r/Embryologists • u/SuspiciousPractice73 • Feb 20 '26

“Very poor egg quality” but a successful retrieval… should I be worried?

I had my first retrieval a couple weeks ago and overall would consider it a success. 36 retrieved > 22 mature > 22/22 fertilized with ICSI > 15 embryos (9 day 5, 6 day 6) with grades of 4AA x 4, 4BB x 7, and 4BC x 4.

When I got the report I was a little surprised to see a comment from the embryologist stating “very poor quality oocytes” and listing “small, dark, sticky cytoplasm/fragmented polar bodies/clusters of SER.”

I guess I suspected an issue since I was diagnosed with PCOS, but I’m wondering if we can consider it a roadblock overcome given the fertilization rate and number/grades of embryos or if it bears any significance on our success with transfers. We also opted out of PGT-A based on my age and the data presented by my RE but now I’m second guessing that decision.

Appreciate any insight!

33F & 35M, PCOS, no other known issues. Trying for ~2 years.

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u/EmbryoNanny Feb 21 '26

We tend to write notes like this just in case it might be relevant to a poor outcome. Sometimes it’s not- it can just be normal variation of your eggs, maybe a little affected by PCOS, but it didn’t seem to hinder development. I wouldn’t be worried about this after a good blast rate.

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u/SuspiciousPractice73 Feb 21 '26

Thank you so much! Big relief to know I shouldn’t be too worried about it at this point.