Women who freeze their eggs need to be aware of the “relatively low success rates” of becoming pregnant, a leading gynaecologist has said. With more women freezing eggs past the age of 35, when chances of conceiving fall, Prof Adam Balen said: “Egg freezing does not guarantee a baby.” However, Dr Jara Ben Nagi says freezing can help single women wait until they meet the right partner to have a baby. She said women should not be pressured into a relationship to get pregnant. Two groups of experts have been debating the benefits and risks associated with social egg freezing and IVF treatment for women in their late 30s in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Prof Balen, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “Success rates for egg freezing have improved significantly in recent years, so offer an opportunity for women to freeze their eggs for social reasons if they’re not ready to have children yet. “While women should be supported in their choices, they must be informed about the relatively low success rates, high costs and side-effects. “Women should also be aware that in the UK the storage limit for eggs frozen for social reasons is currently limited to 10 years.” He warned that women should speak to a reproductive specialist and choose an experienced clinic to visit; adding that the best time to freeze eggs is in a woman’s early 20s and certainly under the age of 37. However, Dr Ben Nagi, from the Centre for Reproductive and Genetic Health, and her colleagues argue that the preservation of eggs offers more time for single women to find a relationship and gives them hope at a time that their pregnancy chances may be receding. They point out that in a study of 1,382 women who underwent social egg freezing, 120 returned to use their eggs after an average time of just over two years and that 45 of 95 women who were single at the time came back when they had a partner. They add that the survival rate of the frozen egg using the new vitrification method was 85%, with pregnancy rates of 27% – similar to a 23% success rate for IVF in women aged 35 to 37. They said: “Women should no longer be punished with childlessness for not finding a partner, nor should they feel pressured into a relationship because of their declining ovarian reserve.”