Egg Freezing: Dr. Kettel on NBC takes "An Inside Look at Freezing Eggs"
(San Diego, California – 11/24/14) Dr. Michael Kettel, a leading fertility expert at the San Diego Fertility Center, recently appeared on NBC to discuss egg freezing as a viable and increasingly accessible fertility preservation option. Egg freezing has been trending in the news recently, with new company benefits at Facebook and Apple now covering this expensive procedure for women.
“(The companies) see it as a way to take care of the women who are on a career hot path.” Says Dr. Kettel.
Up until a few weeks ago, egg freezing was never covered by insurance or company healthcare benefits and required a significant financial investment from women and couples. But with the latest developments in benefit offerings for women – and with many women delaying starting a family until their thirties – things are starting to change.
“We see it all the time.” Says Dr. Kettel. “A week doesn’t go by before a woman will come in and ask about their options.”
Egg freezing is a fairly simple process that is accessible to women of all childbearing ages, although younger women generally have higher success rates due to the age of their ovaries at the time of freezing. To prepare for the egg freezing, Dr. Kettel administers fertility drugs to stimulate the ovaries to produce more eggs. Then he performs a minor surgical procedure under light anesthesia to retrieve them—there are no incisions and the procedure is over in about 20 minutes. Once frozen, the eggs will last indefinitely.
Dr. Kettel is a leader in the fields of Reproductive Endocrinology and Obstetrics & Gynecology, and is part of an elite group of physicians who is certified as a High Complexity Laboratory Director and also has additional expertise in Human Embryology and Andrology. Dr. Kettel is one of the five practicing Reproductive Endocrinologists at San Diego Fertility Center. Dr. Hummel founded the center in the early 1990’s. Dr. Susanna Park, Dr. Sandy Chuan and Dr. Jeffrey Rakoff have joined the center in the last 5 years. The San Diego Fertility Center has locations in Del Mar and Mission Valley, in San Diego County and in Temecula California in Riverside County.
Dr. Kettel and his partners offer a personalized approach to treatment that is built on decades of experience with fertility drugs, artificial insemination, and In-Vitro Fertilization. Today he is actively involved in clinical research trials that are exploring new ways to enhance success in IVF, ovulation induction and adhesion prevention, and he is also examining preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) as a new system for selecting the best embryos.
Dr. Kettel says that although he started freezing embryos in 1989, the ability to freeze eggs wasn’t possible even five years ago. Now the procedure is readily available, is no longer considered experimental, and saves healthy eggs for an indefinite amount of time. So women today have more options than ever when it comes to starting families on their own terms.
About San Diego Fertility Center
Located in Southern California, San Diego Fertility Center (SDFC) is an internationally recognized fertility treatment center. SDFC’s infertility specialists are named among the top fertility doctors by a variety of publications, and are leaders in IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization), egg donation, egg freezing, ICSI, male infertility and PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis).
SDFC’s passion is to encourage fertility clinic patients to hold on to their dreams by creating miracles every day. They are also committed to offering cutting edge technology in a private and personal environment using intelligence, integrity, and innovation. The center is easily accessible from local communities including La Jolla and Encinitas or points further like Murrieta and Temecula. SDFC also welcomes out-of-state patients and provides fertility tourism and fertility travel accommodations for patients all over the world.
