Dr Steven R. Goldstein MD
Fertility Decline, freezing eggs. Myths and Realities
Dr Steven R. Goldstein is an obgyn in Manhattan, and at times encounters patients struggling with fertility issues or are getting older and have not identified a partner with whom they want to have children. The ability to freeze eggs rather than embryos is now an option for those patients. When first introduced into this country (it was developed in Italy) NYU was one the pioneers in the United States. It was meant to be offered on an experimental basis to patients who had cancer and were about to undergo chemotherapy. There was an opinion by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the American Society of Reproductive Medicine that this should be done on an experimental basis without charge.
Those times have changed, however. This is no longer experimental. It has been around long enough to have proven that it is virtually as successful as frozen embryos can be. I have begun to discuss with my single patients who are not engaged or married and/or have no intention of being pregnant in the next several years to consider consultation with fertility experts and to consider freezing eggs. I do so not because I am so concerned that they will not be able to have a baby. I have seen so many women in my career who have had successful pregnancies at 37, 38, even 39. But so many of them have come back at 42 or 43 and say, “you never told me how great this was,” and now they are trying to have a second baby and that does not come so easily.
It is very interesting that virtually no one has ever come to me worrying about their fertility and said, “can I have two babies.” Thus, when I speak to patients now at 32, 33, 34 about the possibility of freezing eggs, it is often with the idea that that may be for the second child, obviously depending on their individual circumstances. I do feel, however, that 22, is much too young to be subjecting one’s self to the treatment involved in terms of medication, procedures, and cost to freeze eggs simply because of a fear of declining fertility.
Dr Steven R. Goldstein MD, a gynecologist in Manhattan has been treating women’s health issues for over 25 years; He is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University School of medicine, a former Director of Gynecologic Ultrasound at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Past President of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. If you are a woman struggling with fertility, recurrent miscarriages or require pregnancy monitoring, an appointment with Dr Steven R. Goldstein MD, a leading obgyn in Manhattan may be appropriate.