Donor Egg Program Overview

Who needs egg donors?

• Women who for a variety of reasons are unable to conceive a child using their own eggs
• Women who are unable to produce their own eggs, which may be due to a number of medical reasons:
  • Premature menopause
  • Ovarian Aging
  • Women who are carriers for a genetically transmitted disorder
  • Previous Chemotherapy or ovarian surgery
• Women who produce eggs unlikely to result in a successful pregnancy

Fortunately, for women unable to conceive using their own eggs, donor egg offers the highest pregnancy and delivery rates of any fertility treatment and allows for a woman to carry a child. Donor eggs are eggs usually given anonymously, although we offer egg donation with both known donors and anonymous egg donors. If you choose an anonymous donor, you will be provided with a detailed medical history of both the donor and her family, along with a thorough description of her physical characteristics. Throughout the process, confidentiality and anonymity will be maintained—donors and recipients will not meet.

For more information about being an egg donor or a recipient of a donated egg, please contact our egg donor coordinator at 929-379-0149.

What procedures are involved?

The process of IVF with donated eggs involves stimulating the egg donor’s ovaries to produce multiple eggs. At the same time, the recipient’s uterine lining is developed. When the donor’s eggs are mature, they are retrieved and fertilized in the laboratory with sperm from the recipient’s partner. The resulting embryos are monitored in the laboratory for several days. A few embryos are selected for transfer into the recipient’s uterus in the hopes of achieving a pregnancy.

Who is a candidate for egg donation?

Women whose ovaries do not function well are candidates for IVF with donated eggs. For example, women with premature ovarian failure (early menopause) or naturally occurring menopause may benefit from using donated eggs. Women who have experienced repeated failure to conceive with other fertility treatments, including IVF with their own eggs, are also good candidates for IVF with donated eggs.

Donors

Anonymous donors are recruited by GENESIS through advertisements and word of mouth. If GENESIS is unable to provide a suitable match recipient will be provided with a list of agencies with which GENESIS work closely, who will than assist in the search for suitable match. Some recipients have friends or relatives who volunteer to be a known egg donor for them. Egg donation enables the donor to help another individual in a generous and unique way. Donors are screened for infectious disease, genetic and family history, general and reproductive health, and psychological stability. Donors undergo the initial part of in vitro fertilization, i.e. taking injectable medications to induce the maturation of multiple eggs. These eggs are then removed with a needle transvaginally under anesthesia.

Recipients

Potential recipients undergo an initial consultation with a physician that includes a thorough medical history, a physical examination of the female and laboratory testing of both the male and female. An attempt is made to match each recipient with a donor of a similar physical and ethnic background. Recipients of donated eggs are provided non-identifying medical and family history information about the donor. Given the demand for donors and the rigorous screening process they must pass, there is usually a period of several months before a recipient is matched with a donor. After a suitable donor is found, an individualized medication regimen for synchronizing the development of lining of the recipient’s uterus with the egg donor’s cycle is developed.