Kriti Sanon froze her eggs: Top fertility expert on how to prepare for the procedure, risks

Actor Kriti Sanon recently revealed that she froze her eggs while preparing for her film Mimi, saying it was “the best gift” she could have given herself. The disclosure has renewed interest in egg freezing among women who want to preserve their fertility while delaying parenthood.

Dr Anjali Malpani, top fertility specialist and founder of Malpani Infertility Clinic, says women considering egg freezing should prepare well in advance and understand both its benefits and limitations. “While it preserves eggs at their current quality, success later depends on several factors, including the woman’s age at the time of freezing, the number of eggs stored, laboratory expertise, and overall reproductive health.”

Preparation begins months before the procedure

Preparing for egg freezing starts well before hormone injections are administered. Dr Malpani advises women to optimise their health at least two to three months beforehand, as the eggs that will eventually be retrieved are influenced by overall health during this period. She recommends “regular exercise, a nutritious diet, maintaining a healthy body weight, avoiding smoking and alcohol, and taking 5 mg of folic acid daily for around two months before egg retrieval.” While these measures support reproductive health, she stresses that age remains the single most important factor affecting egg quality.

How to count your egg reserve

An assessment of ovarian reserve, or the number of eggs (oocytes) remaining in a woman’s ovaries at a given point in time, is also an important part of preparation. “Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have—around 1 to 2 million at birth. By puberty, this falls to about 300,000 to 500,000, and the number continues to decline naturally with age. As women get older, not only does the quantity of eggs decrease, but so does their quality, increasing the risk of infertility and chromosomal abnormalities,” says Dr Malpani.

Doctors assess ovarian reserve with tests like the Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) test, a blood test that measures AMH, a hormone produced by small follicles in the ovaries. Higher AMH levels generally indicate a larger remaining egg supply, while lower levels suggest diminished ovarian reserve.

It’s important to note that ovarian reserve is not the same as fertility. A woman with a low ovarian reserve can still conceive naturally, while someone with a normal ovarian reserve may have difficulty becoming pregnant for other reasons. Ovarian reserve mainly helps predict how the ovaries are likely to respond to fertility treatments such as egg freezing or IVF, rather than whether a woman can become pregnant on her own. This distinction is why fertility specialists caution against interpreting an AMH result as a direct measure of fertility.

The process takes around two weeks

Egg freezing begins with hormone injections, usually started on the second day of the menstrual cycle. The medications stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs rather than the single egg released in a typical menstrual cycle.

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Over the next eight to twelve days, doctors closely monitor the ovaries through blood tests and ultrasound scans to track follicle development and determine the right time for egg retrieval. “Once the eggs are mature, a trigger injection is administered. About 36 hours later, the eggs are collected during a short procedure performed under sedation or anaesthesia. Using ultrasound guidance, a needle is passed through the vaginal wall into the ovaries to retrieve the eggs. The procedure generally takes 20 to 30 minutes, and most women are able to return home the same day,” says Dr Malpani.

The laboratory plays a crucial role

Dr Malpani emphasises that the quality of the embryology laboratory is one of the most important factors determining the success of egg freezing.

“Eggs are vulnerable to damage during freezing. Older slow-freezing techniques often resulted in ice crystal formation that could harm the eggs. Today, most fertility centres use vitrification, an ultra-rapid freezing method that minimises ice crystal formation and significantly improves the chances that eggs will survive thawing,” she says.

She advises women to ask clinics about their experience with vitrification, the expertise of their embryologists, laboratory accreditation, egg survival rates after thawing, and live birth outcomes rather than focusing only on the number of eggs frozen.

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Side effects are usually temporary but complications are possible

Most women tolerate the procedure well, although hormone stimulation commonly causes temporary bloating, abdominal discomfort, breast tenderness, headaches, fatigue and mood changes. “The most significant medical complication is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), in which the ovaries become enlarged and fluid may accumulate in the abdomen. While advances in fertility treatment have made severe OHSS uncommon, mild symptoms can still occur and require monitoring,” says Dr Malpani.

As with any medical procedure, egg retrieval also carries a small risk of bleeding, infection or injury to nearby organs, although serious complications are rare when the procedure is performed by experienced specialists.

Who should consider egg freezing?

Egg freezing may be particularly useful for women who plan to delay pregnancy because of education, career or personal circumstances. It is also recommended for women who are about to undergo chemotherapy or radiation, have endometriosis or other conditions that may affect ovarian reserve, or have a family history of early menopause.

Dr Malpani advises women not to view egg freezing as an emergency procedure undertaken in their late thirties. “Instead, she says, understanding one’s fertility early and making informed decisions while egg quality is still high offer the best chance of preserving future reproductive choices. So do it by your early 30s ideally,” she says.