What are ovarian follicles?
Ovarian follicles are small, fluid-filled sacs in your ovaries that each contain an unfertilized egg.
By the time you enter puberty, about 25 percent of these follicles remain, around 300,000.
At menopause, fewer than 1,000 ovarian follicles are typically left.
Your follicles themselves go through various stages of development.
First, primordial follicles willform in a fetuss ovaries.
Right around the time of ovulation, some of these follicles begin to swell.
One will become dominant, and the others that started growing called antral follicles will recede.
This egg will hang out for about 24 hours, creating an opportunity forfertilization to occur.
The cycle continues each month until you go through menopause.
What is the antral follicle count test?
The antral follicle test is a transvaginal ultrasound that measures how many antral follicles you have.
It only takes a few minutes, similar to a pelvic exam.
How many antral follicles are normal?
It depends on your age.
If youre older, youll have fewer antral follicles as someone whos younger.
Can you get pregnant with only one mature follicle?
But if youre undergoing fertility treatment, its a little more complicated.
It depends on which therapy youre using and how old you are.
Most doctors aim to retrieve more than 10 eggs per cycle.
How many immature follicles indicate polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?
Women with PCOS have more antral follicles than women without PCOS.
Its not unusual for a woman with PCOS to have more than 30 antral follicles total.
Women with PCOS produce above-average levels of the hormone testosterone, which hinders ovulation.
The follicles struggle to release eggs, so they hang out instead of going through the ovulation process.
If these types of treatments dont work, IVF can help make pregnancy a reality.
Lifestyle changes like losing weight and boosting your vitamin D levels may also help.
The bottom line: Dont stress too much about how many ovarian follicles you have.
While they can serve as an indicator of fertility, the exact number is not the be-all and end-all.
Other factors, such as your age, weight, health history and even genetics play a role too.
