Rebecca Ejifoma
A renowned fertility expert and Managing Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, has urged unmarried ladies in their early 30s to consider freezing their eggs in order to sustain quality of eggs.
The expert made this recommendation during a visual conference with newsmen in Lagos on the topic: “Fertility After 40 Years”.
He expressed worries that while a woman who is age 30 has about 20 to 25 per cent chance to conceive, it is about five per cent chance in women who are over 40 years having chromosomally abnormal babies.
Ajayi emphasised: “When we talk about down syndrome and chromosomal abnormality, they are mostly associated with women over 40.
“For instance, a woman aged 30 has one in 385 chances of having a chromosomally abnormal baby. But it is about 21 in 66 chances with a woman who is aged 40.”
He, therefore, cautioned against women who wait until after age 40 to have children, saying that it is better to try to conceive as early as possible as she can raise a family.
While clarifying that not all women will experience this, he acknowledged the possibility of a woman in her 40s to conceive naturally but 50 per cent of them won’t succeed.
His words: “The chance of chromosomal abnormalities is higher. Also, about 50 per cent of these women will lose their pregnancy, because they are considered to be a high risk pregnancy due to pre-eclampsia, diabetes, hypertension, and placenta accident among others.”
He implored unmarried women in their 30s to think about freezing her eggs long before getting to the stage where she would use donor eggs.
“Eggs frozen will still be viable at any time she wants to use them. The oldest eggs frozen were 17 years and it was still viable at the time they were used,” says Ajayi.
Ajayi questioned: “If you wait till you are 35 years old to conceive, the quality of your eggs will drop. While you want to be financially and morally stable before having children, who will you spend the money on if you can’t have children?”
He enjoined women not to put themselves in such a situation, which he described as a stage of uncertainty.
“IVF may not save you once you are 40 years and above, because the law that applies to conceiving in the natural way, also applies to IVF,” says the MD.
Meanwhile, the expert said that the men are not completely spared. “As a man reaches about age 45, the sperm count starts having changes that will reduce his chances of fathering a child.”
