Choosing an egg donor step by step

If you are considering using donor eggs, this may help you have a clearer picture of the process. In Mexico, donating eggs is a voluntary and anonymous act, but above all it is an act of love. It is giving the opportunity for people with a strong desire to be parents to achieve it.

– What is egg donation?

– It is a highly complex assisted fertilization technique (IVF/ICSI) that uses eggs from a donor woman to be fertilized by the couple's sperm or sperm from a sperm bank, as the case may be. In this process, the donated eggs are fertilized with the couple's sperm or sperm from the sperm bank, to create the embryo that will be transferred to the uterus of the woman who will carry the pregnancy.

– When is it used?

– When the woman cannot produce her own eggs that allow her to achieve pregnancy: early ovarian failure, advanced maternal age, inability to produce eggs suitable for IVF/ICSI procedures, and some genetic disorders; as well as in cases of single men and homosexual couples who wish to have a child, through surrogacy.

– How is the donor selected and studied?

– The girls who donate at Fertycare are no more than 30 years old, generally less than 28. An initial informative interview is carried out to evaluate whether they meet the general conditions to be a donor. Your medical history is prepared, for which your personal and family history is analyzed. After this first interview, a clinical and gynecological check-up is carried out, a consultation is carried out with our psychologist, as well as a genetic profile interview to rule out suspicion of pathology of genetic origin. In addition, routine blood, hormonal, infectious disease studies and genetic studies of the chromosomes are carried out to rule out being a carrier of any of the cystic fibrosis mutations. The potential donor has to go through all these steps to then enter the egg donation program.

– How is the donor chosen?

– The donor is selected for her physical characteristics; in general, looking for similarity with the recipient or preferences of the contracting parties. The ethnic group, physical build, weight and height, skin, hair and eye color are taken into account. In Mexico, as in other countries, egg donation is anonymous. In countries where anonymity does not apply, the selection is made by the recipient patient or contractors themselves, entering the catalog where they will find photos and other characteristics to be able to select their donor.

– Fresh eggs or vitrified eggs?

– Generally, treatments are performed with fresh eggs, this means that the donor will be stimulated and on the day of the egg puncture or extraction, they will be fertilized with sperm. The resulting embryos can be vitrified or transferred “fresh” to the recipient. This is done by synchronizing the cycles of both (donor and recipient).

Some clinics perform the IVF process (ICSI) with vitrified eggs, but there is a risk that when devitrifying them, some may be lost since they do not survive thawing. Likewise, we run the risk that when performing IVF they do not react in the same way as a freshly extracted egg and we may have a lower number and quality of embryos.

For a woman who has been recommended to donate, it is difficult to accept that the baby will not be genetically hers, but with the help of the specialist and with the appropriate selection of the donor, it is possible to have babies that even look like the intended mother.

The donor selection process must be carried out by experts on the subject. At FertyCare we have a team of experts who will guide you step by step to achieve your dream.