# Can the embryologist tell if eggs are good or not ?



## madison

Hi,

    From things I have read, the embryologist can tell if the eggs are good ones but 
    can they ?? 

      Do eggs that are bad look different ? A different shape of something ?

    In one of my other clinics the embryologist implied they cant tell but another one said once
    that my eggs looked good cos they had nice thin shells & normally in older women the shells
    are thicker ??

      Would be grateful if you could let me know because when I have EC this time it would be
      nice to know if she thinks the eggs look good or not & if they can actually tell without seeing
      what type of embies they make because then you wouldnt know if it was the egg or the sperm
      would you ?

      Thank you again  

      Katy. x


----------



## CrystalW

madison said:


> Hi,
> 
> From things I have read, the embryologist can tell if the eggs are good ones but
> can they ??
> 
> Do eggs that are bad look different ? A different shape of something ?
> 
> In one of my other clinics the embryologist implied they cant tell but another one said once
> that my eggs looked good cos they had nice thin shells & normally in older women the shells
> are thicker ??
> 
> Would be grateful if you could let me know because when I have EC this time it would be
> nice to know if she thinks the eggs look good or not & if they can actually tell without seeing
> what type of embies they make because then you wouldnt know if it was the egg or the sperm
> would you ?
> 
> Thank you again
> 
> Katy. x


Hello Katy,

To be honest, its a mixed answer. Looking down the microscope we can see if the eggs look too big/too small mis-shapen or dark and if the zona looks thick.

Eggs that dont look too good dont tend to do that well but whether they fertilise and how the embryos look is something we count as much more significant as what we can see down the microscope is not the whole story and we cant tell the genetic content of the eggs just by looking at them.

Its a bit like - a box of cereal - if the packaging looks crushed and not so good then the contents stand a reasonable chance of not being so good but sometimes they would be ok. If the packaging is perfect, you hope the contents are ok but its not always the case. A strange analogy i know but it makes sense!

When we do egg collections the eggs are surrounded by cells so it is not unless we do ICSI or until we do a fert check with IVF that we can look at the eggs a bit more.

We tend to make notes about egg quality through a cycle but often the egg quality is most reliably expected according to maternal age and there is no way from just looking at the majority of eggs( occasionaly we see very abnormal eggs but these are rare) to know if there could be a viable pregnancy.

Hope this answers your question.


----------



## madison

Hi,

  That was a great answer thank you, I understand with the way you explained, I can at least ask
  next time if they looked good from what they can tell as obviously you can see if they are not good
  more easily than if they are.. Ie.. thick Zona, mis-shapen etc..

  I have always asked if the eggs look ok & they say yes but I have never asked if them mean, yes for 
  you age.. or just yes  

  I will see if I can see the embryologist after EC to ask but I know thats not always possible as they are
  busy.

    Thank you again

    Katy. x


----------

