1. What are frozen eggs?
Frozen eggs (the cryopreservation of oocytes) is a technique where healthy female eggs are stored at extremely low temperatures (-196°C in liquid nitrogen). This process puts the eggs into a state of “biological dormancy”. When fertility needs arise in the future, the eggs can be thawed and used for in vitro fertilization (IVF) to create embryos, which can then be transferred into the uterus for pregnancy.
Second, why do people choose to freeze their eggs?
Its core value is to preserve fertility and provide women with more choices regarding childbearing decisions.
III. Who is suitable for egg freezing?
① Medical demandgroups
Cancer patients: Frozen eggs before chemoradiotherapy preserve fertility, and the rate of premature ovarian failure in breast cancer patients after chemotherapy is as high as68%
Risk of surgery: Ovarian cyst resection and fallopian tube surgery may damage ovarian function.
Those with surgical risks: Ovarian cyst removal, and fallopian tube surgery may damage ovarian function.
Peoplewith premature ovarian failure: AMH<2 or FSH>10, indicating a decrease inreserves
Patients with endometriosis: Chocolate cysts destroy ovariantissue
Patients with chronic diseases: such as autoimmune diseases and diabetes may accelerate the decline of ovarian function.
Patients with chronic diseases, such as autoimmune disorders and diabetes, may experience accelerated decline in ovarian function.
Unmarried female aged 30-35: No partner but plans to have children in thefuture
Married career couples: Actively postpone childbearing, for example, Lin Zhiling started freezing eggs and giving birth to children after she got married at the age of45
LGBTQ+ group: Lesbian couples need to reserve reproductive resources in advance.
LGBTQ+ Community: Lesbian couples need to plan for childbirth in advance.
4. At what age should egg freezing be done?
1.
1. The cruel countdown to age and egg quality
Therate of egg chromosome abnormalities increases exponentially with age
<35 years old: abnormal rate is only 10%-20%, 10-15 mature eggs are frozen
38-40 years old: The abnormal rate has soared to 50%-60%, and 20-30 eggs need to be frozen to achieve the same level
Medical consensus: Xu Yang's team from Peking University First Hospital emphasized that the embryo implantation rate after egg freezing in women under the age of 34 (16.7%) is significantly higher than that in women over the age of 38 (10.8%). The European Association of Reproductive Medicine defines the golden period for frozen eggs before the age of 35, and no later than 38 years old.
Economy: The ovarian response is good before the age of 35, and the number of oocytes retrieved in a single promotion is greater, avoiding the high expenditure of multiple cycles (domestic single cycle is about 20,000 - 40,000 yuan)
Safety: The risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) caused by excretion drugs increases with age and is more tolerated by young women.
Safety: The risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) associated with ovulation-stimulating medications increases with age. Younger women tend to have a better tolerance to these risks.
"Remediation strategies" for women over 37 yearsold
Although it is not appropriate, there is still apath
Ovarian function test: Assessment of reserve potential by AMH (>1.1ng/ml) and basal follicle number (AFC≥5)
Cumulative in multiple cycles: Thailand's Tanruo International Reproductive Center recommends that people over the age of 38 freeze ≥22 eggs, which can be completed in 2-3cycles
Combined technical intervention: Use microstimulation protocol to reduce ovarian burden, and combine PGT-A to screen healthy embryos.
▶ Combined technical interventions: Using micro-stimulation techniques to reduce the burden on the ovaries, combined with PGT-A to select healthy embryos for transfer.
Time cost: A single cycle requires 2-3 weeks of intensive treatment (promotion of ovulation + egg retrieval), and working women need to coordinatevacations
Economic account: The average annual storage fee for frozen eggs in China is about 2000 yuan, and the total cost over ten years exceeds 40,000 yuan, and live birth is not guaranteed.
Economic analysis: The annual cost of storing eggs in frozen state in China is approximately 2,000 yuan. Over a decade, the total cost can exceed 40,000 yuan. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the embryos will survive to birth.
5. What is the detailed process of freezing eggs?

Theegg freezing treatment usually lasts about 2 weeks and is divided into three stages
①Stage 1: Pre-freezing evaluation (1-2 weeks)
nMedical examination
AMH test: Assess ovarian reserve (<2ng/ml indicates a decrease in reserve)
Sixsex hormones: FSH (>10IU/L indicates poor ovarian response), estrogen, etc. are checked on the 2-4 days of menstruation
Vaginal B-ultrasound: Observe the number of basic follicles (AFC<5 indicates a small number of oocytes retrieved).
Drugactivation
Inject follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) on days 2-4 of menstruation to stimulate the synchronous development of multiplefollicles
Dynamicmonitoring
B-ultrasound tracks follicle size and estrogen levels every 2-3 days, and adjusts the drug dose (to avoid excessive ovarian stimulation)
Prepare to breakeggs
When the dominant follicle reaches 18-20mm, injection of HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) triggers ovulation.
When the dominant follicle reaches a size of 18-20 mm, HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) is injected to trigger ovulation.
Painlessoperation
Under intravenous anesthesia, transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicular puncture and oocyte retrieval (operation 15-20 minutes)
Recovery aftersurgery
Observe for 1-2 hours, slight abdominal distension and dripping may occur (usually relieved within 24 hours)
Eggfreezing
Vitrification freezing technology (survival rate>90%) is used and long-term storage in liquid nitrogen.
Utilizing vitrification freezing technology (survival rate > 90%), samples can be stored for a long time in liquid nitrogen.
1.
1. Technical limitations: Resuscitation rate ≠ Live birth rate
Risk of egg damage: Vitrification may still cause the hardening of the pellucida and abnormalities of the spindle, and the survival rate after thawing is about 70%-90%
The age barrier is difficult to break through: When pregnant with frozen eggs over the age of 45, the risk of hypertension and diabetes during pregnancy is still twice that of young people.
2. Legal and ethical dilemmas
Domesticpolicy restrictions: According to the "Administrative Measures for Human Assisted Reproductive Technology", only married couples who meet medical needs can legally freeze eggs
Cross-border egg freezing: The United States, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and other countries can do it, but the policies and hospital qualification levels vary from country to country (see: Where can frozen eggs go?), screening carefully.
9 major cognitive misunderstandings about frozenL| 7. Reproductive freedom under rational decision-making
The essence of frozen eggs is that technology gives women a limited weapon to fight against the physiological clock-it lengthens the fertility window, but cannot eliminate the health risks of advanced pregnancies.
,--,.As Xu Jinglei said: "This is the world's exclusive medicine for regret, but you still need to take medicine early." For women aged 30 +, annual AMH testing + ultrasound evaluation is more important than blind egg freezing; for those who clearly need egg freezing, seizing the golden period before the age of 35 is the most pragmatic defense of reproductive rights.