Donor Egg Program
For a variety of reasons, some women are unable to produce their own eggs or produce eggs with diminished fertility potential. Egg donation has successfully given thousands of these women the opportunity to have a child.
What Does the Egg Donation Process Look Like?
When someone chooses to use donor eggs to achieve conception, there are several steps. We start with an evaluation process to help you select the best donor for you.
You may either use an anonymous egg donor or a known egg donor. An anonymous egg donor might come from Society Hill Reproductive Medicine’s vetted group of donors or an egg donation agency. Additionally, we work with egg banks which offer frozen anonymous eggs. A known egg donor is someone who you know personally who is willing to donate her eggs to you. We can help you decide which scenario might be ideal for you.
In both cases, we conduct a thorough screening of the egg donor at the beginning of the process to make sure she meets nationally recognized eligibility requirements for egg donation. These requirements ensure that the donor you choose is physically and psychologically healthy and has excellent chances of providing a cohort of healthy, viable eggs.
We also require that the recipient of donor eggs and her partner (if she has one) to meet with a psychologist at this stage of the process to thoroughly discuss the decision to use a third party to assist with reproduction.
Once these steps have been completed, we begin the IVF process. We use medications to induce ovulation for the egg donor and stimulate her ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs in once cycle. We monitor this in the donor using bloodwork and ultrasound over the course of about 10 to 14 days. We then perform an egg retrieval to collect all the mature eggs from the egg donor's ovaries.
Once the eggs are retrieved, we fertilize them in an IVF laboratory using the sperm of the recipient's partner or a sperm donor. We watch their development over 3 to 5 days. Finally, we select one of the healthiest embryos and in a procedure called an embryo transfer, place them in the recipient's uterus.
Throughout this entire process we are in communication with the intended parent (s) to update her on the progress of the donor’s stimulation and the development of the eggs and the embryos.
Guidelines for Egg Donors
All women who wish to become an egg donor go through an extensive screening process to make sure she is in good health and has excellent chances of success as she goes through the egg donation process. This screening evaluates a number of factors, including the donor’s age, physical health, psychological health, genetic history and history of risky behaviors.
Society Hill Reproductive Medicine’s screening process carefully follows the egg donation guidelines that have been set by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the FDA.
In line with these guidelines, donors must meet the following minimum qualifications:
Age 21 to 31
Good physical health
BMI between 19 and 29
Non-Smoker
Regular, monthly menstrual periods
No current use of contraceptive implants or Depo-Provera injections as a form of birth control
Has both ovaries
Psychological healthy
No current use of psychoactive drugs
No history of substance abuse
No tattoos or piercings placed in the last 12 months
No family history of inheritable genetic disorders
Willing to take injections
Anonymous Vs. Known Egg Donation
Anonymous Egg Donation
If you choose to use an anonymous egg donor, we help you to review and select an egg donor from a group of women who have been pre-screened to meet the eligibility requirements listed above. Egg donors undergo extensive physical, genetic and psychological screening before they are accepted into the program.
As the name anonymous egg donation implies, anonymity and confidentiality are maintained through the entire process. Donors and recipients do not meet each other.
Anonymous egg donors must be between 21 and 31 years of age, when a woman’s eggs are in their most fertile state and have the highest chances of successfully leading to a healthy pregnancy.
From the pre-screened group of egg donors, you will have the opportunity to review the following information:
a detailed medical history for both the donor and her family
the donor’s history of pregnancies and children
the donor’s highest level of education and current job
a list of the donor’s hobbies and interests
a thorough description of the donor’s physical characteristics
the donor’s ethnic background
photographs of the donor as a baby, young child, and adult
In addition to our own selection of egg donors, Society Hill Reproductive Medicine partners with several egg banks that offer anonymous frozen eggs. We can also help you review egg donors who you may have found through independently working with an egg donation agency.
Known Egg Donation
In known egg donation, a family member, friend, or someone else known to you donates her eggs to help you start your family. Like anonymous egg donors, known donors must also undergo extensive physical, genetic and psychological screening before we can allow them to move forward in the egg donation process.
