London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Egg freezing: The pandemic made me think about fertility

Egg freezing: The pandemic made me think about fertility

Until recently, Lynsey Beckett was not overly concerned about her fertility. But in April 2022, she froze some of her eggs.

"One minute I was 31 and had all this time and then Covid came," she explains. "It felt that time had just disappeared."

Lynsey, single and originally from Northern Ireland, now lives in London and works in human resources.

She decided to have her fertility tested. Although her results were good, she wanted to protect the quality of her eggs in case she ever needed them in the future.

The decision was, in part, intended to give her time to focus on her career, and to take the pressure off future relationships.

'I'm not dating to find a sperm donor'

The use of egg freezing in the UK has increased tenfold in the past 10 years, from just under 230 treatment cycles in 2009, to almost 2,400 in 2019. Although these numbers remain small in comparison with conventional IVF, they are increasing.

Leading fertility centres in the UK say this trend has continued since the pandemic and at some clinics it is accelerating.

After having 14 eggs frozen, Lynsey said: "When people make comments like, 'Are you not having kids soon?' it brushes over my head because I feel a lot more relaxed. I'm not dating to find a sperm donor."

Lynsey had side-effects for a few days after her eggs were extracted


The NHS funds egg freezing only for certain medical reasons, for example in advance of cancer treatment.

An egg-freezing cycle involves taking drugs to boost your egg production. They are later collected while you are under general anaesthetic or sedation, and frozen for future use.

Lynsey did not qualify to have the treatment on the NHS and used her savings to fund it.

Like any medical procedure, there can be side-effects. Lynsey developed ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) from the hormones, which is rare. This led to fluid build-up in her pelvis prior to the egg extraction.

Afterwards, she had some short-term side-effects and said it was "a lot more emotionally and physically involved than I'd ever considered".


Fertility declines with age


A woman in her early-to-mid-20s has a 20-25% chance every month of getting pregnant. Fertility declines throughout a woman's reproductive years and this accelerates after the age of 35. By 40, the chance of getting pregnant in any monthly cycle is around 2-5%, and there is also an increased chance of miscarriage, of about 50%.

Despite this, there were almost 150,000 babies born in 2020 in the UK to women over 35, according to the Office of National Statistics.

For many people, having children by natural conception isn't a choice. Perhaps there are medical reasons, they haven't met a partner or they're in a same-sex relationship.

Fertility expert Dr Malini Uppal, from Gennett City Fertility, encourages people to try naturally for a child where possible, but said: "I have women coming to use their frozen eggs when they want a second child when they're older."



Egg-freezing growth


The technology has historically been more common in the United States and is touted by some companies as an employment benefit. Facebook first offered it in 2014. Several UK-based companies, including NatWest, Centrica and Clifford Chance, have followed suit.

Getting the treatment doesn't come cheap. Lynsey paid £5,000 for one cycle. The price of the initial fertility assessment can cost approximately £300-£400. One round of egg freezing can be approximately £4,000 and then the annual cost to keep the eggs frozen (again, depending on the clinic) is approximately £150-£350 a year. Some clinics offer a discount for people in the armed forces.

And then there's the question of whether it works.



Success rates of egg freezing


The UK fertility regulator, The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), measures success based on how many embryos (developed from a patient's own frozen eggs) result in a live birth. Using this measure, 22% of treatments were successful in 2019.

The advice is - if freezing your eggs is something you're considering, then the earlier the better. Its success is strongly dependent on the age of the woman at the time of freezing her eggs, with higher success rates in those aged 35 and under.

Data from the HFEA shows the most common age to freeze eggs is 38.

In a recent report, it said: "The younger a woman is when she freezes her eggs, the less likely she is to ever use them in treatment. This is because most women are likely to be able to conceive naturally when they decide to start a family, and by electing to freeze their eggs they may have undergone the unnecessary risk of an invasive procedure."

Professor Ying Cheong, medical director at Complete Fertility, says since the pandemic more women are coming forward at a younger age to freeze their eggs.

Brittnee Leysen has endometriosis and decided to freeze her eggs in her 20s.


Brittnee Leysen, 28, born in the US and now living in Glasgow, had her eggs frozen in June 2021 after being diagnosed with endometriosis - a gynaecological condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows elsewhere inside the body, often around reproductive organs.

The treatment wasn't covered on the NHS, and she used her Help to Buy ISA savings.

Brittnee was married in her 20s. She and her husband started discussions about whether to have children after being told her endometriosis was going to severely affect her fertility.

She said doctors were encouraging her to have children as soon as possible: "The pressure that puts on you, on your career, on your relationships, on your relationship with your body is immense.

"Ultimately, the marriage fell apart because of those conversations," she added.

The chances of success of the procedure can rely on how many eggs are retrieved. Brittnee had one treatment cycle, and five eggs were collected.

"I had convinced myself I was going to have a decent number… that's essentially £1,000 an egg.

"I was hopeful I would get some peace about my fertility. I'm grateful and I don't regret having done it, but I'm still anxious about what the future holds."

Dr Ippokratis Sarris, director and consultant in reproductive medicine at King's Fertility, who has seen an increase in egg-freezing inquiries, said: "A lot of people come in thinking it will be an insurance policy. But hopefully, by the time they have a proper consultation and consider it, they realise it is not an insurance policy but it is possibly the right thing for them."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×