Risks

Egg freezing carries various risks, including:

• Conditions related to the use of fertility drugs. Rarely, use of injectable fertility drugs, such as synthetic follicle-stimulating hormone or luteinizing hormone to induce ovulation, can cause your ovaries to become swollen and painful soon after ovulation or egg retrieval (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome). Signs and symptoms include abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Even rarer is the possibility of developing a more severe form of the syndrome that can be life-threatening.
• Egg retrieval procedure complications. Rarely, use of an aspirating needle to retrieve eggs causes bleeding, infection or damage to the bowel, bladder or a blood vessel.
• Emotional risks. Egg freezing can provide hope for a future pregnancy, but there's no guarantee of success.

If you use your frozen eggs to have a child, the risk of miscarriage will be primarily based on your age at the time your eggs were frozen. Older women have higher miscarriage rates, mainly due to having older eggs.

Research to date hasn't shown an increase in the risk of birth defects for babies born as a result of egg freezing. However, more research is needed on the safety of egg freezing.