Egg Freezing in Shrewsbury, NJ | Damien Fertility Partners
Egg freezing volume in the United States has grown substantially over the past decade, driven in part by expanded insurance coverage and improved vitrification outcomes. In New Jersey specifically, 5.6% of all infants born in 2022 were conceived through assisted reproductive technology, the second-highest state rate in the country behind Massachusetts.
Patients considering egg freezing in Monmouth County often want to know three things before they book a first visit: how many eggs they’re likely to need, what the physical process involves, and how long it will take before they can return to normal life. Age at the time of retrieval is one of the largest known factors in future success.
We’ve provided fertility treatment across New Jersey since 1989, when our founding physicians launched the first IVF program in Monmouth and Ocean County, originally under the name East Coast IVF. Our Shrewsbury office houses a CAP-accredited embryology laboratory and offers egg freezing as part of our fertility preservation services, with the same physician overseeing every monitoring visit and retrieval from your first consultation forward.
Request a consultation to discuss whether egg freezing fits your timeline and goals.
Patients Who Consider Egg Freezing
Patients pursue egg freezing for medical and elective reasons, and the two paths differ in urgency and, often, in insurance treatment.
Medical (Iatrogenic) Preservation
Patients facing chemotherapy, radiation, or other treatments that threaten ovarian reserve freeze eggs beforehand to preserve future options. New Jersey’s fertility insurance mandate, expanded in 2024, broadened coverage eligibility by removing prior restrictions tied to age, relationship status, and orientation.
Elective (Planned) Preservation
Patients without a medical diagnosis freeze eggs to extend their reproductive timeline, often in their early-to-mid thirties, before age-related decline in egg quantity and quality accelerates.
Diminished Ovarian Reserve
Patients who receive an early low-AMH or low-antral-follicle-count result sometimes freeze eggs sooner than planned, on the recommendation of a reproductive endocrinologist, to preserve remaining reserve.
LGBTQ+ Patients and Single Parents by Choice
Egg freezing also serves patients whose path to parenthood doesn’t follow a traditional medical timeline. We provide dedicated LGBTQ+ family-building support, including reciprocal IVF for female couples and gestational carrier arrangements for male couples, and separate services for singles pursuing parenthood independently.
For all of these patients, egg freezing is a way to preserve options on their own schedule rather than a schedule dictated by circumstance.
The Egg Freezing Process, Step by Step
The clinical steps mirror the early stages of IVF, with the process ending at retrieval rather than continuing to fertilization and transfer.
Baseline testing. We assess ovarian reserve through AMH bloodwork and an antral follicle count ultrasound, typically within the first cycle day or two. This establishes an expected response to stimulation medication before treatment begins, and it’s often the visit where a patient gets their first personalized sense of how many eggs a single cycle might yield.
Ovarian stimulation. Injectable medications prompt the ovaries to develop multiple follicles over approximately 8 to 14 days. Patients return for monitoring visits every two to three days so we can adjust medication dosing in response to follicle growth. Most patients continue working and managing normal routines during this stretch, with visits scheduled around morning availability.
Trigger shot and retrieval. Once follicles reach target size, a trigger shot completes final egg maturation roughly 36 hours before retrieval. The retrieval itself is a short outpatient procedure performed under sedation, typically lasting 15 to 20 minutes.
Vitrification. Mature eggs are frozen using vitrification, a rapid-freeze technique that largely replaced slow-freeze methods after the American Society for Reproductive Medicine removed the experimental label from oocyte cryopreservation in 2013. Frozen eggs can remain viable in storage for an extended period, with no established upper limit based on storage duration alone.
Recovery After Egg Retrieval
Most patients return to normal activity within a day or two of retrieval. Mild bloating, cramping, or spotting is common in the days following the procedure as the ovaries settle after stimulation. We ask patients to avoid strenuous exercise for a short window afterward, and our care team is reachable for questions during that recovery period.
Egg Numbers Should Be Personalized by Age and Ovarian Response
There is no single number of eggs that guarantees a future live birth. The number a given patient may want to preserve depends on several factors, particularly age at freezing and the number of mature oocytes obtained during retrieval.
The Absence of a Universal Egg Number Target
There is insufficient evidence to counsel women of various ages on the absolute number of oocytes necessary to achieve a reasonable probability of a live birth after planned oocyte cryopreservation, according to ASRM’s 2021 practice guideline. Oocyte efficiency decreases with increasing age, but data remain limited on the optimal number of oocytes needed for planned freezing.
Research Findings
Within a single cohort study reviewed in that guideline, researchers estimated that reaching a 70% chance of one live birth would require cryopreserving 14 mature oocytes for women aged 30–34, 15 for women aged 35–37, and 26 for women aged 38–40.
These figures come from one institution’s outcomes and a relatively small patient population, so we present them as directional estimates rather than fixed targets for any individual.
The Role of Ovarian Reserve Testing
Ovarian reserve tests such as AMH and antral follicle count don’t independently forecast the odds of a future live birth, but they remain useful for a different reason: ovarian reserve testing predicts the number of oocytes a patient is likely to produce in a stimulation cycle. That number, combined with age, is what shapes a realistic, personalized conversation about whether one cycle is likely to be enough or whether a second cycle could add meaningful options.
Consultation in Individualized Planning
Because no formula applies universally, we walk through your specific AMH level, antral follicle count, and age together, then talk through what a realistic range looks like for one cycle versus two. Some patients complete a single retrieval; others choose to bank across two cycles before storage, particularly if the first retrieval yields fewer mature eggs than anticipated.
CAP-Accredited Embryology Lab and AI-Assisted Monitoring
Egg freezing outcomes depend heavily on laboratory technique, since vitrification and later thaw survival are handled entirely by the embryology team. Our laboratory holds accreditation from the College of American Pathologists, the FDA, and the New Jersey State Department of Health, each with zero deficiencies. Our lab operates under the direction of Frank Barnes, PhD, HCLD, our Laboratory Director.
CHLOE and AI-Assisted Monitoring
During the stimulation phase, we use CHLOE™, an AI-powered monitoring system developed by Fairtility, built into our embryoscope time-lapse incubators. The incubator maintains a stable, undisturbed environment while CHLOE continuously tracks development, which supports more consistent assessment than manual observation alone and gives patients a detailed visual record to review with their physician.
Board-Certified Physicians in Monmouth County
Every egg freezing patient at our Shrewsbury office works with the same physician from initial consultation through retrieval. Our team includes two reproductive endocrinologists, both board-certified in reproductive endocrinology and infertility by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Miguel Damien
Dr. Damien founded the practice in 1989 after training at Dartmouth Medical School, completing his OB/GYN residency at Harvard Medical School, and holding REI fellowships at both Harvard and the University of Connecticut. He is fluent in Spanish, and Castle Connolly has named him a Top Doctor in the NY Metro Area six times (2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2017, 2018).
Dr. Barry Perlman
Dr. Perlman joined the practice in 2023, board-certified in REI with clinical interests in PCOS, ovarian aging, male factor infertility, and fertility preservation specifically. He has published peer-reviewed research in ASRM’s Fertility and Sterility journal.
The Importance of Continuity of Care
Continuity of care means the physician who reviews your baseline testing is the same one adjusting your medication dosing, performing your retrieval, and discussing your results afterward. This contrasts with larger regional networks, where patients may see a rotating group of physicians across monitoring visits.
We also report outcomes to SART using standardized definitions, which allows patients to compare our results against national averages by age group.
The Future Use of Frozen Eggs
Frozen eggs remain in storage until a patient is ready to attempt pregnancy, whether that’s one year later or considerably longer.
Thawing and Fertilization
When a patient returns to use stored eggs, the lab thaws (warms) the vitrified oocytes, and eggs that survive warming are fertilized through intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) as part of an IVF cycle. Not every warmed egg survives thaw, fertilizes, or develops into a transferable embryo, which is part of why the number of eggs frozen matters more than any single data point about age alone.
Genetic Testing as an Option
Patients who develop multiple embryos from a thaw cycle can choose to add preimplantation genetic testing before transfer, the same way they could with embryos created from a fresh IVF cycle.
Cost, Insurance, and Financing in New Jersey
Coverage for egg freezing depends on whether the indication is medical or elective, and on employer plan size.
Insurance Coverage for Egg Freezing
New Jersey’s fertility insurance mandate, first enacted in 2001 and expanded in 2024, requires group health insurance policies covering 50 or more employees to cover up to four completed egg retrievals per lifetime for patients who meet medical necessity criteria. The 2024 expansion removed prior restrictions tied to age, marital status, and sexual orientation, broadening who qualifies under the mandate.
Out-of-Pocket Costs for Egg Freezing
Elective egg freezing is typically not covered. A single cycle in the tri-state area generally runs in the range of several thousand dollars plus medication, and costs vary based on protocol and how many cycles are needed to reach a target egg count.
Financing and Medication Assistance
For patients financing treatment, we offer CapexMD financing with 24-hour pre-approval. Our insurance and financial resources page also outlines medication discount programs through EMD Serono’s Compassionate Care Program and Merck’s patient assistance program, which can offset a meaningful portion of medication costs for eligible patients.
Our bilingual Insurance Verification Specialist works with patients in Spanish and English to clarify coverage before treatment begins.
Egg Freezing at Our Shrewsbury Office
Our Shrewsbury office, located in Monmouth County, has offered fertility treatment since 1989, when our physicians launched the first IVF program in the Monmouth and Ocean County region. Egg freezing patients here work with Dr. Damien or Dr. Perlman from consultation through retrieval, supported by a CAP-accredited laboratory and CHLOE-assisted embryo monitoring. Patients throughout Monmouth County, as well as those traveling from our Newark (Essex County) and Jersey City (Hudson County) locations, can be seen at any of our three offices. New patients can review how a first visit works before scheduling.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is egg freezing?
Egg freezing, or oocyte cryopreservation, is a procedure in which eggs are retrieved after ovarian stimulation and preserved through vitrification for potential future use in IVF.
How many eggs should I freeze?
There’s no universal target. Age at retrieval and ovarian reserve both shape the estimate, and even the most cited research on this question describes projections, not guarantees. We review your AMH and antral follicle count to give you a personalized estimate before your first cycle.
How long does the egg freezing process take?
From baseline testing through retrieval, most patients complete one cycle in approximately two to three weeks, though timing depends on individual response to stimulation medication.
Is egg freezing painful?
Most patients describe the stimulation phase as manageable, with mild bloating being the most common side effect. Retrieval is performed under sedation, so patients are not awake for the procedure itself, and post-retrieval discomfort is typically mild and short-lived.
How is egg freezing different from embryo freezing?
Egg freezing preserves unfertilized eggs, while embryo freezing preserves eggs that have already been fertilized with sperm and developed into embryos. Egg freezing keeps future options open without requiring a sperm source at the time of freezing, which is part of why it appeals to patients freezing electively or without a current partner.
Does insurance cover egg freezing in New Jersey?
Coverage depends on the indication. Medically necessary fertility preservation is covered under New Jersey’s mandate for group plans of 50 or more employees; elective preservation is generally not covered. Our insurance and financial resources page has more detail.
Do you offer egg freezing consultations in Spanish?
Yes. Dr. Damien is fluent in Spanish, and our practice maintains a Spanish-language site and bilingual staff, including our Insurance Verification Specialist.
Can I do a virtual consultation before starting egg freezing?
Yes, virtual consultations are available with Dr. Perlman for patients who want to discuss candidacy and timing before their first in-office visit.
Ready to Talk Through Your Timeline
Egg freezing decisions rarely come down to a single data point. Age, ovarian reserve, cost, and personal timing all factor in differently for every patient, which is why we build the conversation around your specific numbers rather than a generic recommendation. Our Shrewsbury office has supported patients across Monmouth and Ocean counties since 1989, and that same continuity of care extends to our Newark and Jersey City locations for patients who find those offices more convenient.
Request a consultation with Dr. Damien or Dr. Perlman to discuss whether egg freezing fits your timeline and goals.