Using Donor Eggs – The Conception Alternative You Need to Know About

Five Most Asked Questions About Donor Eggs

1. How Do You Know if You’re a Good Candidate for Donor Eggs?

Fresh and frozen donor eggs are often considered an ideal infertility treatment for many people struggling to get pregnant. However, certain individuals are better candidates than others.

Many people with the following conditions and circumstances have successfully overcome their conception troubles with egg donation:

• Advanced maternal age (40+)
• Premature ovarian failure
• Insufficient egg quality or numbers
• Inheritable genetic disorders
• Unexplained infertility
• Previous radiation or chemotherapy treatments
• Polycystic ovarian syndrome

2. Are Fresh or Frozen Donor Eggs the Better Option?

For decades, recipients and doctors believed fresh donor eggs were the superior option over frozen. However, recent studies have proven each treatment now offers nearly identical results.

This is due in large part to the development of oocyte vitrification.

Vitrification is a flash-freezing process that enables embryologists to preserve donor eggs in the exact condition they were collected. The overall process is more reliable than the alternative slow-freezing methods used in years past. Vitrification exposes frozen donor eggs to advanced cryoprotectants which prevent egg deterioration during storage and thawing.

Along with these new scientific developments, frozen donor eggs also come with lower price tags, improved success rates, and fewer chances of cycle cancellation.

While some individuals and couples still prefer fresh donor eggs, even more are beginning to see the benefits of choosing a frozen egg donor.

3. What Happens During a Donor Egg Cycle?

Depending on whether a hopeful parent decides on a fresh or frozen donor egg cycle, the procedure will look slightly different.

Fresh Donor Egg Cycles

The first step in a fresh donor egg cycle is synchronizing the donor and recipient’s menstrual cycles to prepare them for the upcoming egg retrieval and embryo transfer. Typically, doctors use birth control to do this.

Both the donor and recipient undergo general testing to analyze their reproductive systems. Often, doctors use blood work, ultrasound, and other procedures to complete this testing.

From there, the egg donor begins a series of stimulation hormones to prepare their ovaries for the upcoming egg collection procedure. While the donor is going through this part of the process, the recipient will be taking a regimen of medications, commonly progesterone and estrogen, to prepare their uterus and endometrial lining for the upcoming embryo transfer.

Once the donor’s eggs are collected, they are fertilized with sperm to become embryos. The embryos are then allowed to mature for four to five days under a trained embryologist. After the best candidates for implantation are chosen, one or two embryos are inserted directly into the recipient’s uterus under the guidance of ultrasound technology and a thin catheter.

Frozen Donor Egg Cycles

Frozen donor egg cycles remain largely the same as a fresh cycle, with one key difference: the eggs have already been collected and are waiting in storage for a lucky parent to pick them. They simply need to be shipped, thawed, and fertilized for immediate use. This provides significantly greater convenience and flexibility when compared to a fresh donor egg cycle.

Once you’ve chosen your donor, the rest of the process follows the same pattern as a fresh cycle for the hopeful parent, including the various medications to prepare their body for the embryo transfer.

4. How are Frozen Egg Donors Screened?

One aspect of frozen donor egg cycles that can make prospective parents nervous is not meeting their donor in person.

However, patients can rest easy knowing that their donor met a rigorous set of requirements before being accepted into a frozen egg program. Reputable donor egg companies, such as Donor Egg Bank USA, put their prospective donors through a detailed screening process that includes (but isn’t limited to):

• Physical examinations
• Psychological screenings
• Genetic carrier testing
• Family medical history screening
• Drug and STD screening
• Gynecological examinations
• Fertility baseline screening

5. Could Donor Eggs Be the Right Choice for My Family?

Battling infertility isn’t an ideal circumstance for anyone. Unfortunately, astounding 1-in-8 couples struggle to conceive.

While an inability to get pregnant easily can be physically and emotionally draining, it helps to know alternative options exist.

Donor eggs might not be the path to parenthood your sex education textbooks told you about, but they’re still a great avenue to consider. If you dream of becoming a parent and experiencing the journey of pregnancy and childbirth, fresh or frozen egg donation could be the trustworthy solution you need.