Thank you for your interest in becoming an Oocyte (egg) donor at California IVF. The goal of our program is to provide eggs anonymously to women unable to produce quality eggs on their own. Advanced reproductive age is one of the leading causes of infertility and may occur for many reasons. Delayed child-bearing, radiation or chemotherapy therapy for cancer, autoimmune diseases, and surgical removal of the ovaries are a few of the causes of decreased egg quality. Ovarian failure at an early age, also known as premature ovarian failure or ovarian insufficiency, is another common reason why women need to use eggs from an egg donor. Donor oocytes provide couples with a chance of achieving a pregnancy that is up to 75% on the first attempt. In most cases there are extra embryos that can be frozen and used in the future to further increase the chances of having a baby or subsequent babies from the same “batch” of embryos.
Donating eggs will require a commitment of time and attention to details. Couples with whom you may be matched will be investing a large amount of money for each cycle. In addition to their financial investment, people become emotionally committed to their treatments. It is extremely important that you are willing to complete the process once you start the testing and treatment process. Please let us know if at any time you decide that you no longer wish to participate in this program, and your profile will be removed from the registry. The whole process will require about 5-6 office visits. You must be flexible with your schedule and the process may require that you miss school or work in order to make it to your required appointments.
Once you are given an introduction to the screening and treatment process, you will be entered into the pool of donors and given the opportunity to match to a recipient. The screening process will involve blood work, an ultrasound, and a psychological evaluation. For the psychological evaluation, you will meet with a psychologist who will talk with you about why you want to be a donor, and her staff will administer a psychological test called the MMPI. The interview and test are not difficult or threatening. Additional tests may be required in certain circumstances. You will not have to pay for any of the testing or screening procedures. We do however, encourage you to use your current health benefits to make sure you are current with your cervical cancer screening, including having a current Pap smear. We do not perform Pap smear screening as part of the donor evaluation.
After the initial screening, you may be informed that you have not been accepted as an egg donor. This does not mean there is anything wrong with you. We are concerned about many issues including the possibility that you may regret your participation or may have a low chance of being selected by a recipient. Once all of the screening is completed, and you have been accepted into the program, we will enter you into our donor registry if appropriate. Recipients will then be able to review your profile and select you as their donor.
We will utilize the information that you provide on your health history and application form to tentatively match you with a prospective recipient. Please answer all questions accurately and thoroughly. Contact family members for help as needed. Some donors are rejected simply because they do not take the questions seriously or provide enough details. The photos you send will be viewed by potential recipients and should not be “provocative”. Recipients will review your history and photos in order to select you as a “match”. Once a tentative match has been made, we will contact you to ask if you are still willing to be a donor. If you are willing, we will ask you to visit to our clinic where you will meet with one of the coordinators. The coordinator will instruct you on the donor process and medications. Testing will be performed. After all of the evaluation is complete, a session is schedule for injection training and a review of the details of the medications you will take. During a cycle, you will be required to give yourself several injectable medications. You may choose to have a friend or partner administer these medications. These injections are very important to the success of the cycle and it is very important that they be given as directed.
FDA Regulations and Donor Tissues
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has regulatory oversight of donor tissue programs, including donor eggs.
- The FDA regulations require us to ask very specific questions regarding health history, sexual history, and other health related activities.
- Our clinic has completed inspections in the past and will have additional inspections in the future to confirm compliance with the FDA regulations.
- Compliance with the regulations is necessary to minimize the health risks to the recipient parents.
- We will require the completion of additional questionnaires which you may have already completed, and repeat blood tests to confirm the absence of infectious diseases.
- Donors are not billed for the testing and evaluation.
Treatment Summary
The egg donation process involves several visits to our office for testing and monitoring of the effects of the medications that are given. The process can be broken into the application, evaluation, selection, and treatment phases. The section below outlines the treatment process. We will review all of the necessary details with you and during your instructional visit, a calendar specific to your donation will be provided. Egg donation is easy and rewarding.
Rescuing Eggs That Would Be Lost
A woman is born with all of the eggs she is going to have during her life. The eggs are constantly trying to grow up from the time the ovary forms until menopause. Even though a woman may only ovulation 1 egg per month, many more eggs are attempting to grow up during the same time period. Fertility medications rescue eggs that would have otherwise died. Because we are rescuing eggs that are already destined do die, the egg donation process does not take away any eggs from the donor’s future and will not cause her to go through menopause any earlier. The eggs that are collected were going to die. What better way to make use of these extra eggs than to donate them to a woman struggling to become a mother.
Questions? If you have any questions or would like to meet with us to discuss becoming a donor, please do not hesitate to call. There is no cost to you and no obligation to proceed. There is no greater joy than sharing a gift of life with another woman.