Priyanka Chopra froze her eggs: All you need to know about egg freezing

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra recently spoke about having frozen her eggs in her early 30s The actress took advice from her mother Dr Madhu Chopra who is an obstetriciangynaecologist In 2022 the former Miss World and her husband Nick Jonas underwent surrogacy and welcomed their daughter Malti Marie Chopra JonasPriyanka Chopra is not the only one to have frozen her eggs Other celebrities like Ekta Kapoor Tanishaa Mukerji Mona Singh Amy Schumer Kim Kardashian and many more too have frozen their eggs They all agree that this scientific development is a true and valuable gift in their livesJust as women choose to get married in their late 20s or early 30s for reasons like career financial stability or finding the right partner they also choose to embrace motherhood far later in their late 30s ldquoUnfortunately the biological clock does not understand the concept of career or not finding the right partnerrdquo says Dr Ritu Hinduja Fertility Consultant Nova IVF Fertility Mumbai Fortunately science has offered these women an optimum solution that enables them to freeze their eggs and protect them from the effects of ageing Besides career aspirations Dr Hinduja points out other common reasons why women opt for freezing their eggs which include taking cancer treatments facing fertilityimpairing conditions such as Endometriosis and having late marriagesWhat is Egg FreezingIt is a process that enables women to delay their pregnancy and helps in preserving their fertility for the future when they plan to give birth to a baby It involves extracting a womanrsquos eggs and freezing and storing them to preserve their reproductive potential for the future How is this advantageous for womenFreezing eggs is liberating for women It takes a lot of pressure off them They can pursue their career goals at their own pace or take care of more immediate worries without the nagging fear of lsquorunning out of timersquoDr Hinduja expands on more scientific advantages of freezing your eggs1 Once the eggs are frozen the effects on them of factors like growing age chemotherapyradiotherapy and Endometriosis are almost zero2 It holds the fertility potential of the age at which the woman had chosen to freeze her eggs3 Frozen eggs can be thawed and fertilised with the husbandrsquosdonorrsquos sperm whenever the woman decides to plan for a pregnancyWhat is the procedure and how long does it takeThe whole process is mainly of two stages Dr Hinduja explains The first one involves stimulation of the ovaries in order to get all follicles which are recruited in a particular cycle This is then followed by extracting the eggs from the follicle choosing the mature oocytes eggs and then freezing cryopreserving themThe second stage involves thawing the eggs when the woman wishes to plan a pregnancy fertilising them with the husbandrsquosdonors sperm creating embryos transferring the embryo and freezing any supernumerary embryos left after the transferIt is important to note that before the actual eggfreezing process begins a doctor will scrutinize the womanrsquos medical history to check her fertility and the regularity of the menstrual cycle and then carry out a range of blood tests to determine hormone levelsThe eggfreezing process starts on day two or three of the menses followed by an average of 1112 days required for stimulation The egg is then retrieved on the 13th or 14th day of menstruationA single cycle of eggfreezing takes over 3 to 4 weeks This includes taking birth control pills or other medication for a period of 1 to 2 weeks for altering the natural hormones Following this hormone injections are prescribed to be taken for 9 to 10 days for stimulating the ovaries and ripen multiple eggsDr Hinduja suggests storing around 10 13 eggs for one IVF ICSI cycle in the future However one must consult their fertility physician to check for the numbers that will work well for themWhen must a woman freeze her eggsThe earlier a woman freezes her eggs the better will be the outcome According to Dr Hindjua women who opt to freeze their eggs before the age of 35 stand a higher chance of successful pregnancy than those who freeze their eggs after the age of 35 Those thinking of freezing their oocytes eggs should consult a fertility physician first and weigh their options accordinglyA common doubt among women considering freezing their eggs is whether extracting eggs now would lead to the production of lesser eggs in the future ldquoNo retrieving eggs in one menstrual cycle does not affect the eggs in the futurerdquo Dr Hinduja clarifies ldquoWe only look at monthly withdrawals that the ovary makes from the corpus that it has We donrsquot work on the corpus Every month ovary withdraws a fresh set of eggs If these are not retrieved they do not return to the corpus they die after one egg is chosen to ovulaterdquoThe reliability safety and success of eggfreezingDr Hinduja says ldquoThe success rate of the procedure depends on the reason why egg freezing is done It also largely depends on the age at which the woman chooses to cryopreserve freeze her oocytes egg Your fertility physician may advise for more than one egg retrieval procedure in a situation where less than desired eggs are retrieved or the quality of the eggs is not as desiredrdquoAs women age the quality and number of eggs decline The technology of egg freezing offers an attractive option for women to conceive when one is planning for a pregnancy Dr Hinduja concludes ldquoIt is an extremely safe and proven procedurerdquoAlso Read Debunking common myths about pubic hair