How does egg vitrification (freezing) work?
Egg vitrification (freezing) offers patients facing potential infertility, due to cancer treatment or other medical problems, or advancing maternal age, a way to preserve their eggs so they can become pregnant in the future. Until recently, a successful and reliable method for freezing and storing eggs has been elusive. Traditional freezing methods have a tendency to cause damage to the eggs due to the formation of ice crystals. Vitrification, however, is a freezing technique that is so rapid that ice crystals never have a chance to form. The eggs are collected as they would be for in vitro fertilization, combined with a special solution, and quickly frozen. They are then stored in liquid nitrogen until they are ready to be thawed and fertilized. For more information, visit our Cryopreservation page Read Dr.
