Women’s Month 2024 Feature – Fertility Clinic Treatments for Women
August is Women’s Month in South Africa, a time to pay tribute to women and to recognise their unique and extensive contribution to the world, which encompasses bringing the next generation into the world.
Women’s Day is also an opportunity to raise awareness of issues that affect women, such as infertility. This year, our Medfem Fertility Clinic team want to highlight the good news that infertility among women can be very successfully treated in most cases, thanks to a wide range of infertility treatments that are available right here in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Having been part of welcoming more than 18,000 babies into the world, our team at Medfem Fertility Clinic have a deep understanding of just how valuable women and their unique contributions are.
As a result, we are passionate about contributing to raising awareness of issues that affect women.
Women’s Month is a great opportunity to do this, and this year our team at Medfem Fertility Clinic would like to raise awareness of the fact that although infertility is affecting growing numbers of women today, there are fertility treatments readily available, and these have helped millions of women to have the families they would not be able to have otherwise.
Below, we provide a brief overview of some of the many treatments for women experiencing infertility, proudly offered at Medfem Fertility Clinic.
Endometriosis treatment – endometriosis is a known cause of infertility, however, well established and effective medications and surgical treatments are available. At Medfem Fertility Clinic, endometriosis in infertility patients is treated with specific protocols with superior success rates. Every effort is made to prevent deterioration of ovarian reserve or damage to healthy ovarian tissue.
Fibroid surgery – uterine fibroids are common, non-cancerous growths and often appear during childbearing years. Surgery for uterine tumours can involve removing the entire uterus – known as a hysterectomy, or removing only the fibroids, called a myomectomy.
Congenital uterine anomalies treatment – both congenital and acquired uterine abnormalities are significant causes of infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss, and can create difficulties in carrying a pregnancy to term. The doctors at Medfem Fertility Clinic are experts in the diagnosis and treatment of uterine anomalies, using advanced imaging techniques.
Ovulation induction – a treatment protocol designed to increase the number of eggs that a woman ovulates in a cycle. Ovulation induction aims to stimulate just a couple of eggs in women who are not ovulating normally (whereas ovarian stimulation for IVF and ICSI aims to produce many eggs for collection). The treatment is most often used in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), and involves a course of fertility hormones to stimulate the ovaries, followed by timed intercourse or Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) to coincide with ovulation.
Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) – painless and completed in a few minutes, this technique places sperm from a male partner or from a sperm donor directly into the uterus. IUI has become the most commonly used fertility treatment for lesbian and single women and is also used in cases where the male partner has a mild sperm abnormality or anti-sperm antibodies.
In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) – originally developed for women with damaged or missing fallopian tubes, IVF has been the standard treatment for infertility since 1983. In the simplest terms, IVF treatment is a process of assisted reproduction where the egg and sperm are fertilised outside of the body to form an embryo, which is then transferred to the uterus to hopefully implant and become a pregnancy.
Low Dose IVF – a gentle alternative of ovarian stimulation to traditional IVF, using oral ovulation induction agents and/or low doses of hormones to induce the growth of a small number of eggs. The process is identical to traditional IVF, except that the goal is to create only a few but high-quality embryos.
Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) – In this procedure, a single sperm is directly injected into the egg. ICSI is usually offered to couples who have had poor or no fertilisation during standard IVF, or when fertilisation is less likely to occur with routine IVF. To date, tens of thousands of children have been born around the world as the result of ICSI.
Egg donation – some couples face difficulties conceiving because of an egg factor, for example the female patient’s eggs cannot be used to create healthy embryos. Medfem Fertility Clinic’s egg donation program ensures the process is confidential, safe and effective.
Blastocyst culture – pregnancy rates are greatly improved if embryos are left in the incubator to develop longer to their blastocyst stage, usually by five days old, when they have many more cells. Embryo monitoring and assessment allows our embryologists to determine whether a three-day old embryo transfer or a five-day old blastocyst transfer is more suitable.
Embryo testing – Embryos have traditionally been chosen according to their appearance under the microscope, but high-tech methods now allow embryo screening for genetic and chromosomal information. This allows us to select high-grade embryos for transfer, reducing the risk of pregnancy failure and improving the chances of having a healthy baby.
Assisted hatching – a small break can be made in the shell of an embryo improve the chances of it implanting into the lining of the uterus, where it may become a pregnancy. This is used in cases such as advanced reproductive age, decreased ovarian reserve, thickened zona and prior implantation failure.
Egg freezing – many factors could impact a woman’s future ability to conceive, including advanced maternal age (35+), planned surgery to remove the ovaries, chemotherapy or radiation or medication that can damage eggs, or genetic causes of rapidly decreasing egg numbers. Egg freezing is a breakthrough technology that allows women to freeze and store their eggs until a pregnancy is desired, at which time the eggs are thawed, fertilised and transferred to the uterus as embryos.
Embryo freezing and Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) – these treatments allow for the storage of embryos for an indefinite amount of time. With modern freezing techniques and greater experience, results from the transfer of frozen/thawed embryos are very good, and can significantly add to the likelihood of pregnancy. Frozen embryo transfers can be performed in either stimulated or unstimulated cycles.
Surrogacy – an arrangement in which a woman carries and delivers a child for another (commissioning) couple or person. Traditional surrogacy is when a woman (called a surrogate mother) carries and delivers a pregnancy conceived with her eggs for a couple. After the birth she gives the child to the intended parents with whom she has a contract. Gestational carrier surrogacy is when a woman (called a gestational carrier) becomes pregnant after an embryo is transferred into her uterus. The embryo was created from another woman’s eggs, and so the gestational carrier is not genetically related to the child. After birth, she gives the child to the biological mother and/or father.
Where to find the right fertility clinic for women
Getting the right treatment will ensure you have the very best chance of becoming pregnant. One or more of the treatments detailed may be included in your fertility treatment plan, depending on your unique circumstances.
An important component of getting the right treatment is choosing the right fertility clinic – one that is properly accredited and is home to qualified and experienced specialists; along with cutting-edge facilities; advanced technologies and a full range of treatments to achieve leading success rates.
At Medfem Fertility Clinic we believe in helping you reach your family dream through:
If you would like to meet one of our fertility specialists at Medfem Fertility Clinic, simply click here to book an initial consultation or contact us telephonically on +27 (11) 463 2244.
Our Fertility Specialists can also meet with You During a Virtual Consultation Via Zoom or Skype. Click here to book a virtual consultation now.