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The first “ice baby” from an egg frozen through vitrification was born in December 2010. In 2012 the label of “experimental” was removed, but with a disclaimer: “There are not yet sufficient data to recommend [egg freezing] for the sole purpose of circumventing reproductive ageing in healthy women,” said the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, “because there are no data to support the safety, efficacy, ethics, emotional risks and cost- effectiveness of oocyte cryopreservation for this indication.” It was the equivalent of them raising their eyebrows as you reach for a tree branch, and saying: “But don’t come running to me…” They knew you were going to climb anyway. Citing the lack of medical evidence (and potential emotional risks) the committee warned: “Marketing this technology for the purpose of deferring childbearing may give women false hope.” Despite this, the market is swelling, and something is becoming clear: we need to talk about egg freezing.
This is what we know. The younger the woman freezing her eggs the more likely they are to be viable, but as vitrification is so new, information is scarce. Clinics claim anecdotal success rates ranging from 10% to 60%, but few women have retrieved their eggs, so it will take some years for specific data to emerge.
Read full, original post: We need to talk about egg freezing
