Reproductive medicine explains: Social Freezing is an active life choice

More and more women are not fulfilled until late in their desire to have children. The own eggs to freeze can be for some a good way. The Munich-based specialist in Reproductive medicine, Jörg Puchta explains in this Interview, the most important questions about the treatment.

All the world is talking about currently, of Social Freezing. But since when is actually that women leave their eggs to freeze for later?

Since the end of the 90s, we have frozen eggs with the help of liquid nitrogen at minus 196° C, so far, however, with the method of Slow Freezings. The cells are cooled to 0.3 degrees per Minute down. Since 2007, we work with the so-called Flash Freezing, which means a cooling of 30 000 degrees per Minute.

A Problem of the high water content of the eggs. The process of cooling takes too long, ice Crystals form, the cell of which bears, under certain circumstances, damages. The shock frozen egg cells look under the microscope like pearls. Beautifully, perfectly.

So perfect that you advise women, already in young years of a certain stock?

I rate nothing. I’m just telling you what is possible. The Slow-Freezing was a stopgap. Above all women before chemotherapy came to us, in order to secure the possibility of a future pregnancy. However, the fact is: over 50 percent of the cells have not survived the process of preservation.

Today, the vitality rate is 95 percent – which means, of course, that 95 percent of the eggs can fertilize and use. The latter also depends on the age of the woman and the quality of the sperm cells. But I assume that on average half of the preserved oocytes, good quality embryos can be. This is a super value. With a view to artificial insemination, we can say, based on the current data situation: cells in the first place and then to return better results for mother and child provides freezing.

That sounds like frozen vegetables, the also a often higher, vitamin content is attributed as the supposed fresh vegetables from the Market.

That vitrivizierte eggs are so fit and it will stay that way – there is virtually no ageing processes, the egg is stored virtually in perpetual youth is, for me, in fact, the biggest Surprise of my career.

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How many women take advantage of that and create a stock to avoid, that the desire to have children fails one day, on the posthumous fertility?

To do this, I know of no survey. For our center, and we were the first in Germany to have offered Social Freezing, I can say that in our cooling tanks store more than ten thousand eggs. So far, we have 117 pregnancies from Social Freezing. 73 children are born, as of today,. For the next few years, I’m of a Boom. More and more colleagues are starting to put their skepticism.

Critics say the Social Freezing will put women under pressure in your work, it could subliminally be expected, the family planning to delay. Apple and Google to offer employees free of charge to freeze your eggs.

Clear horror scenarios one can draw. However, I see it more pragmatic and think of how it was, as in 1976, the artificial insemination was invented. Soon children are the glasses only in test tubes, feared a lot. Mankind was bred à la Aldous Huxley in the factory. And as it is today? The IVF is applied to five percent of all women. She is a super opportunity and may help in individual cases incredibly. But it remains the exception.

As I see it with the Social Freezing: It can be a possibility. Personally, I would advise women to live up to 30 in any case your life is relaxed. But the women who want to have early 30s, no children and no Partner, or professionally, just don’t go back, should be allowed to consider whether the method is not suitable for you.

Ultimately, Social Freezing is an active life choice that has little to do with material aspects, and a lot to do with the fact that we are today, just older. Phases of life are shifting. The proportion of over 40-year-old primipara has quadrupled since 1991. Should you find that frightening? I don’t think so. I say: The 40-Year-olds of today are different than 20, 30 years ago. You seem young, and are in fact often also physically fitter. For me, this shows how adaptable the person is.

There are borders? When would you want a woman with no ova more?

If I have the feeling that pregnancy would strain the body too much. But something is not a number. I can’t deny a lump sum of all 45-Year-old the return of their ova, when thousands of women in this age are still in a natural way pregnant! The majority of pregnancies of women in this age, we have had so far, have worked well.

What is the Social Freezing?

I always say: Expect you for collection and Freezing with 2000 euros, so with the cost of a holiday. And for storage with 25 Euro per month, the four boxes of cigarettes. Cigarettes: I say this quite deliberately. Because the greatest risk for an early menopause so that women can prematurely’t have any more children Smoking.