Egg freezing, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, involves retrieving a woman’s eggs, freezing them, and storing them for future use. Fertilization typically occurs when the frozen eggs are thawed and combined with sperm in a laboratory to create embryos, which can then be transferred to the woman’s uterus or used for other assisted reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Egg Freezing and Fertilization: Simplified Steps
- Medicines to Grow Eggs : A woman takes medicines to help her body produce more eggs than usual.
- Egg Collection : Doctors retrieve the eggs from the woman’s ovaries using a special procedure.
- Freezing the Eggs : The eggs are frozen quickly to keep them safe until they’re needed.
- Storage : The frozen eggs are stored in a special place, like a freezer, until the woman wants to use them.
- Thawing the Eggs : When it’s time, the eggs are carefully thawed to bring them back to their normal state.
- Fertilization : Sperm is added to the eggs to fertilize them in a lab.
- Growing Embryos : The fertilized eggs grow into embryos over a few days.
- Putting the Embryo in the Womb : Once the embryos are ready, one or more are put back into the woman’s womb to try to make her pregnant.
- Checking for Pregnancy : A test is done a few weeks later to see if the woman is pregnant.