It is often hailed as the perfect fertility ‘safety net.’
According to Netmums, egg freezing is the fastest growing fertility treatment in the UK, and is growing rapidly on our shores too. Companies including Google, Apple and Facebook have even offered the treatment to their female employees as a way to ‘insure’ their future plans of having a family.
However, a brand new study that was announced at the Fertility 2020 conference in Edinburgh, and it warned women that freezing their eggs shouldn’t be seen as a way to delay motherhood as, in the past 15 years, just 18 percent of treatments have led to a successful birth.
The team behind the study, which was conducted at the Newcastle Fertility Centre, analysed data from the UK’s fertility regulator, the HFEA. And having looked at the stats, the researchers pointed out: ‘Women seeking to preserve their fertility should be aware that they may have as little as a one in five chance of having a baby later.’
However, it’s not all bad news, and Dr Mariano Mascarenhas from Leeds Fertility, who presented the research in Edinburgh, added: that the chances of having a baby can improve if eggs are stored early in life.
“Importantly, the live birth rate using frozen donor eggs was considerably higher, at 31%. Hence for young fit women with no fertility issues, the success of egg freezing may ultimately be much greater.”
All in all, it’s important, experts say, to remember that selling the idea of egg freezing as some sort of insurance plan might be a little bit misleading, as frozen eggs still carry a similar success rate regular IVF. There is no guarantee.
