Semen freezing is commonly called sperm banking or sperm freezing, where the preservation of sperm cells is done. It is the process of collecting, analyzing, freezing, and storing a man’s sperm for further treatments or donations to other couples. Semen freezing can also be used for transgender women during their hormone replacement process. It’s also called sperm freezing or sperm cryopreservation. The sperm can be thawed and used in the future for procedures such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) or in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Men use the process because some medical treatments can damage sperm quality, including cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, as well as some surgeries.
Sperm banking is the process of collecting, freezing, and storing sperm for a desired amount of time. Usually done by people who find themselves in high-risk jobs or going through chemotherapy, it allows them to have children even after their reproductive capabilities are lost.
Sperm is found in semen, a whitish fluid that comes out of the penis during ejaculation. One ejaculation can release up to 500 million sperm. If semen reaches the vagina, millions of sperm travel up through the cervix. If they meet an egg, sperm may fertilize it and cause pregnancy.
However, sperm doesn’t live outside the reproductive organs for long, meaning it needs to be frozen at very low temperatures to be preserved. Sperm banks usually store it at -196 degrees Celsius until the person decides to try fertilization.
Once the person has decided that it’s time to start a family, the sperm is thawed and introduced into the female body. This can be done through two methods: intrauterine insemination or in vitro fertilization. While pregnancy isn’t guaranteed, it can allow people who aren’t able to produce semen to have a biological child.
Sperm freezing is beneficial for couples who are suffering from cancer or who have career and lifestyle choices or who spend a lot of time away from their significant other. IVF or virto fertilization is a method that helps couples with fertility problems to have babies easily. It has been published in a recent study by PLOS ONE that the frozen sperm testicular biopsy is as good as a normal sperm pregnancy. In the process of semen freezing for IVF, first of all, an egg is removed from the woman’s ovary to make it fertilized with the man’s sperm. Then the fertilized egg is placed in the woman’s womb so that it can grow and develop.
However, if the man has a low sperm count or did not have any sperm in his semen at all, then with the help of a biopsy, the viable sperm has to be retrieved directly from the testicle. After that, it can be used directly for pregnancy or can be stored for the future.
Sperm freezing is a highly effective process as it has been done successfully since 1953 for people who want to preserve their fertility. However, many people want to know if sperm freezing is worth it or not?
Obviously, some sperms did not survive the freezing process because the survival of sperm does not cross over 50%. But if the sample is of high quality, you will definitely conceive a healthy baby. A survey has revealed that sperm did not lose its effectiveness after freezing and contains the same level of fertilization capacity just as fresh sperm. Therefore, we have no evidence to claim that frozen sperm will increase the risk of health issues for babies because it is the same as fresh sperm
