'Too Hot To Handle' & 'Love Is Blind' Stars Are Freezing Their Eggs & Here's How It Works
The earlier you learn about your fertility, the better!
Francesca Farago of Too Hot To Handle. Right: Deepti Vempati and Natalie Lee of Love Is Blind.
Many people who want to have children later in life are choosing to freeze their eggs, including a few stars from the Netflix shows Too Hot To Handle and Love Is Blind.
THTH star Francesca Farago and Natalie Lee and Deepti Vempati from Love Is Blind season 2 are opening up about their fertility journeys and how they are preparing to freeze their eggs in the near future.
Lee and Vempati addressed their plans in an episode of Out of the Pods released on May 1.
“We’re in that process right now, so we’re just trying to be at our most healthiest, and that includes cutting out drinking, eating healthy, exercising a little bit more and then we’re going to start treatment sometime soon," Lee said.
Farago has also shared her plans to start a family in the future following her engagement to TikToker Jesse Sullivan.
The 29-year-old reality star says the couple plans to freeze their eggs later this year.
"We have everything planned out," Farago said during an appearance on the Sofia With an F podcast.
"We're probably going to try and get the eggs this summer. We need to get his eggs and mine and put them in a dish and you fertilize them."
As more people think about seeing fertility specialists, some as early as in their mid-20s, others may not be aware of what the fertility journey looks like.
Dr. Caitlin Dunne, the co-director at the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine and a professor at the University of British Columbia, says it's important for people with ovaries not to put off something like fertility screening because time is limited.
"We plan our jobs, we plan where we're going to live, we plan our education, we plan how we're going to go about meeting a partner. I think if having a family is something that might be important to you, think about planning that too," she said.
"Don't take your fertility for granted."
Here's everything you can expect if you choose to freeze your eggs, including the cost, a walkthrough of how it goes, and when is the best age to do it.
How many eggs does a woman have?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a woman is born with around 1 million eggs, and that number drops to 300,000 by the time they reach puberty.
The health authority adds that the number "continues to decline as you age and menstruate each cycle."
As a result of the declining number and quality of eggs, a woman's fertility decreases with age.
What is egg freezing?
UCLA Health defines egg freezing as a medical procedure in which a person with ovaries' eggs are extracted, frozen and stored for later use.
The process allows the person to potentially have a child later in life.
What is the process of freezing your eggs?
Egg freezing involves multiple steps before the eggs are extracted.
Johns Hopkins Medicine breaks it down into four steps:
- Injecting yourself with hormone medications every day for up to 12 days.
- Several pelvic ultrasounds and bloodwork to track the development of eggs.
- An ultrasound-guided surgical procedure, which takes about 30 minutes, to retrieve the eggs once they have matured.
- An embryologist will confirm that the eggs are mature and have the possibility of becoming fertilized.
Is it painful to freeze your eggs?
Dunne says the egg retrieval part of the egg-freezing process is minimally invasive, and patients don't typically describe it as painful.
She further explained that the procedure is performed under anesthesia, so the patient is typically very sleepy or even asleep for its duration.
Are there any lifestyle changes you should incorporate before freezing your eggs?
While Dunne does recommend a healthy lifestyle in general, she says there are no changes per se that she recommends prior to egg freezing because a person isn't planning to get pregnant yet.
However, the main thing she does recommend to patients before the procedure is to take it easy on their bodies to prevent the ovaries from "jostling."
"I tell patients no heavy lifting, maybe maximum 15 pounds, no strenuous exercise during the month that they're undergoing the the actual injections."
What is the best age to freeze your eggs?
Dunne tells Narcity the best age for a woman to freeze her eggs is before she turns 34.
"Eggs are considered to be in their biological prime when you're 34 or younger," she explained.
However, she says between the ages of 34 and 37 is still a "very reasonable time to freeze the eggs."
"We do egg freezing up to age 40 or 41. It just becomes less efficient, so you get less bang for your buck if you're freezing eggs when you're older because less of them in the freezer are going to be good quality."
Can you get pregnant naturally after freezing your eggs?
According to Extend Fertility, a fertility clinic in New York, a person who chooses to freeze their eggs can still get pregnant naturally afterwards.
How much does it cost to freeze an egg?
Egg freezing can get expensive and varies depending on where you get it done.
At the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine in British Columbia, the total cost, including medications and the first year of storage, can range from CA$10,000 to $14,000, according to the clinic's website.
At the Pacific Fertility Center in Los Angeles, the costs are between US$6,000 and $10,000 for the egg retrieval, between $3,000 and $6,000 for the medications and $700 to $1,000 a year for storage costs.
What's an important takeaway from fertility experts?
According to Dunne, there is no "one size fits all approach" when it comes to your fertility. That's why the fertility expert says it's important to educate yourself on the topic, and the earlier, the better.
"That can mean seeing your family doctor, a fertility doctor, and just getting an idea of where you're at," she said.
"I think the younger that you get that information, the better because a lot of times, by the time people see me, it's too late. And once the eggs are gone, they're gone."
This article's right-hand cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.