Egg Donors: What to Expect

Although egg donation is a complex treatment, it has become increasingly popular since its first use in the United States more than two decades ago. Particularly as social trends result in more and more women attempting motherhood in later stages of their lives, the contributions of egg donors have been highly valued by thousands of grateful recipients. 

An egg donor may miss two or three days of work, school or family obligations for the preliminary medical exam and consultations, the egg retrieval process, and sometimes a day of recuperation after the retrieval. For this effort and time, each donor receives compensation of several thousand dollars.

Donor Screening & Consultation

To start the donation process, the potential donor completes a medical history form and genetic questionnaire. She also submits OB/GYN records and any other significant medical records. The donor and her partner (if applicable) may have to pass a psychological screening and blood tests for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, and gonorrhea.

The donor usually undergoes a complete physical exam and receives instructions on how to administer daily hormone injections.

Treatment Cycle

As in the normal IVF procedure, the physician prescribes hormonal therapy for the donor to stimulate her ovaries to produce many mature eggs. The timing of the treatment is based on the donor's menstrual cycle. Birth control pills are taken to lead into the cycle and help coordinate with the recipient.  Then gonadotropins are started followed by ganirelix. During the cycle, the physician monitors the donor’s cycle through blood tests (six to ten times) and vaginal ultrasounds (three to five times).

Retrieval Process

When the blood work and the ultrasound show that the donor's eggs are mature, the physician schedules the egg retrieval. This outpatient, surgical procedure is done using intravenous (IV) sedation to prevent discomfort to the donor. The physician, guided by a vaginal ultrasound, retrieves the eggs from the ovaries. The entire egg retrieval takes about thirty minutes. The donor usually feels fine a few hours later and is ready to be driven home.

Fertilization and Transfer

After the egg retrieval, the embryologist fertilizes the donated eggs in the laboratory with sperm from the recipient’s partner. The resulting embryos are then transferred to the uterus of the recipient. If conception succeeds, the egg recipient becomes the "gestational" mother and experiences pregnancy and birth.