Infertility: Why you should store your eggs, sperm

Pursuing a career was more important for Ms Kemi Abdullah (not real name) than having babies. She was sure she had no fertility  issues, after all, she had never had a miscarriage before. By the time she reached the peak of her career and was itching to have her own child, she was told her […]

Pursuing a career was more important for Ms Kemi Abdullah (not real name) than having babies. She was sure she had no fertility  issues, after all, she had never had a miscarriage before. By the time she reached the peak of her career and was itching to have her own child, she was told her eggs were not as fertile as before and the only option was to get pregnant through donor eggs.

The rise in infertility and the attendant  effect on marriages as well as the psychological and emotional trauma both men and women go through when they have no child has been on the increase for some years now. 

To reduce the cases of infertility and increase the chances of individuals or couples having their own children, experts have introduced a sperm and egg bank through the process of cryo preservation and vitrification to preserve fertility.

The fertility preservation technology, also known as garment (sperm, egg, ovarian tissue) preservation can be used by an individual to store an egg or sperm for future use. 

A senior embrologist at Nordica fertility centre, Adedamilola Atiba stressed there is a biological clock that ticks for a woman.

“ Once it has passed, there is nothing anybody can do. Many people find it hard to take donor eggs,” she said,

She identified many reasons why people delay having children, which she said includes, career, social, medical and other reasons. 

She explained that it could be because of a disease such as cancer and the person plans to take medications which could affect his or fertility, such a person could store his or her eggs or sperm in the bank, go for the treatment of whatever the medical condition is, and when the person is through, return to the bank for the stored garment.

“As a woman, no one knows when menopause will set in, maybe earlier or later, it is better if the eggs are kept in the bank, just like we store our money in the bank. By the time she is 40 or 50, and she has banked her eggs in her 20s or 30s, she can still achieve pregnancy with her own eggs,” she said.

Explaining what cryo preservation/fertility preservation is, Monique Bonavita Bueno, a Brazilian Embrologist described the sperm/egg bank (also known as Cryo Bank) as a facility that collects and stores human sperms and eggs, from sperm and egg donors, produced by women, men or couples who need donor-provided garments to achieve pregnancy when they cannot use their own eggs or sperms.

The Managing Director of Nordica Fertility Clinic, Dr Abayomi Ajayi said whoever does not want to have a sexual relationship with the opposite sex can go to the bank to get a sperm for her eggs, if that is what the person wants. 

In her explanation, Monique further explained that fertility preservation is a process of saving eggs, sperm or embryo or ovarian tissue before undergoing a fertility damaging treatment like cancer so the person can still use their garments to achieve pregnancy in the future. 

Women who want to postpone motherhood can preserve their eggs and still have their own biological child whenever they are ready.

Describing cryo preservation as the future of fertility all over the world, Monique said vitrification is the latest technology and it freezes eggs faster and quicker.

 “Survival rates of the eggs will be much higher than slow freezing that was done before,” she said.

On how long the egg can last when kept, the Nigerian-based Embrologist, Atiba likened cryo preservation to a special food kept in a good deep freezer which can last for a long time as far as there is constant stable power supply while giving assurance that whenever the garment is brought out, the quality is still the same.

 “If 100 eggs are frozen, we may not get the whole 100 in the best of conditions, but 80 to 90 percent of the eggs will still be in good condition and the quality will still be exactly the same,” he said.

Many will need assurance that it is the same eggs or sperm they are donating now that they get whenever they are ready. Ajayi assured they can always verify with different technology including a DNA to ascertain if their own eggs were given to them. 

Emphasising the need for an increase in awareness of this latest technology, Ajayi insisted it will be better for a woman to store her eggs when young.

 “Eggs is something that if you don’t store it, it will waste every month. Whether you like it or not, as we grow older, our body is going to get rid of the eggs. Why not store them so they can be of use in the future, rather than wait till you are 40 or above and all that is available is a donor egg,” he said.

Contrary to  people’s opinion that when a woman is old she may not be able to give birth.  Atiba said, “Fertility of a woman declines with the functions of the ovaries and the main function is production of eggs. Whatever age she decides to have her child won’t matter except if she has some underlying medical conditions such as fibroids. 

“There are many women of advanced age who are still able to have children. What matters in fertility for a woman is the egg quality. If we are able to preserve that, we are preserving a huge chunk of the fertility and every other thing can fall in place. If she is 40 or 50 years when she is ready for motherhood, she has no issues because her eggs are still young, maybe 20 or 30,” she said.