Egg Freezing

Helping you build a family, when you're ready.

The time it takes to complete one cycle of egg freezing depends on your recommended treatment. However, for most women, one cycle of egg freezing will take between two to four weeks.

Day 1: Call our nursing team on the first day of your cycle when you have fresh red bleeding before 6pm. They will book in an ultrasound scan and blood test for the next day.

Day 2: You will come into the clinic for your blood test and scan. Your nurse will then confirm that you are ready to start your medications which you will take daily.

Day 4-10: You will come into the clinic every 2-3 days for an ultrasound scan to monitor your cycle.

Day 12: Typically on Day 12 you will have a trigger injection in preparation for your egg collection.

Day 14: On the day of egg collection you will come to the clinic for the consultant to perform the egg collection. During the cycle you will have daily contact with our nursing team and patient services team who will guide you through the process, support your journey and give you any assistance you need. Your cycle will be monitored daily by the consultant, embryologist and nurse.

In preparation for your treatment, the doctor may recommend a long protocol of stimulation. During this regime, your natural hormone production is suppressed to enable the doctor to have complete control of the stimulation of your ovaries and the time of ovulation. This is done by daily medication, administered by either an injection or nasal spray.

We understand that the thought of administering medication yourself at home can be a daunting one. Therefore, before you start treatment you will have a consultation with one of our experienced nursing team who will be able to explain all medications, demonstrate in detail how to administer them and teach you how to do this at home.

This depends on how you are responding to the medication. During the stimulation stage, you’ll attend appointments for both blood and ultrasound scans every 2-3 days, so your consultant can continually review your progress through the stimulation phase and personalise your treatment. We’ll work with you to ensure these appointments can be managed around your day-to-day life.

Your egg collection will be done under sedation, at either Harley Street or West London, depending on where your consultant is based. You won’t be awake for the procedure and you will be considered a day patient, however, you will need someone to help take you home as you won’t be able to drive or use public transport.

Your eggs, or embryos if you chose to use a partner or donor sperm, will be frozen via a vitrification process that rapidly super-cools the eggs or embryos, storing them in a glass-like state preventing the formation of ice crystals which destroy them.

We would expect 95% or more of good quality eggs which have been vitrified to survive when being thawed for treatment. Eggs that survive the thawing process quite often progress as though they were never vitrified, achieving fertilisation rates, embryo quality and pregnancy rates comparable to fresh ICSI-IVF cycles.

Before and during your cycle we advise that you maintain a healthy and balanced diet and take a Folic Acid and Vitamin D supplement. During your cycle you need to avoid smoking, alcohol and caffeine. Light exercise, such as walking, pilates and yoga are all suitable but you should avoid high-intensity exercise.