Positive, negative sides of eggs freezing in deferred childbearing

It is becoming a popular practice among some women, particularly ladies who for certain reasons are not yet ready for childbearing, to engage in freezing their eggs as a way of preserving them for use to have children in the future. PAUL ADUNWOKE writes on the rationale for engaging in this practice, the financial implication as well as its positive and negative sides.

In recent time, single ladies who are not yet ready to become pregnant and give birth to children make efforts to preserve their fertility. One of such efforts is freezing their eggs for future use, and they are paying through their nose to get it done.

Ladies freeze their eggs for different reasons. Some of them, who go for cancer chemotherapy, which affects their fertility, opt for egg freezing as a way of preserving fertility, while others go into it simply for lack of readiness for childbearing.

Another group of ladies who go for egg freezing are those that are yet to meet their life partners, they feel time is running against them and decide to store their eggs while they (eggs) are still active, as they wait for the ‘Mr. Right’.

Egg freezing is a method of preserving a woman’s fertility to be able to have children at a later date. It involves collecting the woman’s eggs, freezing them and thawing them to be used in future by means of In-Vitro-Fertilisation (IVF). Some of those freezing their eggs are single career ladies who are focusing on their jobs at the moment, with the hope of using the eggs in the future when they are ready to make babies.

A Lagos-based banker, Dorathy Walter, in her late 30s, is a single lady who considered freezing her eggs. “The time was ticking and I wanted to buy myself some time as I wasn’t ready to have a child in the next couple of years because I am still pursing my career in the banking sector.”

She disclosed that she paid N350, 000 to preserve her eggs and she is optimistic that the process wouldn’t fail.

Tunbi Adekoya, who works in Lagos Island, said she froze her eggs because of breast cancer. According to her, some ladies do egg freezing to preserve their fertility before going for cancer treatment.

“I was diagnosed with breast cancer and the doctor suggested that I go for eggs freezing to help me regain my ovary after cancer diseases treatment/surgery. But with evidence that egg quality decreases with age, this is such a big decision for me. I had a job but I was not earning enough money to be able to freeze my eggs. I started saving part of the little I had until I met the demand. I had no parent or partner for financial support, so I had to do it on my own,” she explained.

Adekoya said she paid N400, 000 to freeze her eggs in a private clinic in Lagos for more than four years, after which, if she still needed more time, the agreement would be renewed.

The Head of One-Woman Programme sponsored by Sterling Bank Plc., Ifunanya Ugboko, said the initiative had assisted many women who needed loan to take care of their health challenges.

“I know many women who did egg freezing and it was successful. I will advise ladies to do it to preserve their eggs for future use if they can afford it,” she said. Ugboko revealed that the programme usually gives women loan ranging from N300, 000 to N500, 000.

A Gynaecologist and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nordica Fertility Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, said preservation of eggs by freezing is done by many clinics in Nigeria. He noted that in every fertility-related issue, age matters.

“We all know that women’s reproductive cycle, as well as chances of having babies, depend on age. The quality of a woman’s eggs declines gradually as she grows older. When egg quality declines, the chance of pregnancy decreases, and the risk of miscarriage and genetic abnormality increases.”

According to Ajayi, egg freezing is an effective fertility preservation technique, which is better done before the woman gets to age 40 and above.

“With egg freezing, women have the opportunity to delay pregnancy until later in life without worrying about the quality of their eggs. There are different reasons people want to preserve their eggs. It may be social, as the person has not found Mr. Right. It can also be because of medical problems, especially in the case of some people who have been diagnosed of cancer.

“For instance, if a 24 or 25 years old girl is diagnosed with cancer and she is going for a chemotherapy treatment, it will affect the quality of her eggs, so it is better to freeze her eggs before undergoing chemotherapy treatment. It is also clear that for those who have done surgery to remove fibroid more than three times, it will affect the quality of their eggs. Other health conditions that may affect the eggs include endometrium. If one has all these health conditions, the person’s egg quality may somehow be compromised. Therefore, it is advisable to quickly consider freezing the eggs,” Ajayi explained.

On how affordable is eggs preservation, the medical expert said: “Freezing eggs is a significant investment and, as with all fertility treatments, you should get informed of all the relevant costs and issues upfront so you have an accurate idea of how much the full process is likely to be.

“It is an opportunity cost whether you want to do it or not. Each time we talk about medical treatment and we talk about cost, it looks like we are non-starters because it is like when you say education is expensive, you can also try ignorance as well. So, if we want to do any medical treatment that is based on technology, we have to make up our mind whether we want to do it or not. The first thing I will probably like to talk about is whether it is possible or if it is available before we talk about cost, then the person who needs it will find out.”

He noted that there is no price control in Nigeria. Each clinic determines the price it charges for their services.

On the availability of facilities in Nigeria for eggs preservation, Ajayi said: “In Nigeria there are facilities that do eggs preservation. We have done it here on several occasions and we have eggs in our laboratory as I am talking to you, which are being frozen for some people.

“Each woman is born with around two million eggs. By the age of 40, 95 per cent of women have less than 15 per cent of their eggs left. My advice is that egg freezing is a gift father gives his daughter when she is 30 years old and hasn’t found the Mr. Right. We see that there are many companies in the United States of America (USA) encouraging their staff members to freeze their eggs.”

According to the gynaecologist, Nigerians need to be aware of these practices to reduce the need to use donor eggs for vitro fertilisation (IVF). “The first thing is for you to be aware, and the second, is for you to avail yourself of it.”

Asked whether the process of egg preservation affects the quality of the eggs, he said: “Nothing is 100 per cent without downside. It’s like when you have frozen something in your freezer, it will not be 100 per cent safe, but here in our clinic, the survival rate is 93 per cent.

“What we advise people is that they must store enough eggs because I have seen some people who said they had stored eggs while they stored only four eggs. For one to get it right, she must store up to 15 to 20 eggs. People should avail themselves of the opportunity of this medical technology practice.”

According to the expert, frozen eggs could be stored up to 10 years in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees centigrade, and when the time comes to have a baby, the egg is defrosted slowly with a carefully controlled drop in temperature before being warmed up again.

“After injection with sperm, the resultant embryo is then inserted into the uterus of the woman. The pregnancy becomes as normal when the technique is successful.”

To Ajayi, the only challenge in eggs preservation is that it has to be done through IVF to get it right.

He advised upcoming IVF clinics: “They should avail themselves of the opportunity for training and retraining. This will make them have the knowledge. I will also advise that the government provide regulations for people to get the value of what they are paying for.”

Senior Registrar at the Department of Obstetric and Gynaecology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, Dr. Kemi Afolabi, said most people, who do egg preservation had one health condition or the other that made their action compelling. “It could be that they want to undergo surgery that may affect the quality of their eggs. Therefore, they preserve their eggs to be able to have their children after the surgery.”

She noted that egg preservation happens mostly among younger ladies who are yet to give birth to babies, revealing that those who have given birth do not need egg preservation.

According to her, the only disadvantage in egg preservation is that it’s not a natural process and the babies may come out with some congenital abnormalities or even have some health challenges in life. Even the eggs that have been frozen, by the time they are ready for use, they may not achieve the desired result. It is an artificial process and while bringing the eggs out, there may be mistakes. Some parts may be missing because the eggs are very tiny elements to the extent that you cannot even see them with your naked eyes, hence, some may be jeopardised during the harvesting process.

“I advise ladies that want to go for eggs preservation to go through the normal channel by going to health specialists. They should not go to quacks in the healthcare profession. They should go to government hospitals, especially where you have assisted reproductive technics and procedures taking place so that your mind can be at rest that you are in a safe place. When the ladies meet with eggs freezing specialists, they should pay attention to the instructions given to them and they will now decide whether they are thoroughly ready to go through the procedure or not,” the gynaecologist said.

She stated that for those who have cancer of the ovary, who want to go for extensive surgery that takes off the whole ovary, government can assist them because they cannot afford the surgery and freezing eggs at the same time because freezing eggs means you want to have a child and having a child is luxury.

“People may be eager to have a child but most important is that you need to eat food, you need a shelter and healthcare and other things. It is when you are okay that you can have a child and you have money to feed the baby and send him to school,” she said.

She hinted that people in government might not see it the way we see it, but anybody, who wants to go through eggs freezing procedure as a result of health condition should be assisted because it is expensive.

“I will advise that later in the future, people in government can look into how to help those that want to go into eggs preservation it is also a way of increasing the population and help to grow the economy of the country,” she noted.

Afolabi explained that freezing eggs is expensive and ranges from N250, 000 to N500, 000 depending on the number of the years the eggs are staying. “If one wants to freeze one’s eggs for more years, it means one is going to pay more money. It is possible for low-income earners because the person can safe money before going through the procedure.

“The most important thing is to avoid reproductive health challenges. The ways to avoid reproductive health condition include living a healthy lifestyle; eating food with balanced diet and engaging in physical exercise. Regular health check up is also very important so that when you dictate any sickness earlier you can easily treat it without complications.

A resident doctor at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, Chiemoke Osayanmon, said there was an increasing number of single women choosing to freeze their eggs for career reasons. “As some media have portrayed, many of them are doing so because they have not met the right person with which to make babies.”