Fertility Preservation
Social freezing
Preserve your fertility for the future! Thanks to modern cryopreservation methods, you can have your reproductive cells frozen and thus protect yourself from possible infertility in the future. Frozen at -196 °C, they do not age and can last virtually indefinitely.
Take control of your fertility! Book an appointment with us for a free consultation and don’t risk your chance to have a genetically related child one day. Now you can also use our installment plan for egg freezing!
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Egg freezing – oocyte vitrification
Age is a key factor influencing female fertility. On average, egg quality begins to decline around the age of 30, but the most significant drop occurs around a woman’s 35th year. This is precisely why the ideal age for motherhood is considered to be under 30.
Age as a risk factor
Are you missing this ideal time window? Social freezing offers you the opportunity to preserve the current quality of your eggs for later, and the sooner you freeze your eggs, the higher the quality you will retain. Whatever your reason for postponing pregnancy, do not deprive yourself of the chance to have your own child.
What happens to eggs at an older age?
With increasing age, the quality of eggs decreases, which is also manifested by an increased risk of genetic abnormalities and various disorders and breaks in the genetic information stored in the egg. This also leads to a higher probability of a baby being born with one of the genetic diseases caused by trisomy, i.e., a situation where the baby has a triplet instead of a pair of certain chromosomes. The best-known and most common trisomies are Down syndrome (trisomy of chromosome 21), Edwards syndrome (18th chrom.) and Patau syndrome (13th chrom.). Many trisomies are incompatible with life and lead to spontaneous miscarriages.
Increase in the incidence of fetal genetic diseases with increasing maternal age
Therefore, we recommend freezing eggs as early as possible – ideally around the age of 30, when they are still of the best quality. However, even for women around 35, in most cases, social freezing still makes sense. Starting to consider social freezing later might already be too late.
Do you know how many eggs you have left?
With age, not only the quality but also the number of eggs decreases – the so-called ovarian reserve. This is determined by the level of Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), ideally in combination with an ultrasound examination.
A good ovarian reserve is an excellent basis for egg freezing and preserving current fertility for the future – especially if you are not planning pregnancy in the coming years. Take advantage of your good results, because with a decrease in ovarian reserve, the number of eggs that can be obtained through hormonal stimulation also decreases.
Ideally, around 20 eggs should be frozen, and when freezing at an older age, this number should be even higher. This, combined with a lower yield of eggs during stimulation, can lead to a situation where several social freezing cycles are necessary to obtain the required number.
Social freezing process
The first step is to book a free consultation with us, during which we will also perform an ovarian reserve examination and the doctor will explain the entire process and answer any questions you may have.
To obtain as many high-quality eggs as possible, it is necessary to hormonally stimulate the ovaries. The doctor will prepare an individual stimulation protocol for you and the nurse will explain the administration of individual medications. Stimulation lasts 10-12 days, and during this time, you will also undergo several ultrasound check-ups at our center.
Egg retrieval is a short, approximately 15-minute procedure performed under short-term general anesthesia. After egg retrieval, you will rest for 2-3 hours in bed, and before you leave accompanied, we will inform you how many eggs were successfully retrieved.
Eggs are frozen using a special method called vitrification, where they are flash-frozen with liquid nitrogen to a temperature of -196°C. Before this, they are treated in special media that protect them from potential damage.
When the right time comes for you and you decide to use your eggs, they will be thawed and fertilized with your partner’s sperm using IVF methods. One of the resulting embryos will be transferred to your uterus, while the others will be frozen for potential future use.
During a woman’s natural menstrual cycle, the ovaries prepare for ovulation by growing several follicles, each containing an immature egg. However, only one of them becomes dominant and matures until ovulation, while the other follicles are absorbed, and the eggs within them degenerate. Hormonal stimulation during egg retrieval changes this process by supporting the growth of multiple follicles simultaneously. As a result, eggs that the body would otherwise naturally lose mature within them. This procedure allows for the retrieval of more eggs in one cycle, which increases the chances of successful freezing and future use.
A higher number of eggs is very important for increasing the chances of success in future attempts to conceive. The freezing and thawing process is challenging for eggs. And although the vitrification method has a very high success rate and we use the most modern cryoprotective media, approximately 10% of eggs are not capable of further development after thawing. Furthermore, even with a good partner spermogram result and the use of the ICSI method, the success rate of egg fertilization is on average 70-85%. However, successful fertilization of an egg does not mean that a viable embryo will develop from it. The proportion of high-quality embryos suitable for transfer is closely related to the quality of the reproductive cells. This is also why, when undergoing social freezing at an older age, it is recommended to freeze a higher number of eggs, as their quality decreases with age.
Price and installment plan
Social freezing – egg freezing without medical indication costs €1,600, and this price includes:
- consultation
- preparation of the stimulation protocol
- Ultrasound monitoring during hormonal ovarian stimulation
- egg retrieval under general anesthesia
- freezing of eggs on 3 carriers (max. 9 eggs)
- storage of eggs in a cryobank for the first year
The price does not include stimulation medications, which are partially covered by health insurance and have varying co-payment amounts. Since we strive to create a customized individual stimulation protocol for each patient, the selection of specific medications depends on several criteria, especially on examination results and the patient’s age. Co-payments can range from several tens to several hundreds of euros.
If more than 9 eggs are frozen, an additional €80 is charged for each extra carrier, with a maximum of 3 eggs per carrier.
For each additional year of frozen egg storage in the cryobank, a fee of €150 is charged.
Sperm freezing
Men can also preserve their fertility! Sperm freezing is a simple and safe way to secure your fertility for the future. The entire process consists only of collecting a sperm sample into a designated container via masturbation, followed by processing and freezing the sperm in our laboratory.
For sperm freezing, an initial consultation is not required with a doctor; you can directly book a spermogram examination, which must be completed before freezing, along with a blood test for sexually transmitted diseases. Both examinations can be performed together during your visit to our clinic, and then you can agree on further steps according to your needs.
If the results are good, you can proceed with freezing almost immediately. If the results are suboptimal, you can arrange a consultation with a doctor to discuss the best next steps.
- Spermogram and STD testing
- Consultation of results with a doctor and determination of further steps
- Submission of sample for freezing
- Freezing and storage of sperm until you need them
Sperm freezing on request costs €200. Before this, a spermogram examination, costing from €25, and a sexually transmitted disease test, which we can perform at our clinic for €50, are required.
- Men considering a vasectomy, to avoid losing the option of having children should they change their mind
- Men at risk of fertility decline due to various reasons (health conditions, lifestyle, occupational hazards, etc.)
- Men facing oncological treatment
- Men who want to ensure their future and preserve the possibility of having a biologically related child
Other treatment methods
In the case of oncological diagnoses in men and selected oncological diagnoses in women, cell freezing can be performed to preserve fertility for medical reasons – known as Medical Freezing.
