The woman of today is educated, claims important positions in the labor market and is financially independent. In other words, the contemporary woman is taking her life in her hands! But can this new multifaceted role she has, coexist harmoniously with her traditional role of becoming a mother? What happens when the priorities and requirements of her new role, force her to postpone motherhood for later, say at ages over 40?

Fertility after 40: It is known that time significantly affects female fertility, which gradually decreases after the age of 35 and more steeply after 40. This decline is a natural process and affects all women to a lesser or a greater extent.
It has been estimated that the probability of natural conception post the age of 40 is about 5%. Scientific data show that the reduced possibility of achieving a pregnancy is related mainly to changes taking place and affecting the quality and dynamics of the oocytes and less on issues related to the endometrium.
Prevention: Women who need to postpone their dream of creating a family, because circumstances in their lives impose them to do so, can proceed in cryopreserving their own oocytes.
In doing so, they are protecting a group of oocytes from the effects of time, in order to use them later on, at ages where fertility is significantly reduced. This procedure, called Fertility Preservation is applied successfully since 2008. However, the efficiency depends directly on the fertility level during the treatment process.

Action: Women aged over 40 who have not had the opportunity of preserving their fertility and wish to have a child, should proceed immediately!
With the guidance of reproduction specialists, they need to assess both theirs and their partner’s fertility. Depending on the data, they need to organize a plan, as soon as possible, before fertility is further burdened and thus, the probability of them conceiving!

Efficacy: The efficacy of assisted reproduction techniques depends directly on the quality and quantity of oocytes produced. Unfortunately, it is common in this age group to have a low ovarian reserve or even have disturbances in their quality, so the chance of pregnancy after an IVF cycle hardly reaches 30%.

How to improve the prognosis rates: For women with low ovarian reserve, modern techniques enable oocyte collection, so that sufficient number of embryos will increase their chance of a positive outcome through embryo or oocyte selection procedures.
For women with a good ovarian reserve, Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGS) allows us to identify chromosomically healthy embryos and thus transfer only the healthy ones!
Optimization of their lifestyle, at all levels, through weight control, smoke reduction, vitamin intake as well as sport participation, can improve the endogenous fertility and lead to better results!

Sperm donation: This option is for women without a partner who wish to have a child or couples facing severe male infertility. In each case, an estimate of the woman’s fertility is made and according to the data, the most appropriate method of assisted reproduction is suggested, using sperm donation from an approved sperm bank.

Egg donation: In the cases where very low fertility is detected or previously unsuccessful IVF attempts have taken place, egg donation is a valid option, giving a woman the opportunity to experience motherhood with very good chances of a successful pregnancy!

Embryo donation: Embryo donation seems to be a very effective and endearing choice, either for single women with very low fertility levels, or for couples, who simultaneously face severe infertility issues.

The new social data pose many challenges to the modern woman, who has to reconcile her new role to the traditional one. And while this may seem a stalemate at times, it is certain that no woman is willing to sacrifice one role in favor of the other! So motherhood is now in the hands of women, who are called to preserve it. And if they cannot experience it at high fertility ages, they can surely take all the preventive actions in order to ensure it for later on in their lives!