All you need to know about Egg Freezing in Nigeria including Cost. What is the cost of egg freezing in Nigeria? Do Nigeria have medical facilities for egg freezing?
💡WHAT is egg freezing?
Oocyte cryopreservation known as EGG FREEZING is the process during which the ovaries are STIMULATED to produce several eggs; these eggs are then retrieved💉 and frozen to give better pregnancy chances at a later age. Social freezing is also an option for women who wish to postpone their pregnancy plans for relationship or career reasons.
Egg freezing, also referred to as egg cryopreservation is a process in which a woman’s eggs (oocytes) are stimulated, extracted, frozen and stored for use at a later time 🕰.
It’s important to make a careful personal decision about whether egg freezing is right for you. All women should be empowered with knowledge about basic ovarian physiology.
But⚠️, oocyte freezing is NEVER a guarantee of a future healthy pregnancy❗️❗️❗️
💡WHY should you freeze your eggs?
Medical conditions that may affect #fertility could be the reason behind egg freezing such as sickle cell anemia, auto-immune diseases or cancer treatments🌡🧬. Some women might also freeze their eggs because they are not in a relationship or need to delay pregnancy to focus of their careers or studies.
💡WHEN should you egg freeze?
As women’s fertility declines⬇️ with age, the best time⏰ for egg freezing is ✨before✨35 years old in general. Egg freezing can be considered ✨after✨the age of 35 but more than one CYCLE might be needed to preserve enough eggs.
👉All patients undergoing an egg freezing scenario should be thoroughly evaluated📈 and better options👌 that could lead to better fertility chances should be offered.
Techniques
Eggs are frozen using a flash-freezing process known as vitrification. Most fertility experts agree that the younger you are when you freeze your eggs, the better your odds of getting pregnant.
Are there facilities for egg freezing in Nigeria?
Egg freezing is still a developing program in Nigeria and many persons are yet to key into it. Part of the challenges egg freezing technique is probably facing in Nigeria are lack of constant power supply, ignorance, religious hindrances and lack of skilled experts. This challenges are not in any way exhaustive. However some established fertility clinics in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt have been able to make in-roads in popularising egg freezing in Nigeria. These IVF clinics offer services for egg freezing.
History made: Nigeria’s first baby that was conceived from frozen egg was unveiled in Lagos in 2016.
Nigeria became the first country in West and Central Africa to successfully deliver a baby conceived through frozen eggs in 2016 at Bridge Clinic Lagos. This feat which was carried out at the Bridge Clinic, Lagos, led to the conception and delivery of a bouncing baby boy named Tiwatope. The egg used in the conception of the boy was preserved through cryopreservation (the cooling of cells and tissues to sub-zero temperatures to stop biological activity and preserve the cells for future use).
Dangers of egg freezing to the woman
The commonest risk associated with egg freezing to the woman is Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). It is a painful and potentially dangerous side effect of an improper ovarian stimulation to produce or release the eggs. OHSS symptoms include pain, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, hospitalization, organ failure or worse. OHSS occurs in 1 – 10% of IVF patients, but amongst egg donors (a population more akin to egg freezers) the incidence is closer to 10 – 15%.
Cost of egg freezing in Nigeria
Egg freezing is still a hugely untapped area in Nigeria and the few fertility clinics that offer these services charge heavily. Fertility clinics in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt charge about #1.5,000,000 – #2,000,000 million Naira for egg freezing.
Hospitals that have facilities for egg freezing in Nigeria
Hospitals/fertility clinics that offer egg freezing services in Nigeria include but not limited to Olive branch clinic, Lagos, Nordica Fertility Center, Lagos, the Bridge Fertility clinic and Medical ART Centre, Lagos.
Egg freezing is gaining more traction in Nigeria as more children are being conceived through it.
Egg freezing enable you defer you child bearing plans to a later date….
Sources:
Lebanese Fertility Society
FertilityIQ
