Egg Donors

The primary benefit to women who donate eggs to couples suffering infertility is knowing that they have helped another woman achieve pregnancy. Donors may becompensated for their time and effort.

The donor may miss two or three days of work for the preliminary medical exam and consultations, the egg retrieval process, and sometimes a day of recuperation after the retrieval. Egg donors must be healthy and are usually limited to women between the ages of 21 and 32. Potential egg donors may be:

Anonymous Donors — Many women opt to undergo the egg donation process as anonymous donors. They donate eggs to an infertile woman or couple whose identity also remains anonymous. Anonymous donors are matched as closely as possible to prospective recipients according to ethnic backgrounds, physical characteristics, or other criteria specified by a recipient couple.

Known Donors — In many cases, the egg donor is a sister, friend, or relative of the recipient. Some recipients recruit an egg donor by searching for prospective donors on their own. Read more about becoming an egg donor or a gestational carrier.

Donor Screening & Consultation
To start the process, the potential egg donor completes a medical history form and genetic questionnaire. She also submits OB/GYN records and any other significant medical records. The donor and her partner (if applicable) may have to pass a psychological screening and blood tests for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, and gonorrhea.
The donor usually undergoes a complete physical exam and receives instructions on how to administer daily hormone injections. If a prospective egg donor was adopted as a child, she will need to research her genetic history.

Treatment Cycle
As in the normal IVF procedure, the physician prescribes hormonal therapy for the donor to stimulate her ovaries to produce many mature eggs. The timing of the treatment is based on the donor's menstrual cycle. She begins injecting the medications in the third week of the menstrual cycle and continues for approximately three weeks. During the cycle, the physician monitors the donor's cycle through blood tests and vaginal ultrasoundsto determine her response to the medications.

Retrieval Process
When the blood work and the ultrasound show that the donor's eggs are mature, the physician schedules the egg retrieval. This non-surgical procedure is done using intravenous (IV) sedation to prevent discomfort to the donor. The physician, guided by a vaginal ultrasound, retrieves the eggs with a needle. The entire egg retrieval takes about 15 minutes. The donor usually feels fine a few hours later and is ready to be driven home.

Fertilization and Transfer
After the egg retrieval, the embryologist fertilizes the donated eggs in the laboratory with sperm from the egg recipient’s partner. The resulting embryos are then transferred to the uterus of the recipient. If conception succeeds, the egg recipient becomes the "gestational" mother and experiences pregnancy and birth.

Become an Egg Donor 
If you are interested in helping someone start a family by becoming an egg donor or gestational carrier please contact one of the following agencies.  Patients at the Reproductive Science Center often contact these agencies when considering building their family with the help of an egg donor and/or gestational carrier.
 
Egg Donor Agencies
Center for Surrogacy and Egg Donation  (508) 460-0400
Prospective Families (781) 235-0205
Choices Donations: (508) 946-4802
Creating New Generations (541) 266-8284
 
Gestational Carrier Agencies
Center for Surrogacy and Egg Donation (508) 460-0400
Melissa Brisman, Esq. (201) 505-0078