Egg & embryo freezing: preserve your future
Whether you’re preserving eggs or freezing embryos, we’ll guide you in choosing the best approach based on your unique goals and fertility journey. Take the first step toward future family-building and schedule your consultation today.
Egg and embryo freezing FAQ
Egg and embryo freezing are both ways of collecting and storing our gametes so that they can be later used to initiate a pregnancy.
Both start out with an egg retrieval process, where eggs are collected from the ovaries. In the case of egg freezing, mature eggs are frozen. They are later thawed and then fertilized before being implanted into the uterus of the person who is aiming to become pregnant.
With embryo freezing, the mature egg is fertilized using sperm from a partner or sperm donor, and then frozen. When it’s time for implantation, the embryo is thawed and then transferred.
The main difference between egg and embryo freezing is whether the egg gets fertilized now, or later.
Similar to IVF, you will take hormone injections (usually for 10-12 days) to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs, rather than the single egg released during a natural menstrual cycle.
Once the eggs are mature, they are retrieved through a minor surgical procedure. A needle is inserted through the vaginal wall into the ovaries to collect the eggs.
The retrieved eggs are checked for maturity as only mature eggs have the ability to be fertilized. Mature eggs are then frozen using a process called vitrification. This involves rapidly freezing the eggs in liquid nitrogen which prevents the formation of ice crystals that could damage the eggs. The eggs can then be stored indefinitely until the woman decides to use them. At Collab, we store everyone’s gametes on site in large tanks that have multiple alarms and a back up generator.
Ideally, the best age to freeze your eggs is under the age of 35 when egg quality is highest. However, even if you are older, you should schedule a consultation to learn more about your success rates and options. We have had pregnancies from women who froze eggs in their 40s so it is never too late. At Collab, we strive to individualize treatment because we know everyone's family building goals are unique. If you are still single and unsure when you plan to start a family, we would recommend scheduling a consultation to start the conversation and do ovarian reserve testing.
The other good news is your uterus doesn't age the same way as our eggs so we allow the transfer of an embryo up until age 55! As long as you are healthy enough to carry a pregnancy.
For women under 35, the chance of a live birth is about 90% if you froze 20 mature eggs.
The older you freeze your eggs, the lower the probability of live birth. For example, freezing 20 mature eggs at age 38 has about a 70% chance of live birth. This is because our egg quality starts to decline more rapidly after age 36. The cumulative success rate requires freezing a larger number of eggs (15-25 or more) to achieve a similar chance of live birth as younger women. You can use this calculator to estimate your chance of live birth based on the number of mature eggs retrieved.
Here is a helpful graph which stratifies your probability of a live birth by age and the number of mature eggs frozen.
Similar to egg freezing, the age of the egg has a big impact on whether the embryo is chromosomally normal. Once we hit our mid 30s, egg quality sharply declines and so does the quality of embryos.
One advantage of embryo freezing is that we can test the embryo with preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) to determine the genetic makeup of the embryo, including sex. A euploid, or chromosomally normal embryo has a 65% chance of live birth. If your family goals are 2 kids, we would recommend freezing 3-4 euploid embryos.
Egg freezing is the best option for people who don’t have a partner or sperm donor. Some of our patients are partnered with someone they are unsure they want to have kids with, so they opt for egg freezing.
Embryo freezing is a good choice for people who are partnered with the person they would like to conceive with, and/or are using donor sperm to conceive.
- Embryo freezing is only an option if you have a partner or a sperm donor.
- Even if you are currently partnered, you can still choose to freeze your eggs instead of embryos.
- You can also opt for both options, where you freeze some eggs and some embryos.
While egg freezing is considered safe, it carries some risks and potential complications. Risks occur less than 1% of the time and can include ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (enlargement of the ovaries and fluid accumulation in the pelvis and abdomen), risks of anesthesia, infection, and bleeding related to the egg retrieval procedure. Typically, over 95% of eggs survive the thaw, depending on the age when they were frozen.
Rest assured, our dedicated and compassionate team will be with you every step of the way, prioritizing your safety, comfort, and care throughout the process.
There is no expiration date once eggs/embryos are frozen in liquid nitrogen. There have been pregnancies after 10+ years of storage. See study on long term egg / embryo storage.
There are several methods for preserving fertility through egg freezing, sperm freezing, and embryo freezing. This can be done electively or before medical treatments that may cause infertility such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Yes, freezing your eggs is an excellent option to help preserve your fertility if you have cancer. Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation are gonadotoxic and can cause premature menopause and infertility.
The cost depends on whether you have insurance coverage. Even if you don’t have insurance, we have excellent self pay rates. Our team can discuss the costs with you and help you determine if your insurance plan will help cover them. We are currently in network with Cigna, United Health Care, and partner with Carrot Fertility and we have special discounts for first responders, teachers, and military families.
We provide egg and embryo freezing services performed by our skilled embryologists in our state-of-the-art lab in Walnut Creek. Our team will assist you in deciding the most suitable approach, taking into account your fertility status and family-building objectives. In the process of embryo freezing, eggs undergo fertilization through IVF before being preserved. Opting to freeze your eggs allows for later thawing and fertilization when you're ready.
Ovarian stimulation and monitoring
Our goal is to do everything possible to encourage the development of good-quality eggs for retrieval. During a 10-14 day period, following your unique treatment plan, you will have self-administered hormone injections to stimulate your ovaries. You will visit our clinic 4-6 times for ultrasound monitoring and blood work that your physician will review to make dose adjustments and ensure an optimal response.
Egg retrieval
On the day of your egg retrieval you will meet with your entire care team, including your physician, anesthesiologist, nurse and embryologist. During this minimally-invasive, same-day procedure your physician will retrieve eggs guided by an ultrasound. The procedure takes approximately 20 minutes with our anesthesiologist ensuring your comfort. You will spend 1-2 hours in our recovery area and then head home.
Egg freezing
Freezing the eggs
Our state-of-the-art lab is staffed by our skilled embryologists. Our embryologist will examine your eggs and determine which eggs are “mature” and most likely to be fertilized by sperm in the future. These mature eggs are frozen using a process called vitrification. When you are ready to use your frozen eggs, they will be thawed and fertilized with sperm to create embryos. Freeze - Thaw media
Embryo Freezing
Making the embryo
Fertilization is performed in our state-of-the-art lab by our expert embryologists in one of two ways: conventional insemination (IVF) or Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In IVF a single egg is surrounded by around 50,000 motile (swimming) sperm. With ICSI, the embryologist receives the eggs and selects one healthy sperm for injection directly into a mature egg.
Growing the embryo
At Collab Fertility, we know that the lab environment is critical to successful growth of healthy embryos. That’s why our lab uses the LifeAire® HVAC system, the most advanced air purification system able to eliminate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other contaminants that can impair blastocyst embryo development. We also use independent chamber design incubators to precisely control temperature and gas levels allowing embryos to remain undisturbed as they develop into the blastocyst stage.
Genetic Testing
Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) in IVF offers the advantage of selecting genetically healthy embryos, reducing the risk of inherited genetic disorders, and increasing the chances of a successful pregnancy. It also enables gender selection for family balancing or to prevent sex-linked genetic diseases.
Freezing the embryos
Our embryologist will examine your embryos and freeze viable embryos using a process called vitrification. When you are ready to use your frozen embryos, one or more will be thawed and transferred to the uterus.
Personalized treatment plan
We recognize that everyone is different. We work closely with each patient, crafting individualized treatment plans that offer you the best chance of success.
Support and education
Our compassionate and knowledgeable care team will guide you through the entire process. We provide comprehensive orientation and injection classes where you will learn everything you need to know.