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Who should consider fertility preservation?
Fertility preservation means freezing your eggs, sperm or embryos for use in future fertility treatment. It's a way of safeguarding your future so that you may try for a biological family at a time that's right for you.
If you’ve considered fertility preservation before, it's important to know that you're not alone in this. There are several reasons why you may wish to preserve your fertility.
You might have wondered, who should consider fertility preservation? Is it right for me? Below, we discuss the key groups of people that might benefit from this process.
People undergoing treatment for a medical condition
There are some treatments for cancer or other medical conditions that may damage the reproductive organs, leading to reduced fertility or infertility.
Chemotherapy and radiation are particularly harmful to your reproductive cells, potentially causing permanent damage to eggs, sperm, or reproductive tissue. Surgeries that involve the removal of your reproductive organs can take away the possibility of conceiving naturally.
Freezing eggs, sperm, or embryos before starting these treatments can protect your ability to have biological children in the future.
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People choosing to delay parenthood
Delaying parenthood has become increasingly common and there are many reasons why you might want to delay parenthood.
However, it's important to recognise that fertility naturally declines with age. By their mid-30s, both the quantity and quality of a woman's eggs begin to reduce. This can make conception harder and increases the risk of complications during pregnancy. Sperm quality can also reduce with age, although the decline is slower.
For women, egg freezing can be an option. This allows you to preserve your younger, healthier eggs for use later on, improving the chances of a successful pregnancy when you’re ready to start a family.
For men, sperm freezing also provides an option if you want to delay fatherhood until later in life.
If you're in a committed relationship, you have the option of freezing healthy embryos too. This is usually recommended because embryos withstand the freezing and thawing process better than eggs and sperm.
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People with a low sperm count
You may have been diagnosed with a low sperm count or poor sperm motility. This can often lead to challenges when trying to conceive naturally. Sperm freezing can be an option to help with low sperm count, allowing you to store your sperm at its healthiest, improving the likelihood of successful fertilisation in the future.
Sperm quality can decline over time due to factors such as:
Age
Lifestyle
Underlying health conditions
By choosing to freeze sperm early, you can preserve your best-quality sperm for when you’re ready to pursue fatherhood. This can be through natural conception or assisted reproductive treatments like IVF (in vitro fertilisation) or ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection).
Military personnel
Being in the military can mean you face unique challenges in family planning due to the demands of your service. Frequent deployments, exposure to hazardous environments and the physical or mental strains of military life can all have an impact on your fertility.
You might even find that the high-stress nature of military service has you considering delayed parenthood until you’ve completed your service or reached a more stable phase in your career.
Fertility preservation enables you to safeguard your ability to have biological children in the future. This can allow you to pursue family-building goals when the timing is right, without the added worry of how your service might affect your fertility.
If you or your partner is employed by the Armed Forces, you should speak to your military or local GP. You can find out more about how to pay for fertility treatment here.
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Ready to take the next step?
Whether you’re starting your fertility journey, or looking into your next treatment options, like fertility preservation, we’re here to help. Give us a call for more information or to book an appointment, and we’ll be in touch shortly.
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Reviewed by
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Dr Jane Reavey
Consultant Gynaecologist, TFP Oxford Fertility
Dr Jane Reavey is a fertility specialist and gynaecologist at TFP Oxford Fertility. She graduated from the University of Oxford after completing pre-clinical medicine at the University of Cambridge.
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