What is the egg freezing process? The goal in egg freezing is to save the eggs in a given cycle that would have been lost in the natural process of cell loss and ovulation. We do this by having you take hormonal injections for about 8-10 days. These hormones (also called gonadotropins) are naturally occurring and are essentially the very same ones that your brain releases to stimulate the eggs in your ovary. Since we want more than just one egg to develop in the ovary, you will take higher doses of these hormones than your brain ordinarily produces. During this period, you’ll have 5–7 short office visits with your doctor consisting of a blood test and an ultrasound. At these visits, your doctor will assess your response to the medication and possibly make adjustments depending on how your eggs are growing. Once the number and size of the eggs in the ovary are deemed sufficient, the retrieval process is performed. You will receive mild anesthesia so that you do not feel anything and the entire procedure takes about 15 minutes. We use an ultrasound probe in the vagina attached to a needle. A very small puncture is made through the vaginal wall which then enters the ovary. The fluid from what are called follicles, which enclose the eggs, are sucked out through this very thin needle. The fluid is then handed off to the embryologist in the embryology lab. The embryologist examines the fluid under the microscope to evaluate for the presence of these microscopic eggs, and freezes the eggs that appear viable with the most sophisticated vitrification protocol. When you are ready to have a child, your frozen eggs will be thawed and fertilized in our lab. The resulting embryo can then be transferred into your uterus. Is Egg Freezing Safe and how long can the eggs remain frozen? Approximately 5, 000 babies have been born from frozen eggs. One large study of over 900 babies born from the fertilization of previously frozen eggs showed no increased risk of birth defects when compared to the general population. Other studies have found no increased rate of chromosomal abnormalities or pregnancy complications in babies born from frozen eggs. Based on scientific data as well as our own ample experience, there is no damage that results from the long-term storage of frozen eggs. Human eggs can likely remain frozen and viable indefinitely. Best Fertility Care Center , Ashwini Hospital Moondrumavadi Madurai-07, Advanced Fertility Center.