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Why the best time to freeze your eggs is before your 30s?

Women’s fertility declines more rapidly after 30, so it’s a good idea to start thinking about freezing eggs earlier to give you the best chance of a successful later pregnancy.

Why should I consider freezing my eggs?

There are a few reasons why you might consider freezing your eggs to preserve your fertility for a later date. From medical treatment to a desire to focus on your career, or not having met the right person, you might want to freeze your eggs in order to have an opportunity to have a biological child at a later date.

For whatever reason, you may be at the point where you want to freeze your eggs as a way to plan for the future and take control of your reproductive health.

At what age should I freeze my eggs?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the ideal age to freeze eggs will vary depending on a number of factors. But generally speaking, the younger you are when you freeze your eggs, the better your chances of success will be.

This is because your fertility naturally declines with age, and eggs that are frozen at a younger age are more likely to be healthy and viable for use in the future.

We would recommend that you freeze their eggs before your 30s, as fertility from 35 onwards begins to decline more rapidly. Both the number and the quality of eggs can decline quickly by your mid-30s, whereas if you are under 30 a higher number of eggs can typically be obtained from each retrieval, and so a lower number of cycles are needed to give you a good chance of having the family you want at a later date.

If you are very young, in your 20s you may yet have a good chance of getting pregnant naturally later, and so eggs that you freeze when you are very young may never be used, but you would still have those eggs available should you need them.

We don’t have an actual upper age limit, but we wouldn’t recommend using your own eggs after 45, and from 42 onwards you would have to think very carefully, as the data we have suggests that this group may not benefit so much from egg freezing – though of course, we wouldn’t know the answer for quality until you use those eggs.

Read more on our Egg Freezing FAQs page

How long can frozen eggs be stored in the UK?

Recent legislation changes in the UK mean that the amount of time that you can store frozen eggs has been extended from 10 to 55 years.

Although you can now store eggs for later use up to a maximum of 55 years from when they are first placed in storage, you will need to renew your consent every ten years. You will need to fill out a consent form, and if you need to renew your consent, you will be kept up to date by the clinic where your eggs are stored. For this reason, you need to keep your contact details up to date with the clinic, or there’s a risk of your eggs being taken out of storage and disposed of.

From a technical perspective, frozen eggs can be stored for an indefinite amount of time. Once eggs are frozen, are stored in liquid nitrogen at a very low temperature, which means that they do not age or deteriorate over time. This allows them to be stored for long periods of time without losing their viability.

You shouldn’t have to pay the entire egg freezing storage cost up front, but you will need to continue to pay for egg storage over time or your clinic might dispose of eggs where storage has not been paid for. 

How much does egg freezing cost in the UK?

The cost of egg freezing can vary depending on a number of factors, including where you live, the clinic you choose, and the reason you are freezing your eggs. You can only freeze eggs at the NHS’s expense if you need to do so for medical reasons. On the NHS, freezing eggs for social reasons will not be paid for and you will need to fund this yourself.

Costs will include an initial consultation, hormone treatments to stimulate egg production, the egg retrieval procedure, and the cost of freezing and storing the eggs. It’s important to discuss the costs with your doctor and the clinic you choose in advance to make sure that you are aware of all the costs that are involved, and to get a better idea of what to expect.

Although you might be tempted to search for the cheapest egg freezing in the UK, you should also consider not just the price, but the expertise that the clinic brings to the process. At London Egg Bank, we are one of the biggest and most experienced frozen egg banks in Europe, which means we can offer amazing results, world-class expertise and most importantly personalised care for every patient.

What are the benefits of the Freeze and share programme?  

At London Egg Bank we have an innovative Freeze and Share programme. Freeze and Share makes it possible for you to freeze your eggs for free because you keep half the eggs we retrieve for your own later use and make the other half available to give another family the chance to have a baby of their own.

When you take part in our Freeze and Share programme, you receive an egg freezing cycle plus two years' storage, free of charge, by donating half the eggs collected from your treatment to London Egg Bank.

Find out more about Freeze and Share