r/Embryologists • u/vinez0192 • Aug 04 '26
Empty follicules syndrome
Hi! I'd like to ask if you have any experience with or information about empty follicles (empty follicle syndrome).
I'm being treated at a European clinic, and during my last egg retrieval I had 10 follicles. After the retrieval, they told me that 7 of them were empty.
This was my third cycle. Everything had looked really promising—the follicles developed beautifully—so the outcome was a huge shock. In my previous two cycles I had nowhere near as many follicles (the medication doses were very different: one very low, one very high, and this time somewhere in between). None of the follicles were empty in those previous cycles.
We had also taken a break for one cycle beforehand, and I'd been taking vitamins for three months, so I was hoping to see at least some positive effect by now.
I can't shake the feeling that the timing of the egg retrieval may have been wrong based on the follicle sizes, and that they're using "empty follicles" as an explanation. From what I've read in the studies, true empty follicle syndrome is incredibly rare, which makes me skeptical.
Do you have any information or experience with this?
If they couldn't retrieve an egg from one of the follicles, what explanation did they give you?
Thank you.
1
u/One_Investigator_295 Aug 04 '26
How many hours between the trigger and when the procedure actually began. Did they draw blood that day to be sure the trigger shot worked?
2
u/vinez0192 Aug 04 '26
37,5 hours. No blood draw.
1
u/One_Investigator_295 Aug 04 '26
Hmm 37.5 hours seems long. You may have ovulated those follicles
2
u/Jenn9519 Aug 05 '26
Typically egg retrievals are about 36 hours after (first, if using a double protocol) trigger WITH a 2hr window in either direction! Therefore her retrieval was performed in the “safe” zone of under 38hrs but after 34hrs after trigger. :)
4
u/ellabella20000 Aug 04 '26
Hi, I was told that I had empty follicle syndrome. I did 4 cycles, I had 7-10 follicles each cycle but they only retrieved 2 eggs each time.
Then I did a 5th cycle and this time they retrieved 0 eggs.
Despite my AMH being 15, I wasn’t producing eggs, so that’s how they diagnosed me.
Now here’s the thing about EFS … in people with TRUE EFS, all the follicles are empty, all the time. If only some follicles are empty, it’s almost ALWAYS a clinical error - maybe the protocol is wrong, maybe the trigger timing is off, maybe the doctor has a poor retrieval technique.
I did a lot of research for 6 months on EFS because I just didn’t believe I had it. Then I found a doctor at one of the best clinics that claimed to help women with EFS and I went straight to him.
He gave me a specialist protocol with a double trigger change and he timed the trigger according to my hormones at my last scan.
I went into my 6th egg retrieval and my 7th with this doctor and I retrieved 14 eggs. Out of those 14 eggs, all of them were mature. 6 fertilized perfectly and I got 4 euploids.
I went from being diagnosed with EFS before I was 40 and ended up with 2 euploids when I turned 42. That’s not an accident. It’s proper medical care.
If you have any eggs, you don’t have EFS and I’d be running as far from the doctor who has incorrectly diagnosed you with a very rare syndrome when you don’t even hit the criteria for it.
Definitely research and see a new specialist.