Discover ways to determine whether egg or embryo freezing is right for you

If you want to postpone motherhood for any reason, you’ll be happy to know that there are options that can help make it possible. Our Dallas-Fort Worth fertility doctors offer two types of fertility preservation for women. The first option is egg freezing and the second is embryo freezing. So, how do you decide whether to pursue egg or embryo freezing? Read on to find out the answer.

Tips to help you as you debate whether to pursue egg or embryo freezing

You might want to put your baby plans on hold so that you can pursue your educational and professional goals. It’s also common to want to postpone family building until you achieve personal goals like finding the right life partner or traveling. Both forms of female fertility preservation can help you preserve healthy eggs for use later.

As you work to determine whether egg or embryo freezing is right for you, our Dallas-Fort Worth fertility doctors recommend asking yourself two questions.

• Do you have a partner who you would like to have a child with?
• Would you be interested in using donor sperm to welcome a baby?

If you do not yet have a partner and are not interested in using donor sperm, egg freezing is likely your best option. However, if the answer to either of the above questions was yes, embryo freezing could be a great choice.

What is the difference between these two forms of fertility preservation?

Egg and embryo freezing follow the same steps until the laboratory comes into play. Both forms of fertility preservation require you to take injectable fertility medications. The goal is to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. You will also undergo an egg retrieval procedure with both types of freezing.

Once your eggs reach the lab, the process differs depending on whether you’re pursuing egg or embryo freezing.

• With egg freezing, embryologists freeze your mature eggs using a flash freezing process called vitrification.
• As for embryo freezing, embryologists will fertilize your eggs with sperm and then freeze the resulting embryos a few days after fertilization.

When you are ready to have a baby, your fertility doctor will transfer a thawed embryo into your uterus. If you selected egg freezing, our embryologists will thaw your eggs and fertilize them with sperm. Then, your doctor will transfer a resulting embryo.

Our Dallas-Fort Worth fertility doctors can guide you through every step of fertility preservation, regardless of which option you select. Contact us to schedule an appointment and learn more.