When a couple first learns they’re infertile, the last thing they can imagine is the incredible moment of bringing a baby home. This is particularly true for women with poor egg quality whose options appear limited. These couples shouldn’t despair. There’s an effective fertility treatment they may not have considered, and it’s rapidly growing in popularity. In vitro fertilization incorporating the egg donation process gives hope to couples by keeping their dream of starting a family alive.
Donor Egg Success Rates
Unfortunately, a women’s poor egg quality is a major barrier to pregnancy. This is especially true for older women, who experience lower success rates with traditional IVF. The use of donor eggs in IVF cycles significantly increases the chance of a successful pregnancy for these women. The national average delivery rate using frozen donor eggs is approximately 44%.
The Donor Egg IVF Process
The donor egg IVF process is similar to traditional IVF with your own eggs. The biggest difference in using frozen eggs is it’s far less invasive for the recipients.
Donor egg recipients avoid having to undergo the stimulation and egg retrieval process, as well as any risk of failing to retrieve viable eggs. Also, bypassing this part of the process means time and money saved.
Selecting a Donor Egg Program
When selecting a donor egg program or service, you should research their egg donor database and screening processes.
Ideally, you should have access to a wide variety of egg donors along with important information about them, such as family medical history, physical characteristics, education, and accomplishments. Further, you should ask about the screening process potential donors undergo to qualify.
Depending on the program, you may be able to choose between using fresh or frozen donor eggs. If you choose fresh donor eggs, you and the donor’s menstrual cycles need to be synchronized. Synchronization isn’t necessary when using frozen donor eggs. The process can start at the time that’s most convenient for you, and costs around half as much as using fresh donor eggs.