While egg freezing clinics aren’t as prevalent as Starbucks and Duane Reade in New York City, there are definitely many options to choose from. From uptown to downtown, the east side to the west side, you have a choice. And unless your BFF or your OB/GYN points you in a certain direction, deciding where to direct your care can be difficult. Who you see and where you go can be the difference between walking away with future babies on ice and walking away with nothing more than a big bill.
Here are the five questions you should ask before deciding where to do your thing!
Success Rates
Fertility medicine is moving fast. To quote Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast…if you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.” The same goes for egg freezing! As a result, you need to make sure wherever you go to freeze your eggs practices fertility medicine on their toes. Being up-to-date with the newest techniques and latest procedures translates into success. Furthermore, you want to check the success rates of the clinic you are visiting and what they are doing to get those success rates—say, how many babies have been born from eggs frozen in this clinic, or how many egg thaws has this fertility clinic performed? If the numbers don’t add up, you should figure out why (and seek out a second opinion!).
CCRM has completed egg freezing cycles on more than 900 women. Although many of the eggs are frozen for long-term storage and fertility preservation, more than 450 egg thawing cycles have been completed with an oocyte survival rate of greater than 91%. The pregnancy rate following egg thawing, fertilization, and embryo transfer is 78.2% with a live birth rate per embryo transfer of 66.3%.
Practice Styles
While we all went to medical school followed by a residency and fellowship to become board-certified Reproductive Endocrinologists, the way physicians practice medicine can be very different. Some are talkers, and some are quiet. Some like to chat on the phone, and some prefer to email. Some move fast, and some move slow. Make sure that whoever you select as a doctor matches your needs and personality.
Take a number; we’ll see you in an hour
Unfortunately, many fertility clinics have started to resemble factories. Patients are shuttled in and out like cattle going down an assembly line. Waiting rooms are littered with patients, and you can go an entire egg freezing cycle without seeing a physician who knows you by name. Before you commit to a specific center, ask around about how the clinic functions and what previous patients who have been treated there have experienced. While it may not change your decision about where you decide to be treated, it will prepare you for what lies ahead. For example, CCRM’s physicians partner with each individual patient to develop custom-tailored analyses and treatments to help ensure the best outcome possible.
Availability
We all have busy lives and schedules. Trying to squeeze in time to chat with your mom can even be a challenge. Therefore, it’s important that you know when both your doctor and fertility clinic will be available not only to speak to you but also to see you. Just like personalities, you want to make sure that your schedule can effectively merge with their schedule.
Honesty is key
Sugarcoating the situation when it comes to your ability to not only freeze eggs, but also have success with those eggs in the future can become a “sour” situation. You need to make sure that the physician you are seeing is honest with your prognosis, the chance of the treatment being successful, and their clinic’s ability to help you not only freeze but also potentially thaw those eggs in the future. When it comes to your fertility you need all the facts!
