Illustration: Nica Patricio
What are doctors looking for"

Doctors can?t really tell if an egg is high or low quality simply by looking at it. There may be abnormalities, such as discolouration or open spaces in the eggs, but these irregularities may not affect the egg?s ability to be fertilized, says Robert Casper, a fertility specialist at Trio Fertility in Toronto.
All mature eggs are fertilized and the embryos are cultured for five days (until they reach the blastocyst stage). If the embryo makes it to the blastocyst stage, there is an estimated 50/50 chance that it will have normal chromosomes and result in a baby. ?What we?re really looking at is how the egg fertilizes and develops into an embryo,? says Casper. ?If the embryo implants, it doesn?t really matter what the egg looks like; it means the egg was normal and the quality was okay.? ?The primary determinant of egg quality over the course of a woman?s reproductive life is her chronological age,? says Ari Baratz, a fertility specialist at the Create Fertility Centre in Toronto. As women age, the quality of their eggs diminishes, and so do the chances of getting pregnant without assistance, he says. Typically, the peak of good-quality eggs is around the age of 25, with quality declining after the age of 35.
What matters more: quality or quantity"

Both quality and quantity matter. It?s possible that a woman could have difficulty conceiving if she has a large quantity of poor-quality eggs or a li...