
The success of egg freezing is based on the number and quality of the eggs collected, and that in turn is heavily dependent on your age at which the eggs were collected. There is no number of eggs collected that guarantees a pregnancy. Recent analysis of 350 cycles where women thawed their eggs at Repromed to try to achieve a pregnancy showed that:
- Approximately 90% of eggs will survive the freeze-thaw process.
- Approximately 65% of eggs injected with sperm will successfully fertilise and form an embryo.
- Approximately 30% of fertilised eggs will developed into high quality embryos.
- The chance of pregnancy per embryo is 25-35% depending on female age.
It is important to understand that until your eggs are thawed and fertilised you do not know the quality of your eggs. 1 in 4 women who thawed eggs did not have an embryo for transfer. Hence egg freezing does not guarantee a pregnancy but it does increase reproductive options in the future and gives women a sense that they have done everything possible to address their fertility concerns.
You may have heard egg freezing referred to as an ‘insurance policy for your fertility’ – but sometimes frozen eggs do not result in a successful pregnancy, and sometimes we are unable to collect any eggs suitable for freezing. Like any procedure, there are risks associated with egg freezing. It is important that you are aware of these risks before starting treatment.
Some of the risks associated with egg freezing include:
- No eggs maybe collected.
- The failure of frozen eggs to survive the freeze/thaw process.
- The failure of thawed eggs to fertilise after insemination.
- The failure of fertilised eggs to develop.
- The embryos formed may not be suitable for transfer.
- The embryos that are transferred may not result in a pregnancy.
- Failure of an established pregnancy to result in a live birth.
When you meet with a Repromed Fertility Doctors they will explain the risks of egg freezing to you in more detail.
It important to emphasise that natural conception is best for potentially fertile women as any assisted reproductive treatment (ART) technique can carry an element of risk and overall success rates may be lower than natural conception. All ART involves invasive medical procedures and should only be used when necessary, and after proper consideration of the risks and benefits.
The storage of frozen eggs by presumably fertility people does not guarantee a future pregnancy, irrespective of the number of eggs frozen. It must be emphasised that assisted reproductive treatment (ART) is not always successful. The team at Repromed work incredibly hard to achieve the best possible outcomes for our patients, however, it may eventuate that you are unable to fall pregnant using your frozen eggs.
Egg freezing for elective reasons at Repromed is restricted to people under 45 years-of-age. People considering this treatment aged between 40-45 should be aware that the pregnancy outcomes from their frozen eggs are significantly lower than people who froze their eggs in their mid 30s and hence egg freezing in this age group is generally discouraged.
Repromed will not participate in the creation of embryos from frozen eggs after the woman’s 53rd birthday. This is based on the socially responsible view that embryos should not be created by women who are past the age considered of natural menopause.
Egg freezing using the vitrification technique has been around for many years and there have been thousands of babies conceived world-wide using this technique. To date there have been no reports of adverse obstetric or perinatal outcomes. However, this remains a relatively recent technique and we will continue to closely monitor our results and those from overseas.
There is no one right age to freeze eggs and treatment is individualised according to age, ovarian reserve, and family goals. Freezing your eggs helps you take control of your fertility. As women get older, the chances of falling pregnant diminish. By 40, the chance of falling pregnant naturally reduces by 5% every month. Therefore, more women are choosing to freeze and store their eggs. (source: The Fertility Society of Australia)
Egg freezing does not strip your ovary of eggs, it merely freezes eggs that you would have lost that month.
Egg freezing investigations
If you see a Repromed Fertility Doctor to discuss egg freezing, you’ll be asked to undertake some initial fertility testing to determine whether egg freezing is necessary and the best option for you.
Tests prior to egg freezing may include:
Anti-Müllerian Hormone Test (AMH)
This is a blood test that measures the levels of Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) in your blood. AMH is a hormone produced by cells in the follicles in your ovaries. Your AMH level is an indicator of your ovarian reserve.
Pelvic Ultrasound
This is an internal ultrasound during the follicular stage of your menstrual cycle – between day 5 to day 9 of your cycle. This ultrasound will show how many follicles you have, and can help assess the anatomy of your uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries. Your pelvic ultrasound will be completed by a Repromed sonographer or trained fertility nurse.
Other Blood Tests
You may be asked to have hormone blood tests and infection screens for hepatitis, HIV and syphilis as part of the work up for egg freezing.
How to get started
Chat to a Repromed nurse
Book a complimentary phone chat with a fertility nurse to discuss egg freezing. Our team can answer any questions you have, walk you through the process, and can discuss costs with you. Book a complimentary nurse chat here.
Request a fertility nurse chat
See a Repromed Fertility Doctor
You need a GP referral to see a Repromed Fertility Doctor. When you see Repromed Doctor, they’ll undertake some initial testing to determine whether egg freezing is the best option for you. If you decide to proceed with egg freezing, they will tailor a treatment plan to your individual circumstances.
Book an appointment today
Freeze your eggs
After you’ve completed some paperwork and met with our team, you’re ready to get started!
Your Repromed Fertility Doctor will prescribe some stimulation medication, which you’ll take in the lead-up to your procedure. The procedure itself only takes around 10-15 minutes. Afterwards, you’ll wake up in recovery, where we’ll keep you warm and comfortable. You can usually go home an hour or two later. It is important that you have someone to pick you up and look after you over night.
Once your eggs are collected, the scientists will assess each one for quality as they only freeze mature eggs. Mature eggs give you the very best chance of a successful pregnancy down the track.