UK Doctor Offers Women 'Life-Changing' Surgery

Simon Fishel pioneers new treatment to delay menopause
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 4, 2019 3:30 PM CDT
'Life-Changing' Procedure Lets Women Have Kids Later in Life: Report
Stock image.   (Getty Images)

A fertility expert in Britain is offering a procedure that purports to fend off menopause and let women have children later in life, the Guardian reports. A company formed by Simon Fishel, who developed IVF, offers the procedure to women until they're around 40. It sounds simple: Doctors fool women's biological clocks by removing ovarian tissue, keeping it frozen in an ice bank, and retransplanting it years later. The company, ProFam, says the retransplant revs up women's natural hormones and keeps menopause from occurring in its usual time frame. "One of the reasons for the rising infertility rates is that women are not thinking about having babies until their 30s," Fishel tells the Telegraph.

"If this procedure allows women to nail a career and feel that burden taken off their shoulders, and if by 40 they still want a baby but are not able to have their own naturally, they can go back to their tissue which they froze at 30," he adds. If successful, it also means menopause symptoms—everything from hot flashes to more serious issues, like heart conditions—can be kept at bay. Nine women ages 22 to 36 have had the surgery so far, and Dixie-Louise Dexter, who did it partly to prevent premature menopause, seems satisfied: "Being able to delay the menopause has been life-changing," she tells the Sunday Times. The 30-minute operation costs about $3,500 to $8,500 and another $4,800 for the retransplant, per the Daily Mail. (More women's health stories.)

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