Donor Information

Who is a candidate for donor eggs?

Any woman with ovarian failure, premature menopause, old or damaged eggs, missing ovaries, or a hereditary disease may receive donor eggs--as long as she is healthy enough to carry a pregnancy to term.  If necessary, her partner's sperm can be injected directly into a donor egg (ICSI), or the egg can be fertilized with donor sperm before being implanted into the recipient woman's uterus.

Who are the egg donors?

Friends or relatives of the patient occasionally offer to donate eggs, but the vast majority of donors are anonymous to the recipient. Generally, anonymity is preferable to both the recipient and the donor.  An anonymous donor is carefully screened for ovarian reserve, HIV, hepatitis and other communicable diseases, and is also tested for psychological health. The donor's age will be between 21 and 32 years old. A donor's eggs are given to only one recipient, and the donor receives no information about who received her eggs and whether a pregnancy has occurred.  Any extra embryos belong to the recipient and may be frozen for future use by the recipient only.

How does Donor Egg In Vitro Fertilization work?

The egg donor and the recipient are given medications to synchronize their menstrual cycles.  The donor receives medications to produce multiple eggs and undergoes egg retrieval surgery when the eggs are mature.  At the same time, the egg recipient receives hormones to stimulate proper development of her uterine lining.  The donor's eggs go through the in vitro fertilization process and three to five days later, depending on the development of embryos, a limited number of embryos are transferred to the recipient's uterus.

Why choose our Center for Donor Egg IVF?

*Your treatment will be as private as possible;

*The donor and recipient will be anonymous to each other, unless we are instructed otherwise;

*Donated eggs will not be shared with anyone else;

*Medication given to donors will produce a reasonable number of eggs in order to avoid any possibility of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).  We do our best not to overstimulate the donor's ovaries so that there is no OHSS. OHSS is a life-threatening condition that results from overly stimulating a woman's ovaries, which is often done to produce a large quantity of eggs in order to split the eggs among several recipients;

*American Society for Reproductive Medicine's guidelines for choosing donors are followed in order to have the healthiest donors chosen under the most ethical conditions;

*We work with attorneys and psychologists who have specific experience in the area of Donor Egg IVF; by doing so, we seek to provide as much protection and assurance as possible to both the donor and the recipient;

*American Society for Reproductive Medicine's guidelines for number of embryos transferred are strictly followed to minimize multiple pregnancies.

For women who want to donate their eggs:

If you are interested, please print out and complete our Egg Donor Application. When it's complete, please fax to 248-593-5925 or mail to 300 Park Street Suite 460 Birmingham MI 48009. If you are accepted into the program, you will receive our complete attention and support, as well as $5000 compensation for your time and trouble. At our Center, women who choose to donate their eggs are treated with the same care and compassion that all patients expect and deserve.