On Women’s Day, actor Akansha Ranjan Kapoor shared something deeply personal on Instagram. She revealed that she had recently frozen her eggs, describing the two-week process as “intense” but also a reminder of how extraordinary the female body truly is.
Her candid post spoke about daily hormone injections, scans, mood swings, bloating and finally surgery to retrieve the eggs. Yet the tone of her message was celebratory.
Akansha Ranjan Kapoor opens up on egg freezing
Akansha's Instagram caption reads, "Yesterday I froze my eggs!! I really didn’t plan on sharing, but today feels like the right day to say this…the female body is EXTRAORDINARY. The last two weeks were… intense. Injecting myself with fat needles every day, hormones doing their thing, the bloating, the mood swings, the endless scans, the meds, the IV drip, and finally the surgery. But all i wanna say is - women are BADASSES .. and how in awe i am of how wonderfully intelligent and capable our bodies are. The 2nd pic is from today- dressing for the job I want Athletic and getting back to my routine.. even though I could barely manage a 20-minute wobble around my building. But honestly, that felt like enough! Because this body just did something pretty amazing Happy Women’s Day"
Her experience sparked curiosity online about egg freezing, a fertility option more women are exploring today as they delay motherhood for career, personal, or health reasons. To understand what the process actually involves, fertility specialist Dr Anu Kathiresan, a board-certified fertility physician in Los Angeles, described the science of egg freezing and what women need to know.
What is Egg Freezing?
Egg freezing is a medical technique in which the eggs of a woman are collected from the ovary and stored for future use. The concept of egg freezing is simple. By freezing eggs during the younger years of a woman's life, the quality of the eggs is preserved. This will give her a better chance of pregnancy in the future.
However, experts in the field of fertility have described egg freezing as a method that will give a woman a chance to have a baby in the future. Egg freezing is not a guarantee of pregnancy.
Why does age play a crucial role
According to Dr Kathiresan, one of the most important factors in egg freezing is age. As women get older, both the number and quality of eggs decline. This is why many fertility specialists suggest considering egg freezing earlier rather than later. “Younger eggs tend to have higher chances of resulting in a healthy pregnancy,” she explains, adding that fertility outcomes vary greatly depending on a woman’s age at the time of freezing.
The first step: Checking ovarian reserve
Before the egg freezing process begins, the first thing to check is the ovarian reserve of the woman. This is the number of eggs in the woman's ovaries. There are two main tests to check the ovarian reserve:
AMH blood test
Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) is a hormone found in the ovarian follicles. The level of Anti-Müllerian Hormone in the blood is checked to estimate the available eggs in the woman's body.
Antral Follicle Count
Ultrasound is used to check the number of follicles in the ovary. A follicle is a small fluid-filled structure in the ovary that has the potential to contain an egg. Together, these tests give fertility specialists a starting point to predict how a patient may respond to the egg freezing process.
What the egg freezing process looks like
An egg freezing cycle usually takes about two weeks and involves several stages.
Hormone stimulation
Women inject fertility medications daily for around 8 to 12 days. These hormones stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs rather than the single egg typically released during a menstrual cycle. During this time, doctors monitor progress through blood tests and ultrasounds every few days.
Trigger shot
Once the follicles reach the right size, patients take a trigger injection that prepares the eggs for retrieval.
Egg retrieval procedure
The eggs are then collected about 35 to 36 hours later through a minor surgical procedure performed under anaesthesia. Using ultrasound guidance, doctors retrieve fluid from the follicles in the ovaries. Embryologists then examine the fluid under a microscope to identify the eggs. Patients usually learn the same day how many eggs were retrieved, and shortly after, how many of those eggs are mature enough to freeze.
Why the number of eggs matters
Not every egg collected becomes usable. Fertility specialists explain that there are several “hurdles” in the process.
For example:
- Not all follicles respond to medication
- Not every follicle has an egg
- Not all eggs retrieved are mature
In a typical example, the woman may start with 15 follicles, retrieve 11 eggs, but end up with 9 mature eggs for freezing.
How Frozen Eggs relate to the chances for future pregnancy
The number of eggs that are frozen is what influences the likelihood of pregnancy. Research shows that outcomes vary widely depending on age and the number of mature eggs stored. For example, Dr. Kathiresan explains that if a 34-year-old woman freezes nine mature eggs, it may translate to roughly a 50 per cent chance of one live birth. For women freezing eggs later in their 30s, the probability can decline because egg quality naturally decreases with age.
One cycle may not always be enough
Some women achieve their goal number of eggs in a single cycle, while others may choose to undergo multiple egg freezing cycles.
This depends on several factors, including:
- Age
- Ovarian reserve
- Desired number of children in the future
Even one cycle, however, can still create an opportunity for pregnancy that may not have existed otherwise. As fertility experts often remind patients, every woman’s journey is unique, and the best decisions are always made with personalised medical advice.
