Your fertility has a timeline. Egg freezing lets you work around it.

A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have. From her mid-twenties onwards, both the number and quality of those eggs decline – slowly at first, then more sharply after 35. By the time many women are ready to start a family, that window has narrowed.

At Conceive Gynecology and Fertility Hospital, egg freezing is available to women who want to preserve their fertility – whether because of a medical diagnosis that threatens it, a career or life situation that makes now the wrong time, or simply a recognition that waiting has a biological cost.

What is egg freezing?

Egg freezing – medically known as oocyte cryopreservation – is a way of stepping outside that timeline. Eggs retrieved today, at the age when they are most viable, can be stored and used years later. The eggs you freeze at 30 remain biologically 30 when you use them at 38.

Egg freezing is a fertility preservation technique in which a woman’s eggs (oocytes) are retrieved from her ovaries, frozen using a process called vitrification, and stored in Conceive Hospital’s laboratory until she is ready to use them.

Vitrification is a rapid-freeze method that replaced the older slow-freeze technique around a decade ago. It works by replacing the water inside the egg with a cryoprotectant solution before freezing, preventing the ice crystals that used to damage eggs and made thaw survival rates unpredictable. With vitrification, egg survival rates after thawing are now consistently high – typically above 80%.

When the time comes to use the frozen eggs, they are thawed, fertilized through ICSI (as the zona pellucida hardens slightly during freezing, making standard IVF fertilization less reliable), and the resulting embryos are transferred in a frozen embryo replacement cycle.

The number of eggs retrieved varies significantly depending on age and ovarian reserve. Younger women typically produce more eggs per cycle, and younger eggs have higher fertilization rates and better developmental potential.

Who should consider freezing their eggs?

Women who want to delay having children for personal or professional reasons. This is the most common reason women freeze their eggs. If you know you want children eventually but not in the next few years – whether because of your career, your relationship status, financial circumstances, or simply not being ready – egg freezing lets you bank eggs now while your fertility is at its strongest.

Women diagnosed with cancer or other conditions requiring treatment that may affect fertility. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and some surgical procedures can significantly damage or destroy a woman’s egg reserve. For women facing these treatments, egg freezing before they begin offers the possibility of biological parenthood afterwards. This is called oncofertility, and timing is often critical – Conceive Hospital can work with your oncology team to arrange egg retrieval as quickly as possible.

Women with conditions that may accelerate egg loss, including endometriosis (which can damage ovarian tissue), premature ovarian insufficiency, a family history of early menopause, or autoimmune conditions. Freezing eggs earlier, before more are lost, preserves their options.

How egg freezing works at Conceive Hospital

The egg freezing process at Conceive Hospital closely mirrors the first half of an IVF cycle.

Step 1 – Initial consultation and ovarian reserve assessment Before committing to egg freezing, we assess your ovarian reserve – the number and quality of eggs remaining. This involves a blood test (AMH – Anti-Müllerian Hormone) and an ultrasound scan to count antral follicles. The results give us a realistic picture of how many eggs you are likely to retrieve, which helps you make an informed decision.

Step 2 – Ovarian stimulation For ten to fourteen days, you take hormone injections that stimulate your ovaries to develop multiple follicles simultaneously, rather than the single egg the body produces naturally. Progress is monitored with blood tests and ultrasound scans every few days.

Step 3 – Trigger injection When the follicles reach the right size, a trigger injection causes the eggs to mature ready for retrieval. This is precisely timed.

Step 4 – Egg retrieval Under light sedation, eggs are collected using a fine needle guided by ultrasound. The procedure takes around twenty minutes. You go home the same day.

Step 5 – Vitrification and storage In the laboratory, the retrieved eggs are assessed for maturity. Mature eggs are vitrified immediately and placed in storage. Conceive Hospital stores eggs in secure, monitored cryogenic conditions.

Step 6 – When you’re ready to use them When you decide to use your frozen eggs, they are thawed, fertilized using ICSI, and the resulting embryos are cultured and transferred in a standard frozen embryo replacement cycle – the same process used for any frozen embryo transfer.

WATCH a VLOG by Dr. Daamini Shrivastav of the Egg Freezing Process here