The information that you provide when you become an egg donor is strictly anonymous and confidential. The Intended Parents will identify your anonymous profile with an assigned ID and will not view your name or contact information. Intended Parents will view the following portions of your Donor application in order to connect with you and select you as their Donor: Photos, Physical Features, Education, Test Scores, Family History, Medical History, Questions about your Personality, Reproductive Health and Awards & Accomplishments. Intended Parents will often request results of prior egg donations so if you area prior Donor, please list number of eggs retrieved, embryos fertilized and confirmed pregnancies (if you have that information). As an egg donor, you may also be provided general and non-identifying information about the Intended Parent(s).
Egg Donors are usually women between the ages of 21 and 32 and are in good health, both mentally and physically. Family health history will be considered during both the screening and matching process.
Our Case Managers will review your application within 48 hours and let you know if you meet the basic requirements to give the wonderful gift of Egg Donation. If you qualify to donate, we’ll invite you to schedule an initial consultation where we’ll discuss the egg donation process, how it works and potential matches currently available to you with offered compensation. We will answer your questions!
Donors through our program remain Anonymous and do not meet or speak with Intended Parents. Your identity and information remains confidential. Our agency does work with a few Intended Parents who request to meet their Donor or have any potential offspring meet their selected Donor once they reach the age of 18. Let our agency know in writing if you are interested or comfortable with this scenario. Otherwise, you will be an anonymous Egg Donor and will not be required to meet with or speak to an Intended Parent.
The optimum fertility age is between 18 and 32 years old. We start the age range for egg donation at 21 since we believe that at this age, the individual is mature enough to make responsible decisions such as choosing to donate eggs. In order to maximize the chances for the recipient to conceive, we do not accept egg donors older than 29. However, you are eligible to become a Surrogate Mother and help a wonderful couple become parents. Compensation for a Surrogate Mother typically starts at $25,000-$30,000 and increases with experience.
Yes! We are always able to work with you to schedule a donation cycle that fits your time constraints.
The compensation for completion of an egg donation cycle ranges from is $8,000-$15,000, more for Donors of exceptionally academic and athletic achievement.
While the egg donor’s physical profile and medical history is given to the recipient, no information that would reveal your identity is disclosed.
DFS has recently started showing Recipients photo’s where the Donor is comfortable signing a consent to do so. Your photo will only be shown if you sign the release form authorizing it.
Although some centers urge and allow egg donors to meet the recipient couple, DFS does not encourage or require such a meeting. In fact, all the information you provide to us, aside from matching attributes, will be kept confidential.
The information that you provide to us when you become an egg donor is strictly anonymous and confidential. We will never disclose any identifying information about you to any of the potential matches. You are solely identified as the match for a particular couple based on your physical attributes, such as nationality, eye color, hair color, height, and weight. As an egg donor, you also will not be given any information about the recipient couple and whether the cycle resulted in a pregnancy.
You may experience some mild lower abdominal discomfort while on the medications. During the retrieval, you will be completely asleep for about 15 minutes. After the retrieval, you may have mild to moderate pelvic discomfort or bloating for 24-72 hours. During this time, you may take over the counter pain medications. If these are not effective, you should contact a nurse at DFS.
Some egg donors may experience mild side effects during their cycle, such as mood swings, breast tenderness, or fluid retention. There are rare risks associated with the egg retrieval procedure, which your ovum donation team will discuss with you during your consultation.
Since the process of Egg Donation in humans has been in existence for more than 25 years many research studies have been commissioned to determine if there is any potential negative impact on a Donor’s future fertility. No research has ever proven this to be the case. To the best of our knowledge, an uncomplicated donor cycle should not affect your future ability to have children.
The commitment to 1 egg donation cycle may take several months to complete. Remember, an egg donor must be psychologically, genetically, and physically screened in the first phase. This screening may be completed over the course of the first month. After the screening process is complete, the egg donor’s cycle is synchronized to the recipient’s menstrual cycle, and the eggs are retrieved the following month.
This is a routine physical exam of the heart, lungs, abdomen, and pelvis. Tests performed at the time of the exam include a Pap smear and cervical cultures. A trans-vaginal ultrasound is done to view your uterus and ovaries and help the physician determine the proper dose of fertility medications to give to you during the cycle. A probe is placed in the vagina to give the optimal view of the pelvis. The ultrasound study is brief and causes less discomfort than a standard speculum exam.
Questions that will be asked by our psychologist relate to your reasons for wanting to be a donor and how you feel about sharing your genetics with another individual (offspring of the recipient) that you may never know. In addition, the psychological interview is designed to help you determine if egg donation is right for you.
The amount of times that one can donate eggs may vary. Some egg donors are willing to consider more than one cycle, while others donate only once. ASRM (The American Society for Reproductive Medicine) maintains that an egg donor can donate up until 5-6 times during her lifetime and, as the governing body for reproductive medical practices, DFS supports that policy.