A woman’s ability to conceive depends very much on how old she is. Between the ages of 35 and 40, fertility already falls drastically by fifty per cent. This is connected to ageing processes in the ovaries, which cause an increasing genetic error rate in the egg cells maturing there. If you wish to preserve your fertility, we offer you the option of having egg cells removed and stored in a strictly monitored centre in Switzerland.
What is social egg freezing?
When egg cells are frozen as part of the social egg freezing process, this stops the ageing processes of the egg cells. The egg cells retain their fertility potential from the time they are frozen. The individual treatment steps are very similar to traditional artificial insemination: after medical stimulation of the ovaries with daily injections over a period of approx. 2 weeks, mature egg cells are removed in a short procedure under anaesthesia and frozen at sub-zero temperatures (cryopreservation through vitrification). This freezing technique perfected in the last few years (shock freezing) now makes it possible for human egg cells to maintain their fertility potential after being thawed.
Thanks to the innovative methods that we use, > 90% of the originally frozen egg cells are still vital after they are thawed and can be used further. The treatment is then continued at a later time determined by the patient: after the thawed egg cells are fertilised with the partner’s sperm in the IVF laboratory, the embryos are transferred into the uterine cavity of the woman with the intention of effecting a pregnancy there.
Find out more about the success rates and risks of in vitro or ICSI treatment in the overview of the topic “Artificial Insemination – Fertility Treatment in Switzerland”.