Social freezing – freezing unfertilized eggs

The aim of egg freezing is to extend the fertile window in women. Ideally, this is done when the oocyte reserve and quality are still very good. Unfortunately, this is not possible in all cases. A measurement of hormone levels such as anti-Müllerian hormone (FSH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in combination with an ultrasound scan enables an assessment of your fertility. This provides a sensible basis for the decision regarding egg freezing.

The specialist societies in Europe and the USA recommend freezing 20-30 eggs. Of course, your individual circumstances and whether you want one or more children play a major role in this.

As a rule, we recommend that you first clarify how many eggs you can expect to receive during treatment, if necessary. to have a stimulation treatment carried out and to decide on any further steps on this basis.

Eggs retrieved during social freezing may be stored for a maximum of 10 years.

If our examinations show that there was no normal egg maturation in the cycle in question, we do not perform a follicular puncture due to the low chances of success.

Overstimulation is the displacement of tissue water and blood salts into body cavities. It mainly occurs in women with a large number of follicles after stimulation treatment. The hyperstimulation syndrome only occurs after egg retrieval, is usually most pronounced about a week after egg retrieval and disappears with the bleeding about 14 days after egg retrieval. Today, however, we have treatment protocols that reduce the risk of overstimulation syndrome to almost zero. In most cases, hyperstimulation syndrome is rather mild and can be easily checked on an outpatient basis using blood tests and ultrasound measurements. In a few cases (< 1:100) the course is more severe and abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting occur. Occasionally a stay in hospital is then necessary.

A follicular puncture is a surgical procedure. In rare cases, abdominal organs or blood vessels may be injured. The doctor then has to open the abdominal cavity and surgically treat the injury. Such a complication occurs in far less than 1 in 1000 punctures. To ensure that we are prepared for this emergency, we prepare all patients for anesthesia at our fertility center.

A social freezing treatment cycle lasts approx. 2 weeks. In addition, depending on the protocol, a pre-treatment of 2-4 weeks is added. During pre-treatment, you will be seen by us to plan the specific dose of the stimulation medication. During hormonal stimulation, 2-3 controls are usual. We will determine the exact dates together with you when you register for the start of social freezing at the beginning of your period.

As a rule, there is a consultation and 1-2 appointments for preliminary clarifications. The aim is to carry this out within one cycle.

Most women tolerate social freezing treatment better than expected. Irritability may occur during the preparation phase – however, most women do not notice any changes. The actual stimulation phase – although the injection is of course unpleasant – is very well tolerated by the vast majority of women. Further details can be found in the questions above. We are also happy to advise you on special concerns.

Please continue to take thyroid medication.

Dafalgan or paracetamol can be used as painkillers during stimulation. Please discuss all other medications directly with your doctor.

You may have unprotected sexual intercourse until the 6th day of the stimulation phase. 2-3 days later you come for an ultrasound appointment. Please discuss the further procedure with the doctor there.

Yes, you are also welcome to be active during the stimulation phase. However, from the 6th day of stimulation, when the ovaries become larger, you should avoid sudden movements (tennis, jogging, etc.). Please always protect your abdomen/abdominal area.

The information sheet “Most important information on the stimulation procedure”, which you received in the white folder when planning your treatment, contains the start and end dates of the intake/application that have been personally determined for you.

Yes, during this time, bleeding is more frequent and can be as heavy as menstrual bleeding. This is normal and no cause for concern.

The medication must be injected for at least 9 days. During the ultrasound examination, the doctor will discuss with you whether and for how long the injections should be continued.

Injecting into the thigh is much more comfortable than injecting into the abdomen. The absorption and effect of the medication is very reliable.

No, in Switzerland frozen eggs may only be used within a partnership.

If you and your partner are both fertile, you would first try to conceive spontaneously, i.e. without our support. If this is not possible for 6-12 months – depending on the age – or if there are clear indications of obstacles (e.g. the man has had an abortion), the frozen eggs can be used.

It should be checked whether all the requirements for a healthy pregnancy are met. This includes a clarification of various infections, a clarification of the uterine cavity by means of water ultrasound (hydrosonography), examinations of the sperm and, if the spermiogram is abnormal, a presentation of the man to a urologist. If you have any illnesses that are relevant to pregnancy, we would include these in the investigations. On this basis, it is checked whether a pregnancy is possible in principle and whether special measures may need to be taken.

Freezing eggs therefore does not mean that there is a right to pregnancy. Ideally, it should therefore be clarified before egg freezing whether there are any fundamental concerns regarding a future pregnancy.

The cost of thawing the eggs, fertilizing the eggs and returning an embryo ranges from CHF 2000-3000.

In order to be able to freeze the retrieved eggs as quickly as possible and thus without the formation of damaging ice crystals, the nutritional cells surrounding the egg cell must be removed. These serve as a filter during independent fertilization of the egg by sperm, preventing more than one sperm from penetrating the egg. If several sperm penetrate the egg, it is not capable of developing as desired. Therefore, a sperm must be introduced directly into the egg, i.e. an ICSI treatment must be carried out.

ICSI treatment of this kind is associated with a slightly higher rate of malformations than in nature – although it is not yet clear whether this is due to the methods used or to particular characteristics of the parents-to-be.

The stimulation treatment performed here must not be carried out with the aim of retrieving eggs for transportation abroad. However, if you move to another country permanently, the retrieved eggs may be transferred to that country.

At the start of treatment, we will arrange the appointments with you. You know several weeks in advance exactly when you need to come for a check-up and how much time it will take. This approach allows you to plan in good time, which is also important for your professional life.

The entire infertility treatment is outpatient. The only time you should not go to work is on the day of egg retrieval.

We attach great importance to constant medical care. The senior physician in charge of your case will introduce herself to you at the initial consultation. She is responsible for your treatment, but also for your concerns and answering your questions. She is supported by an experienced assistant doctor and a competent and empathetic nursing team.

Continuous personal support from a permanent doctor is very important to us. As we have to base many of the clarification and treatment steps on your cycle, appointments are very difficult to plan. We make every effort to avoid waiting times, but this is not always possible due to the naturally short-term planning.

We therefore ask for your understanding and would like to apologize for any waiting times at this point.

In order to keep waiting times as short as possible for you, we adapt the consultation hours to the specific program the day before and send you a text message with the definitive time of your appointment. Please check your text messages the evening before to see when the definite date is.

We can advise you best if you bring your collected questions with you to our appointments. Due to the doctor’s daily schedule, it is usually not possible to answer additional/short-term questions by e-mail.

For urgent matters, please contact endo@usz.ch.

Please note that costs may also be incurred when answering inquiries by e-mail.

At the University Hospital Zurich, we naturally adhere strictly to the requirements of the Swiss Reproductive Medicine Act (FMedG). This is confirmed by the regular cantonal medical inspections.

We are constantly improving the quality of our treatment processes. As an expression of our success, our fertility center is certified according to the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system and our laboratories are accredited according to ISO/IEC 17025.

Our fertility center is a founding member of FIVNAT-CH, Switzerland’s national IVF data register, which has been in existence since 1993. On behalf of the Federal Statistical Office, FIVNAT-CH collects and checks various anonymized key figures for each cycle performed at all Swiss fertility centers. We are regularly among the centers with the very best pregnancy rates in Switzerland. Independent international experts periodically check the accuracy of the data we report (external audits).

You can find all our current certificates on the Reproductive Endocrinology Clinic page.