Egg donors > What does egg donation involve

What does being an egg donor involve?

A bit of biology that you might not know is that in a natural menstrual (monthly) cycle you produce a hormone called FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) which usually stimulates a group of about 10 eggs to develop. One of these then matures and goes onto ovulate and the others that have grown disintegrate and are reabsorbed. This happens every month.

In egg donation, egg donors undergo a very quick IVF treatment cycle where the ovaries are stimulated with the same hormone (FSH), to mature this naturally developing group of eggs so that they all reach the same level of maturity, rather than just the one.

The eggs are then removed and placed into a small dish in an incubator where they are fertilised by sperm from the male recipient. As a result embryos usually develop. One (or possibly two) of these fresh embryos are then placed into the recipient (the woman receiving the eggs) giving her a good chance of becoming pregnant.

To make this happen the drugs, dosages and regimes can vary, but they all aim for the same end result – to get this group of eggs ready for fertilisation so that they can select the best embryos for replacement. If there are any spare embryos they can sometimes be frozen, with your consent, for the recipient’s use in the future.

We will tell you how many eggs you have produced, how many embryos have been created from your donation, and whether or not a pregnancy has resulted.