Life doesn’t always go according to plan and for many couples, the path to parenthood isn’t always as straightforward as expected. If you’ve always dreamed of having a family, but for personal reasons have decided to wait, fertility preservation may be a great option for you.
The are many benefits to fertility preservation. This guide provides a detailed look into fertility preservation options, including what they involve, who they’re for, and how to get started.
What Is Fertility Preservation?
Fertility preservation refers to the medical techniques used to save or protect a person’s ability to have children in the future. These methods have evolved significantly in recent years, offering more options and greater success rates than ever before.
Women have several options for fertility preservation, including egg freezing, embryo freezing, ovarian tissue freezing, and ovarian transposition. Men have the options of radiation shielding, sperm freezing, and testicular tissue freezing.
Fertility preservation procedures vary with some options being more invasive than others. Egg and embryo freezing both involve hormone therapy, as well as a non-invasive surgical procedure to collect the eggs, embryo, and tissue.
Sperm freezing is also non-invasive and simply involves producing a sample at the clinic. Testicular tissue freezing, on the other hand, requires the use of a scalpel or a needle.
Why Do People Choose Fertility Preservation?
There are many reasons why someone may opt to preserve their fertility, including personal, medical, and professional factors. Here are some of the most common scenarios where fertility preservation comes into play:
Medical Reasons
- Cancer treatment: Individuals who are undergoing cancer treatments often opt for fertility preservation. Chemotherapy and radiation can affect fertility and damage reproductive organs.
- Other medical conditions: Other reproductive health concerns such as endometriosis, premature ovarian insufficiency, and genetic disorders can disrupt the fertility cycle.
Social Reasons
- Delaying childbearing: More Canadian women are deciding to wait until their mid-30s and early 40s to start a family. As the chances of conception decline with age, egg freezing can extend the reproductive window.
- Career and personal goals: Fertility preservation is an option for women who want to focus on their education, career, or personal goals before starting a family. This is a viable option for many women who tend to have a shorter fertility window than men.
- Lack of a partner: Egg and sperm freezing procedures are great for those who are not currently in a relationship but intend to have children in the future. This allows time to focus on finding a compatible partner without worrying about their biological clock.
Other Reasons
- Gender transition: Fertility preservation is an option for transgender individuals before undergoing hormone therapy or surgery. Thanks to multidisciplinary fertility plans, transgender men and women have the opportunity to plan for parenthood.
Benefits of Fertility Preservation
Fertility preservation gives men and women more control over their future reproductive experiences. Conceiving a child is never a guarantee, so having the option to increase your chances of becoming a parent is reassuring for many individuals.
Women have a biological clock, meaning as they age, their egg quality declines. This makes it even harder to successfully conceive a baby. With fertility preservation, women can focus on their personal ambitions before concentrating on their own motherhood era.
Perhaps the biggest benefit of fertility preservation is that it gives men and women who are undergoing medical treatments the option to one day have children in the future. This is important, especially for those who may feel they have limited choices about family planning due to potential infertility.
Factors to Consider Before Fertility Preservation
If you’re considering fertility preservations, keep these factors in mind:
- Age: Under normal circumstances, women are born with more than one million eggs but only have a few hundred thousand by the time they begin puberty. Since this ovarian reserve continues to decline over time, the best time for a woman to freeze her eggs is before the age of 30.
- Cost: Some costs associated with fertility preservation are covered by the provincial government. The Ontario Fertility Program covers one full in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle per lifetime, which includes egg retrieval and freezing, as well as sperm freezing and preservation of one batch.
- Success rates: While there is no guarantee any form of fertility preservation will result in a pregnancy, egg and sperm freezing procedures have high success rates. With proper freezing precautions, an embryo has a 95% chance of survival while sperm frozen for less than 15 years has an 85% chance of survival.
- Risks and side effects: Each type of fertility preservation procedure and treatment has potential risks and side effects. In addition to any physical complications, fertility preservation can take an emotional toll on patients causing feelings of anger, guilt, jealousy, hopelessness, and fear.
- Ethical considerations: As with artificial reproductive technology, there are ethical considerations. The use of donor eggs or sperm, and the potential impact on future generations, is often misunderstood by those outside of the treatment.
The Future of Fertility Preservation
With the spectacular advancements in technology, the future of fertility preservation is opening more doors to more people experiencing infertility issues. Freezing techniques and genetic testing are leading to promising success rates.
Currently, there are progressive techniques both in research and in practice at some fertility clinics that are both safe and effective. These innovative therapies involve artificial wombs, in-vitro gametogenesis (IVG), ovarian platelet-rich plasma, preimplantation genetic testing, laser-assisted hatching, ovarian transposition, and stem cell treatments.
Begin Your Journey with ONE Fertility Kitchener Waterloo
Talk to the world-class specialists at ONE Fertility Kitchener Waterloo about your options when it comes to fertility preservation. We customize your fertility plan with individual assessments and treatments that suit your needs. Contact us today to schedule a consultation with one of our fertility specialists and learn more about our comprehensive and compassionate care.
