For women who wish to delay having a child until their late thirties, be it for financial or social reasons, egg freezing is becoming an increasingly viable option.

How successful is egg freezing?

To improve the chances of the process being a successful one, a woman will ideally be under 35 years old when she freezes her eggs. While there are limited good studies that look at live birth rates from frozen eggs, what we do know is that approximately 90 per cent survive the process, and of those 70 per cent will fertilise, producing embryos.

The age of the woman at this stage remains an important factor as it does with any pregnancy: live birth rates from frozen eggs decline with age. In terms of potential risks, there are no increased risks in chromosomal abnormalities or development problems.

How does the process work?

Women attending female gynaecologist Miss Amanda Tozer’s London clinic will first have a pelvic ultrasound. This enables Miss Tozer not only to assess the accessibility of the ovaries, but also to check the antral follicle count, an indicator of remaining egg supply (the ovarian reserve).

The treatment of egg collection itself involves daily injections that stimulate the ovaries to produce more eggs; the level of stimulation will be adjusted according to your age and your ovarian reserve. Over the next fortnight, you will have two or three scans, before the eggs are collected on approximately days 14 to 16. Miss Tozer will perform the collection herself; the procedure takes around 30 minutes during which you will be sedated. You may experience mild bloating but this should settle within five days of the eggs being collected.

At Amanda Tozer’s London fertility clinic you will benefit from personal, one-to-one care with all aspects of the egg freezing process being explained, assessed and performed by Miss Tozer herself.