Social freezing

Nicole Wendler holds a PhD in biology in the field of oncology and immunology. As a medical editor, author and proofreader, she works for various publishers, for whom she presents complex and extensive medical issues in a simple, concise and logical manner.

More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.

With social freezing, single women or women who want to wait with the children for professional reasons use a method that cancer patients have been using for a long time: the cryopreservation of egg cells. Even if the initial situation of the two groups of women is fundamentally different, they have the same intentions: Both want to become pregnant at a later point in time. Here you can find out everything you need to know about social freezing as well as its advantages and disadvantages!

What is social freezing?

First career, then child: Since career advancement and having children are often still difficult for women to combine, many women postpone becoming mothers. From a biological point of view, however, this is not the optimal order. Even at the age of 35 - an age at which many have just gained a foothold in the job - the fertility of women and the quality of their egg cells decline. Having children in their late 30s or early 40s can already be difficult: pregnancy is no longer so easy and the risk of malformations and complications increases.

How convenient when fresh, unaged egg cells are available at this point in time. This is exactly what social freezing should make possible. This involves removing egg cells from women at a young age in order to freeze them until a later pregnancy date. The desire to have children is, so to speak, on hold.

Social freezing: technology used for other purposes

The social freezing process is nothing new: the storage of frozen egg or sperm cells - cryopreservation - has been around for a long time. Especially before cancer therapy (such as chemotherapy), many sufferers use them to be able to fulfill their desire to have children after they have overcome the disease.

So "social freezing" is nothing more than the freezing of tissue without a medical indication or a medical technique for a non-medical problem: the natural aging process.

Cryopreservation: that's behind it

You can read more about this method of freezing tissue and where it is used in the article Cryopreservation.

Is social freezing allowed in Germany?

There are no legal restrictions for social freezing in Germany. You can freeze both unfertilized and fertilized eggs. Ovarian tissue and sperm cells can also be cryopreserved - but only for personal use: the donation of egg cells has so far been prohibited in this country.

According to the law, there is currently no age limit for inserting one's own shock-frozen egg cells.

How does social freezing work?

As with artificial insemination, women must undergo stimulation treatment, i.e. hormone treatment, in order to stimulate egg cell production before social freezing. In the best case scenario, up to 30 egg cells can mature at the same time. They are removed through a vaginal puncture and flash frozen (vitrification).

Reproductive medicine recommends keeping between 30 to 50 eggs. The cells are then stored in liquid nitrogen for several years until pregnancy is desired. The thawing process is quick so as not to compromise the quality. In around ten percent of women, artificial insemination with frozen egg cells actually ends in the longed-for motherhood.

Social Freezing: Health Risks

For social freezing to be worthwhile, several follicles have to mature in the ovaries at the same time. For this, hormonal stimulation has to be helped artificially, which can trigger side effects such as hot flashes, dizziness, visual disturbances or, in the worst case, life-threatening ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). The latter manifests itself in a bloated stomach, pain, nausea and shortness of breath.

Apart from the hormonal stimulation and the associated complaints, social freezing itself does not pose any health risks. In general, however, pregnancies at an older age are associated with a greater risk of complications and are consistently more physically demanding than at a younger age.

Who is social freezing suitable for?

Basically, the following applies to social freezing: the earlier, the better. Social freezing is therefore suitable for young women under the age of 35. Up to this point in time, the quality of the egg cells is still high. Older women should know that the number of frozen egg cells cannot compensate for poor quality. So more is not better.

It is also easier to stimulate egg cell production at a young age. This depends on the concentration of the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH). The concentration of the hormone that can be measured in the blood serum decreases with age: the lower, the worse the chances of success in egg cell production after stimulation.

Social freezing: costs

Regardless of whether you have sperm cells or egg cells frozen, you have to cover the costs of social freezing yourself in this country. In the case of egg cells, these amount to up to 4500 euros. This covers, among other things, necessary examinations, stimulation treatment and egg retrieval. Added to this are the costs for storing the frozen egg cells, which amount to a few hundred euros per year. If the egg cells are then to be used later in the context of artificial insemination, you have to dig deep into your pocket.

Gathering and freezing sperm cells is cheaper at 550 to 800 euros. Every six months you have to pay around 100 to 200 euros for storage and up to 600 euros for the thawing cycle. Added to this are the costs for artificial insemination.

Social freezing - pro & contra

The reason for the hype surrounding social freezing is certainly the improved technology of cryopreservation, in which significantly more cells are intact after thawing. In 2012, the first European experts also gave positive feedback on this precautionary measure, which was used for the first time in the USA. When well-known American companies then assured their employees that they would cover the costs for social freezing, the discussion was in full swing.

Any concerns about the procedure are less medical and more ethical in nature: Is social freezing after the pill the milestone celebrated by many reproductive medicine specialists for more equality and freedom for women?

In fact, fertility is more likely to decline in women than in men. While sperm cells are constantly being produced in the male body, women have to get by with the egg cells that were created in them in the fetus stage. And this total number of egg cells decreases from year to year.Their quality also decreases with age: in a 30-year-old around two thirds of the eggs are intact, in a 40-year-old only just under half.

Social freezing could break the imbalance between men and women. Provided that women deal with the issue of young talent from an early age. One study showed, however, that the desire to maintain fertility in women becomes relevant much later - namely only when they are over 38 years of age.

The consequences of commercial offerings for the world of work and society will only become apparent in a few years. Critics fear that society, the media and companies will push young women into private "egg cell screening". Social freezing is still only available to privileged women who, at a young age, have the financial means to freeze egg cells for years.

Women who are seriously interested in social freezing should consider the age up to which they can cope with the physical strain and the care of a child. It is also important to consider what should happen to any unused egg cells later. Because egg donation is currently not allowed under German law.

Tags:  baby toddler unfulfilled wish to have children teenager