Women should freeze eggs, says expert

Why freeze your own eggs?
With more women waiting until they are in their 30s to have children, there is concern about the increased number of couples who will encounter some difficulties either conceiving or seeing through a successful, healthy pregnancy.
Currently, one of the chief factors in the increased risk of having a baby after a woman is 40 years old, is the health of her eggs. As a woman ages, the health of her eggs deteriorates and the likelihood of instances of Downs Syndrome or miscarriage increase.
Already, it is well established that older women who have IVF treatment using the eggs of a younger donor, have a greater success rate than those using their own eggs. However, now the idea of a woman having her own eggs removed and stored whilst she is still relatively young, is growing in popularity.

Pregnancy at 35 or 40
The comments made by Doctor Lockwood, of Midland Fertility Services, have been criticised in some quarters because recieved medical advice is still that women should be encouraged to have children at a younger age. Plus, IVF treatment, even with a woman's own eggs, is not always successful. However, Lockwood believes that women should know about the options.
Careers, relationship structures and other social changes have made it more difficult for lots of women to feel able to have children in their 20s, and many are suddenly faced with a timebomb once they hit their mid-30s. If they are not in the stable life-relationship they hoped for by then, it becomes increasingly unlikely they will beat their 'body clock' in making the right match, achieving stablity and then beginning to build a family before they get too old.

So what does it entail?
In other ways, many women are fitter and in a better position nowadays, to have a child at 40, than they would have been two generations ago. However, the simple fact of egg-health cannot be avoided. Thus, the idea of storing your own eggs is growing in appeal.
The process is relatively straightforward. After a brief course of drugs, a women can have a number of her own eggs surgically removed. The surgery is day-patient although some women find the experience painful to recover from for a few days, and healing can rule out sexual intercourse for a few weeks.
The eggs are stored by freezing, until the woman decides she needs them. If in the meantime, she forms a relationship and feels she is still young enough, there is no reason why she cannot try to have a baby naturally, but the stored eggs are there as a 'safety net'.
There are a number of clinics in the UK who are licensed to carry out the procedure and it is relatively inexpensive (estimated to be about £2000 to £2500, including storage costs).

No guarantee of success
Until now, the practice has been popular in women who wanted to store eggs before undergoing medical treatment (eg for cancer) which could affect their fertility.
According to HFEA (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority) records, the average success rate of women having IVF treatment using their own eggs, in the year from 2003 to 2004, was 18.3 per cent success in women 38 to 39 years old, and 10.6 per cent in women aged 40 to 42. Therefore, storing your own eggs should not be regarded as a guarantee of conception success later in life, but simply a realistic option for women who have explored all other avenues as well.

For more about the process of egg storage and details of clinics in the UK currently licensed to carry out the procedure, visit the HFEA website.