Egg Freezing: Costs, Success Rates, Process & Best Age to Freeze Your Eggs

The egg freezing process step by step

The egg freezing process typically takes 2 to 3 weeks from the start of medication to egg collection. Here's what to expect:

1. 1

   Consultation & fertility testing

   Initial appointment, hormone blood tests (including AMH), ultrasound scan and an assessment of your ovarian reserve.

2. 2

   Ovarian stimulation

   Daily hormone injections for around 10–12 days to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs.

3. 3

   Monitoring

   Regular ultrasound scans and blood tests to track follicle growth and adjust medication if needed.

4. 4

   Trigger injection

   A final injection to mature the eggs, given roughly 36 hours before collection.

5. 5

   Egg collection

   A short procedure (15–30 minutes) under sedation, where eggs are retrieved using a fine needle guided by ultrasound.

6. 6

   Freezing & storage

   Mature eggs are frozen using a fast-freeze technique called vitrification and stored in liquid nitrogen until you're ready to use them.

Most women return to normal activities within a day or two after egg collection.

How much does egg freezing cost?

One of the most common questions is: "how much does egg freezing cost?" The answer depends on where in the world you have treatment, how many eggs are collected, the medication required, and how long you choose to store your eggs.

What is the best age to freeze your eggs?

The younger your eggs when frozen, the greater their potential reproductive value in the future. Egg quality declines with age, especially after 35, and the chance of a future live birth from frozen eggs depends heavily on the age at which they were frozen.

Should I freeze my eggs at 30? Many specialists consider your early 30s the ideal window — egg quality is still high and one cycle is often enough to bank a strong number of eggs. Egg freezing over 40 is still possible, but you should expect to need multiple cycles and have a frank conversation with your clinic about realistic outcomes.

Egg freezing success rates

Egg freezing is an excellent fertility preservation tool, but it does not guarantee a future baby. Success depends on: age at freezing, number of eggs frozen, egg quality, future embryo development and uterine health.

Research consistently shows that younger women who freeze a larger number of eggs achieve the best outcomes. Globally, frozen embryo transfers typically achieve pregnancy rates of around 30–40% per transfer, though outcomes vary widely between individuals and clinics.

Egg freezing timeline

Egg freezing before cancer treatment & medical preservation

For women facing chemotherapy, radiotherapy or other medical treatments that may affect fertility, medical egg freezing can be a vital option to preserve future family-building chances.

Oncology fertility preservation is typically fast-tracked, with treatment usually completed within 2 weeks so cancer treatment can begin promptly. Many countries offer state or insurance-funded medical egg freezing for cancer patients, even where elective (social) egg freezing isn't covered.

If you've been diagnosed with cancer or another condition that may affect fertility, speak to your oncology team about a fertility preservation referral as soon as possible — timing matters.

Social vs medical egg freezing

Frozen eggs vs frozen embryos

Important: legal rules around embryo freezing vary by country. In some places embryos can only be created with a known partner, consent rules are stricter than for eggs, and embryos require joint consent to use in the future.

How long can frozen eggs be stored?

Research suggests that when stored correctly in liquid nitrogen using vitrification, eggs remain biologically stable for many years — there's no clear evidence that quality declines over decades in storage.

However, legal storage time limits vary significantly by country. The UK allows storage up to 55 years (renewed every 10 years); some countries impose much shorter limits. Always check the local regulations before treatment.

Egg freezing side effects & risks

Egg freezing is generally considered safe, but it's important to be aware of the common side effects and rarer risks: