Does IVF lead to premature menopause by using up more eggs in one cycle?
IVF does not lead to premature menopause. The multiple eggs produced as a result of an IVF cycle are eggs the woman would have wasted normally in a natural cycle. As such, IVF salvages more eggs that a woman would not normally have. All women are born with a finite number of eggs. They are held in the ovaries in a primitive state. In a natural cycle, the woman’s body selects a crop of 10 to 30 primitive eggs to start the ovulation process. These eggs start growing under hormonal influence, but ultimately, only one egg reaches the mature stage and is ovulated. All the other 10 to 30 eggs get to “half way” and “die off” so that in a natural cycle, only one egg is ovulated. In an IVF cycle, the control is temporarily taken over by the IVF drugs so that we “salvage” as many of the “half way” eggs as possible and get them to the mature stage. This is why the IVF process “salvages” more eggs and does not “use up” what the woman would normally have.
Posted in: Common Queries Regarding Fertility