Myths Associated with IVF
Dr Sweta Gupta Clinical Director and Sr Consultant- Fertility Solutions, Medicover Fertility
Infertility is heart wrenching for couples. Its revelation thrashes their dreams of a family. Infertility specialists and IVF doctors state that In Vitro Fertilization is like finding an oasis after walking for hours in a dry and hot desert for infertile couples. It not just brings hope for them but is also very much capable of fulfilling their dreams of having a family more than once.
Unluckily, several doctors from the top surrogacy centres state that the poor potential IVF patients are left bereft of hope thanks to a plethora of myths thrown at them by their unaware and oblivious friends, family members, relatives and others about infertility and IVF.
There are few myths associated with IVF:
Myth 1: IVF can resolve all infertility issues there are many reproductive procedures which can help childless couple to conceive such as ovulation induction with medications, intra uterine insemination; etc through IVF women can also get pregnant so consult the doctor for that.
Myth 2: It is only for the rich. It is myth that IVF is so expensive to afford but it is cheaper than other surgeries and treatment.
Myth 3: IVF is only for young couples. IVF is not only for the young couples, Women who are above 35 can also get pregnant with IVF treatment. This procedure also effective for the women in post- menopause. Young females donate their eggs which can be used for older age females.
Myth 4: IVF has a 100% success rate. IVF depends on factors such as age, cause of fertility and biological and hormonal conditions. So the success story rate of IVF is 40% in couple’s age below 35.
Myth 5: IVF babies are born with birth defects and malformations. Babies born with IVF process are same as normal born babies. So risk of defect and malformation is low.
Myth 6: IVF is not safe. IVF is safe procedure. Only 2% of patients become unwell from ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome
Myth 8: IVF requires a person to be admitted to the hospital IVF does not require a person to be admitted to the hospital for many days. Patient only admitted for few hours during the process of egg collection.
Myth 10: IVF pregnancies result in cesarean births IVF leads to normal delivery as naturally conceived. Cesarean delivery can be done depending upon other medical conditions.
However, the good news is that experts from the best IVF hospitals claim that these myths are ridiculous and untrue.
Most of the potential patients of IVF believe these myths easily because they have impractical and unrealistic expectations with IVF. They think that they would get pregnant right in the first cycle. Not many couples conceive in the first cycle. They are required to go through several cycles before being successful. Hence, patients must expect realistically keeping an open mind and prepare themselves for failure too.
Many people believe that IVF is unnatural. Furthermore, they think that since nothing artificially done results in a good result, it’s the same with IVF too. Fortunately, IVF is anything but artificial. In fact, it mimics what happens naturally. Instead of the sperms reaching the uterus naturally, they are placed inside using a catheter in IUI or they are fertilized with the female’s eggs in a Petri Dish and transferred into the womb in the form of an embryo thereafter. Therefore, there is literally nothing artificial in the process that could result in abnormal or disabled babies. These abnormalities are dependent on the genes provided by the patents.
Thus, patients need to cease believing in such myths, accumulate sufficient knowledge about the process of IVF and go for it without hesitation.
