Donor Egg
The use of donated eggs offers women who lack sufficient quality eggs a way of building a family through the birth of a child who they carry in their womb like any other pregnancy. The difference is that the child is derived from the union of her husband’s sperm with an egg donated by a "third party." The child inherits genes from the husband but not the birth mother. The "egg donor" can be a friend or family member of the patient, or the donor can be an anonymous woman chosen from lists of prospective donors aged 21-32. This service is known as a donor egg cycle. Nationwide over 5,000 such cycles are performed annually. The average birthrate per cycle is 50% according to the most recent national registry. Our center began performing donor egg cycles for our patients in 1999.
The egg donor must pass medical and psychological testing before she is approved to donate eggs. The donor undergoes ovarian stimulation and an egg retrieval procedure, just as in a standard in-vitro fertilization cycle. The anonymous egg donors receive monetary compensation for their time and effort; however, surveys have found that money is not the primary motivator for egg donors. Instead, these women are truly driven by an altruistic desire to help infertile couples reach their dreams. There are several organizations that recruit such donors. We have worked with Nationwide Egg Donation. Their websites allow you to view or read about their prospective donors. There is no "waiting list" for patients.
The patient who receives the fertilized eggs must prepare her womb with estrogen and progesterone hormones. This is managed by our physicians and nurses. Often the egg donor provides sufficient eggs that some of the resulting embryos can be frozen for the patient’s use in the future for more pregnancies. The cost of a donor egg cycle is sometimes partially covered by the patient’s health insurance. Our billing specialists can help give a patient the expected cost after the patient has met with our medical team.
Many women who have diminished ovarian reserve, premature menopause, or who have had both of their ovaries surgically removed have successfully conceived pregnancies at our center through the use of our donor egg program. Another option which is typically less expensive is to use donated embryos, but this option does not allow the husband to contribute to the genetic make-up of the child. These advances in technology now allow couples lacking eggs an alternative to adoption to build their family.
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