In the 11th episode of The Record of the Western World, “An inch of time is worth an inch of gold, and an inch of gold can’t buy you an inch of time. An inch of gold can’t buy you an inch of time. The gold is still there, but where can you find the time in the past?” Even in modern times, reading the poems of the late Tang poet Wang Zhenbai still resonates with the poet’s sentiments. The poet’s moral could not be more relevant than in the context of a woman’s “reproductive period” (time). A woman’s “fertile period” actually refers to the time when her ovaries are able to produce eggs capable of fertilizing and forming an embryo. It can be said that the “fertile period” of a woman is the “working life of the ovaries”. A woman’s “fertile time” ranges from the onset of menstruation to sexual maturity (known in Chinese medicine as “tian kui maturity”) to menopause and menopause (known in Chinese medicine as “tian kui gradual decline”), that is, the failure of the ovaries, which seems to be more than 20 years to 20 years. It seems to be more than 20 to 30 years, but in fact, most people in about 35 years of age, ovarian function began to decline, menopause about 10 years before the fertility has declined significantly. The legal age of marriage for women in mainland China is 20 years old, and the average age of menopause for Chinese women is 48-49 years old, which means that Chinese women have about 18-20 years of “fertile time” after marriage, and the optimal time for fertility is about 15 years. This period of reproductive time is not too long and not too short. Years are like water, and they pass without a sound. Modern society gives women an unprecedentedly wide stage, and women have more pursuits and opportunities. Fertility at the peak of the most exuberant “fertile period” of most women in college graduate school or in the community “struggle”, this period of an inadvertent pregnancy often end up in the abortion room of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. When the career success, “reproductive time” has been gradually shortened, may still face the temptation and dilemma of “promotion” or “child birth”, or even more, determined to give birth and then found that Worse still, if you are determined to have children, you may find out that you are infertile due to “tubal obstruction”, “hydrocele”, “uterine adhesion” and other problems caused by repeated abortions in the past. Now the sunshine of the “two-child policy” is shining, but the “light of fertility” is the only remaining “afterglow”. As a result, the major fertility centers are crowded, and most of the advertisements on the walls and pillars of the streets are “treating infertility”. At this time, on the one hand, not only are willing to spend all the money to snatch back the “fertility time”, on the other hand, is often unwilling to accept the reality of this obstacle to fertility. Myth 1: I still have regular menstruation, ultrasound monitoring ovaries still have eggs, why can’t I get pregnant? As mentioned above, the number of eggs decreases about 10 years before menopause and the quality of eggs decreases, so fertility is already very low, therefore, menstruation is not an accurate indicator of fertility. Myth 2: Use various methods (e.g. nutrients, Chinese herbs, supplements, etc.) to improve fertility for a period of time before trying to get pregnant, and then seek assisted reproduction only if you are still infertile. You should know that the passage of “fertile time” is irreversible, and it is an indisputable fact that the ovaries are aging every day, and when it comes to “an inch of time, an inch of gold”, it is necessary to “fight every second”. Other methods can only promote or improve the outcome of assisted reproduction but cannot reverse the aging of the ovaries. Myth 3: Will ovulation induction accelerate the depletion of the remaining eggs? The growth of follicles is batch by batch from the “stock” of the static state of development, ovulation drugs can only act on the follicles have entered the developmental state of the follicles, on the “stock” of the static follicles have no effect, therefore, ovulation will not affect the “stock” of eggs. The “stock” of eggs will not be affected by ovulation promotion. Women who have reached the end of their reproductive life often encounter problems with assisted reproduction due to “low ovarian reserve” (i.e., low number of eggs of poor quality) and “poor ovarian response” (i.e., fewer follicles grow and fewer eggs are retrieved after the use of ovulation stimulation drugs). The response to this situation is based on the concept of “fighting or competing” for fertility, which is reflected in national guidelines and consensus. Women with low ovarian reserve (often over 35-37 years of age) who have been cohabiting without contraception for more than six months (one year in the general population) are recommended to be treated for infertility with assisted reproduction. The actual key operation is to “harvest” the diminishing eggs on the ovaries, and the word “harvest” in this case is a vivid portrayal of “an inch of gold can’t buy you an inch of time”. In some “advanced” women who have failed to obtain eggs, we will also use some unconventional methods to promote ovulation, such as “luteal phase ovulation”, supplemented by methods that may be beneficial to improve egg quality, including traditional Chinese medicine, growth hormone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA), and so on. A combination of these methods, including growth hormone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA), and the use of “embryo accumulation” (i.e., freezing and storing embryos from multiple egg retrievals) to increase the number of embryos transferred in a single transfer and improve pregnancy rates, has resulted in a live birth rate of nearly 30% in this population. Modern medicine is advancing rapidly, reproductive medicine assisted reproductive technology is also advancing, so that many infertile couples to fulfill the dream of becoming parents, but the current technology can not “create something from nothing”, reproductive medicine doctors and even more brilliant is “a clever woman is difficult to cook without rice”. Theoretically, men without sperm can accept sperm donation, women without eggs can accept egg donation, but the reality is that the egg source and its scarcity (you have seen the “sperm bank”, but certainly have not heard of the “egg bank”, right). In a society governed by the rule of law, the purchase and sale of eggs is illegal, and it is really a “gold rush”. In recent years, it has been reported that “in vitro egg maturation technology” and other discussions are expected to give the aging ovaries “warm current on the ice”, but it is still in the research stage, and can not be used as a mature standardized clinical application of technology. It is hoped that it will become a routine technique in the near future, so that the aging ovaries can be “re-launched in the spring when the trees are withered”, and then “an inch of gold” can also buy “an inch of time”. In this “spring breeze” has not yet passed the “Jade Gate” before, women’s “reproductive time” is still “gold can’t buy you! “Therefore, it should be cherished.