Fertility preservation · 4 min read
Egg freezing — known medically as oocyte cryopreservation — is a way of preserving your future fertility by collecting and freezing your eggs so they can be used later. It is now a well-established medical procedure, regulated in the UK by the HFEA.
Once frozen using a fast-cooling technique called vitrification, eggs can be stored for many years and used in a future IVF cycle. In 2022, UK law was updated to allow eggs, sperm and embryos to be stored for up to 55 years (in 10-year renewable blocks), giving patients far more flexibility than the previous 10-year limit.
An egg freezing cycle follows the same first half as IVF. You take hormone medication for around two weeks to stimulate the ovaries to mature several eggs at once. The eggs are then collected during a short sedated procedure and frozen in the laboratory the same day. Unlike IVF, no sperm is involved at this stage — the eggs are simply stored until you decide to use them.
The NHS recognises egg freezing for people who are about to undergo medical treatment that may affect their fertility (such as chemotherapy), those with conditions that cause early menopause, trans and non-binary people before gender-affirming treatment, and people who want to preserve their fertility for social or personal reasons — often called "elective" egg freezing.
Success depends heavily on your age at the time of freezing and the number of mature eggs collected. Eggs frozen in your late 20s or early 30s have a meaningfully higher chance of leading to a live birth than eggs frozen later. The HFEA publishes UK-wide data on egg-thaw cycle outcomes and is the most reliable source for current figures.
Egg freezing is a personal decision and not the right step for everyone. A consultation — including the right fertility tests such as AMH and an antral follicle count — helps build a clearer picture of your ovarian reserve and likely outcomes. You can read more about our approach on our treatments page.
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