Egg donation is been utilized for a long to help needy couples realize their parenthood dreams. Yet, given the lack of information and awareness, people are still deprived of its listless benefits.
Poor egg quality owing to advanced maternal age is perhaps the most typical reason why single women and couples turn to egg donation. The quality of a woman’s eggs deteriorates as she gets older, especially after the age of 37.
Who Benefits from Egg Donation?
- Women with a low number and quality of eggs
- Women who don’t have ovaries but have a healthy uterus
- Women who do not want to pass on genetic issues to their offspring
- Old age women
When considering using an egg donor, there are a lot of things to think about. So, regardless of whether you are a single parent or a couple, think of these aspects before proceeding.
In 1984, the first known pregnancy was achieved with a donated egg. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported about 9,000 births in 2016 as a result of donor eggs.
Requirements for Egg Donation
To establish whether a person is a good donor prospect, egg donors undergo psychological and medical screening, which includes a comprehensive medical history check, physical exam, and ovarian reserve evaluation. Besides, the women need to be between the age group of 21 and 30 years.
Additionally, the person must be willing to help another individual or couple with their child-seeking aspirations.
How does the egg donation process work?
- Hormone injections are given to the egg donor to stimulate multiple egg ovulation. Women naturally release one egg every month; however, injections enable a huge number of eggs to mature at once. The fertility doctor plans the surgery once her eggs are ripe and ready to be extracted.
- The egg donor is sedated, and her doctor extracts each egg using an ultrasound-guided catheter injected into each matured follicle. By using the recipient’s partner’s sperm or specified donor sperm, the facility will try to fertilise multiple eggs in a laboratory via In vitro fertilisation (IVF).
- The embryo (fertilised egg) is then implanted into the uterus of the recipient.
- The donor and recipient’s cycles are synced with medication in a new transfer cycle.
- The embryos are preserved and implanted at a later date in a frozen transfer. Preimplantation genetic screening for aneuploidy (an aberrant number of chromosomes) can sometimes be performed using frozen transfers.
- The embryo will be implanted into the uterine lining and grow into a healthy child if it is successful.
Egg donation cost
Commercial egg donor agencies find healthy donors, screen them, and further connect them with couples and individuals. Donated eggs from individuals who have generated too many eggs are also available at several infertility clinics.
In some situations, the recipient may request that her eggs be donated by a close cousin or friend. A fresh egg donation cycle or a frozen egg donation cycle is available to recipients (from a frozen egg bank).On average, donors are compensated between $7,000 and $15,000.
Factors that Influence Egg Donation Success
The age of the egg donor, the retrieval technique, the quality of the sperm, and the recipient’s overall health are all factors that influence the success of an egg donation process.
Recipients should seek counseling to address emotional issues and a skilled attorney to safeguard their rights and the interests of their future kids, as with any third-party reproduction process.