Social Egg Freezing

Social Egg Freezing is the term used for freezing of eggs for future fertilization / pregnancy.

GROWING TREND HERE AND ABROAD:
Single women over 35 who anticipate late marriage but who wish to keep the option of having children.

RISKS TO THE MOTHER

1. Incidents of complications is 5% which includes bleeding, distortion of ovary.
2. Ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHS)
HCG drugs trigger OHS.
3. A study of 25,000 women showed no increased risk in developing cancer.
4. Reports that IVF children have lower birth weight.
5. Costs / Expenses — same costs between fresh egg and frozen egg.

BEST AGE TO HAVE YOUR EGGS FROZEN:
!. Better to do it while woman is younger
2. The younger you are the better your eggs survive when they are thawed.
Survival rates decrease as you get older.
3. If you free too young at age 30 or younger, higher chance that you will not use it and it’s a waste of money and process.
4. Higher chance of success per egg when younger
5. Only 9.3% of women who store their eggs return to use after 6 years.
6. Chances of abnormal child if older pregnancy.
7. Live birth is 5% lower as you grow older, declining to 3.8% at age 38 years old.
8. Having 9 eggs gives you 40% chance of pregnancy. Older women require more eggs to be assured of pregnancy.
9. Avoid banking too early or too late to avoid wasted eggs and resources.

OTHER FACTORS
1. Age
2. Number of eggs
3. Freezing techniques
4. Survival rate
5. Age of partner
6. Complications

RESTRICTIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
1. Legal – there is no legal restrictions to freeze eggs in the Phils.
2. Ethical – when the time comes that the woman wants to fertilize her eggs leading to pregnancy, our society only allows fertilization of eggs using her husband’s sperm eggs.
3. Moral – it’s not morally wrong to have your eggs frozen. But for fertilization, it goes back to #2.

LIMITATIONS
1) It gives the woman a false sense of security not to get married and not
to get pregnant yet.
2) Egg freezing is not an insurance policy.
3) More women are deliberately postponing pregnancy because of their careers
and lifestyle.

Singapore does not allow social egg freezing. They only do it for medical / health reasons, for example, the woman has cancer or life threatening illness.

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St. Luke’s egg freezing facility opened in 2011 and their egg cryo-preservation are mostly for social egg freezing. So far their experience so far produced one good pregnancy resulting in live birth.

2016— Established Ethics Guidelines
EGG FREEZING is an acceptable method provided patients are fully counselled and the costs involved are discussed.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
One cycle of egg freezing would cost P180,000 to P240,000 depending on the woman’s age and health.

HOW MUCH IS THE ANNUAL FEE TO STORE THE EGGS?
P12,000 per year to renew the parking fee. There’s a contract the woman has to sign with the hospital.

SUMMARY:

1. Egg Freezing is the freezing of gametes and not a fertility procedure.
Gamete is a mature haploid male or female germ cell that is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction to form a zygote.

2. Patients must be clearly informed of their chances of success before starting the egg freezing process.

3. Pregnancy is never guaranteed.

4. Best time to freeze eggs is when the woman is between 30-36 years old and still healthy.

5. When the woman is still too young (30 and below), egg freezing is not advised because there’s a low utilization.

6. Avoid counseling unrealistic information especially for patients older than 38 years old.

7. Society in general and patients in particular must be informed of the impact of advancing age on fertility.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
1. Sperm banking for men—– yes, St. Luke’s has that facility.
This is only a bank sperm by husbands for use by their wives, and not for others.

2. Egg retrieval is painful that’s why there’s anesthesia and sedation.

3. Gender is not ethically allowed in the Philippines.
St. Luke’s has the capability to identify the gender. This is part of a technic in genetic identification and there’s a 65% chance they can identify the sex.

4. In case St. Luke’s is hit by natural calamity—- they have an enclosed facility / isolated. It has a back-up system in case of lost of electricity.
Their facility according to the doctors are 100% reliable, no wastage of eggs and sperm. They use liquid nitrogen which is replenished periodically because they evaporate.
As long as St. Luke’s and their staff do what they’re supposed to do, like replenishing the liquid nitrogen on time, then the eggs are safe.

5. St. Luke’s Medical Center doesn’t have sperm donors. Women cannot just walk in and request for a sperm to be used to fertilize their eggs. Only a legal wife can use her husband’s sperm.

6. In the Philippines, you cannot fertilize your egg if you are not married.

7. Third party IVF is not yet allowed in the Philippines for ethical standards.

8. For single women, your option is to get the eggs and store somewhere else (abroad) for fertilization. This is a simple procedure that can be done by St. Luke’s to transport your frozen eggs anywhere in the world. The transfer fees range from P7,000 to P10,000.

9. Women can have their eggs fertilized in another country. This is called cross border reproduction.

10. Maximum age a woman can freeze her eggs– it’s advisable to freeze between 31 – 40 or better when you’re not diabetic and hypertensive.

11. How long can eggs be stored? Indefinitely as long as the freezing conditions are 100% in perfect standards and correct procedures are followed by the hospital and its staff.

12. What if a woman dies? What happens to her frozen eggs?
There must be a prior agreement with the hospital to bequeath the eggs to someone else (example, parents, siblings), otherwise the hospital will forfeit.

Reference:
Center for Advanced Reproductive Medicine and Infertility
(CARMI)
St. Luke’s Medical Center
Global City, Taguig, Metro Manila
Tel: (632) – 789-7700 extension 2111
E-mail: inquiries@stlukescarmi.com

DISCLAIMER:

OMB does not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided herein.
Readers must do their own research and consult licensed doctors who specialize in this new procedure.

Please do thorough research and go only to St. Luke’s Hospital or to any big hospitals here or abroad who have this kind of advanced facility and service, to avoid unnecessary danger or risk to your health and life including that of your eggs or future baby.