London Women’s Clinic shares its advice
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE VIA CANVA
There are many routes to having children. All of them, at some point, involve a fertilised egg. For trans people who have ovaries, this can bring up a tough question – you have eggs, but in becoming your true self, are you sacrificing the chance to use them? Well, thanks to egg freezing, that is not the case.
DIVA spoke to Egle Kancleryte, the head of London Women’s Clinic’s egg freezing programme, and activist and proud trans dad, Jake Graf, to find out more.
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What is egg freezing and what do I have to do?
Egg freezing is a fertility treatment where eggs are collected and preserved, so that they can be used at a later date. “It’s very similar to IVFin terms of the treatment part,” says Egle. There are scans and blood tests to assess your ovarian reserve and whether egg freezing is a suitable option for you. Consultations with doctors happen. There are hormone injections to stimulate the ovaries. Finally, there is a quick procedure to collect the eggs. Unlike IVF, these eggs (or embryos, if you decide to fertilise them) are then frozen until you want to use them.
It might sound daunting, but having successfully frozen and thawed eggs for years, London Women’s Clinic is well equipped to help. So, if egg freezing is something you’re considering, the first thing you should do is book a consultation. Egle explains, “All of our patients have a treatment coordinator or dedicated nurse to guide them through the process and help them feel confident and informed.”
What you don’t have to do is know for sure if you want children. If 10 years down the line, you decide you don’t want to be a parent after all, that’s ok. But freezing your eggs means that is a choice you get to make, rather than it being made for you by your body.
Can I freeze my eggs if I’ve already started transitioning?
Yes! Jake always wanted to be a father, and six years into transitioning, decided to freeze his eggs. He shares, “Once I’d been in transition for six years, and I was very comfortable in myself as the man I’d dreamed myself to be, I realised that I didn’t want to prevent any hope of becoming a parent in the future.”
Jake was one of London Women’s Clinic’s first trans patients. Though research now shows that testosterone does not damage your eggs, at the time, they had no data and still wanted to help.
The clinic advised him to stop taking testosterone for six months. Treatment typically begins with a period, so stopping testosterone is necessary for any trans patient, as your menstrual cycle will need to begin again. If you don’t have a uterus anymore, you can also still freeze your eggs. They will do some scans and blood tests to check when your cycle is beginning.
The rest of the treatment was the same as any other patient. Jake was able to freeze five embryos and now has two children. So, the bottom line is: being trans does not mean you cannot freeze your eggs.
I’m worried about stopping testosterone
That is completely understandable. “When I stopped testosterone, I was worried about it,” says Jake. “But I knew I was doing it for a very, very good reason. I just held on to that throughout.” Friends had warned Jake that stopping testosterone could lead to depression, but thankfully, he did not experience that.
Still, London Women’s Clinic provides counselling to all egg freezing patients, and this could be incredibly helpful if you’re trans. “We have such a long history with the LGBTQIA+ community, and we have a lot of patients who come from the population,” says Egle. “All our counsellors are highly experienced and ready to support trans patients.”
What happens next?
Science-wise – your eggs are checked to make sure the ones collected are mature and suitable for freezing. Results are normally available the same day, so by the time you’re ready to go home, you should know if you need another cycle.
If you are happy with the number of eggs you have, testosterone can be restarted fairly soon after the egg collection. Those with a uterus will experience a withdrawal bleed. Typically, it is after this that you can take testosterone again. But you should always check with your doctor first.
Eggs can be fertilised into embryos, or left as they are. These eggs and embryos can be frozen for up to 55 years. Egg freezing is not a guarantee that you will be able to have children later down the line, but it increases the chances. And if that’s something you want to do, your eggs can be thawed, fertilised and eventually become a beautiful baby.
If it’s not, they can be destroyed or they can be donated (though you will have to be screened to make sure you’re a viable donor). The choice is yours and the key takeaway is that you don’t need to know right now.
“If there’s even a part of you that thinks you might want to be a parent one day, do everything you possibly can to give yourself that option in the future,” says Jake. “Not doing it isn’t worth the regret.”
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