Egg freezing, or oocyte cryopreservation, allows you bank your eggs for future use. Eggs frozen from vitrification technology are suspended in time. As a result, eggs can be frozen indefinitely. Main Line fertility provides everything for your egg preservation journey, including cryopreservation and long-term storage.

Age is the most common reason that a person who produces eggs decides to preserve them.

However, other factors that might warrant egg freezing include:

• upcoming oophorectomy

• upcoming gender confirmation surgery such as metoidioplasty or phalloplasty (i.e. "bottom surgery")

• a family history of premature ovarian failure or early menopause

• a recent cancer diagnosis

• a diagnosis of endometriosis or polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

If you are starting gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT), current research indicates that you do not need to freeze your eggs to preserve your fertility.

At Main Line Fertility, we want you to know exactly what to expect from every part of your journey with us. Here are the steps to expect for egg preservation:

1. Reproductive Health Physical

At your first visit, you will be greeted by a fertility care coordinator who will review the new patient visit checklist and your insurance with you. You will then meet with a member of our clinical care team who will review your medical history and, depending on the purpose of your visit, perform an ultrasound and lab work. Our clinical care team will also discuss the benefits of genetic carrier screening and you will have the option to test.

2. Ovarian Stimulation

Over a period of 9-12 days, we will stimulate your ovaries with self-administered injections. These injections utilize a thin needle (similar to what a diabetic might use for insulin shots) and are given subcutaneously, which means below the skin (as opposed to in the muscle). You will also have approximately five to seven early morning monitoring appointments to assess whether the injections are working.

3. Egg Retrieval

Once the monitoring shows that the egg maturing process has worked, you will come to our on-site surgery center where your doctor will gently guide a needle attached to a catheter through your vaginal wall to collect your eggs. The painless procedure will take 10-20 minutes and you will be under twilight anesthesia. Most patients don't even remember the procedure, and you may bring a partner or friend with you if you'd like. There are no stitches or scars and most patients return to work the following day.

4. Freezing and Storage

Your collected eggs are then frozen using an advanced method called vitrification. Immediately after they are vitrified, your eggs will be placed into one of our liquid nitrogen storage containers in our state-of-the-art laboratory. Mechanisms are in place to ensure the safe long-term storage of your eggs.

If there are no other indications requiring an earlier extraction, patients between the ages of 30 to 40, specifically early to mid-30’s, are the ideal age to freeze their eggs.

The cost of an egg freezing cycle at Main Line Fertility is between $3,000-$6,000 plus the cost of anesthesia ($500 per cycle) and medication ($2,500++ per cycle), depending on which egg freezing package the patient chooses. We also offer comprehensive financing. All Main Line Fertility egg freezing packages include:

Monitoring appointments

Egg retrieval

Cryopreservation

First year of storage

Cryo-storage costs $750 per each additional year.

The most current research shows that long term testosterone use has no effect on egg quality or ability to get pregnant. Stopping gender affirming hormone therapy generally causes fertility to return to what it would otherwise be without testosterone.

You will need to stop testosterone to begin the egg-freezing process. Please discuss your current hormone use with your doctor at Main Line Fertility to create a timeline that is comfortable for you.