Become an Egg Donor

Who could donate eggs?

• Healthy women between the ages of 21 and 32
• Non-smoking
• You must live locally in the New York area
• BMI <30 (Calculate your BMI)

Some egg donors are chosen by a recipient couple and their identities are known to one another. Sisters, cousins, and other close relatives often agree to donate eggs. Known private donors receive the same screening that an anonymous donor receives. If you are a known private donor, we can make arrangements to coordinate testing in your local area.

With multiple fertility centers in the NYC area, our donor egg program serves patients from Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island (Five Towns), and even Lower Manhattan, New York. Find the location nearest you.

Privacy

Although the donation is completely anonymous, some information about the donor is provided to the recipient couple, such as height, hair color, eye color and ethnic background. However, no identifying information is ever provided to the recipient couple. Photographs will be shown to recipients only after you sign consent and approve.

By the same token, you will not know the identities of the recipient couple, and we will not tell you whether a pregnancy was achieved after the donation cycle is completed.

What is involved in the screening process?

First an application needs to be filled out. The application will include yours and your family health history and send a recent picture. The application could be downloaded from the website, you could contact the donor egg coordinator at 929-379-0149, or email thirdparty@genesisfertility.com.

Once your application has been received, the coordinator will review it and contact you to schedule your screening appointments.

Your initial screening appointment will involve meeting with the egg donor coordinator and one of our physicians. Our physician meets with potential donors to discuss your family history to assess any potential risk for genetic conditions. The physician will also explain the procedures, medications and risks associated with an egg donation cycle. You will also receive a physical examination and an ultrasound examination. The donor will have blood drawn to test for infectious diseases and hormone evaluation; in addition there will be a drug screening test and cultures done.

Once all the tests come back negative and within the normal range the potential donors will undergo a psychological evaluation with our psychologist who has experience counseling egg donors and infertility patients. Our psychologist will talk to you about some of the complicated issues surrounding egg donation and give you a standard MMPI psychological exam. During this appointment the potential donor will have genetic testing done.

If the screening results indicate that the potential donor would be an ideal donor, we attempt to match up the donor to a recipient couple. This part of the process can take some time and depends on the particular needs of our recipient couples. After the match is determined, the egg donation cycle can begin.

The Egg Donation process

Overview: Egg donation involves taking injectable medications for approximately one month to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. Donors meet privately with one of the nurses at GENESIS to learn how to administer the injections. The overall concept of egg donation involves suppressing the donor’s own natural cycle and administering injections of natural hormones to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. It is important to suppress the donor’s own hormone levels so that the physicians can carefully control the amount of hormones affecting the donor’s ovaries during the egg donation cycle. Through careful monitoring, the physician can determine when the eggs look ready to be retrieved. The eggs are retrieved just before ovulation, using a surgical procedure. A more detailed description of the procedures involved follows.

Medications: Birth control will be prescribed to donors that need to have their cycle regulated. Donors will then be taking a medication to suppress the natural cycle of egg development in their ovaries. Gonadotropins, natural hormones that stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs are taken once you get a period for about two weeks via an evening injection. The last medication is taken to help the donors ovulate within 36 hours. This injection is taken at a specific time, approximately 36 hours before the egg retrieval procedure. The most common side effects of these medications are headaches, bloating and moodiness. The main risk of these medications is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, or OHSS (described below).

Monitoring: Throughout the egg donation cycle, and especially while donors take gonadotropins, the ovaries must be monitored carefully with ultrasounds and blood tests. Donors must come into the office every day or every other day for monitoring while taking gonadotropins. Monitoring hours varies by office location however it occurs during early morning hours. During weekends and Holidays the hours will be between 7am to 8am. Ultrasound examinations use sound waves to visualize the ovaries. To perform an ultrasound, a small probe is placed inside the vagina. The process takes a few minutes and is not painful. The blood tests measure your estrogen level, which is another way to determine the progress of egg development.

Egg retrieval: When the developing eggs look ready to be retrieved, our physician and anesthesiologist work together to perform a surgical procedure which takes place in the operating room in our center. You will receive anesthesia so that you sleep comfortably during the procedure. A needle is inserted through the vagina into the ovaries, and the eggs are retrieved. The procedure takes about fifteen minutes. Afterwards, you’ll rest in our recovery room until you are ready for your friend or partner to take you home. You will rest for the remainder of that day. You may have light vaginal bleeding and some abdominal cramping. A heating pad or acetaminophen (Tylenol) can help ease this discomfort. Approximately two weeks later, you would return for a follow-up visit for an examination with the physician and to receive your compensation.

Will there be compensation?

After egg retrieval donors will receive $9500 to compensate for their time and effort. This compensation is reported to the IRS as taxable income. Due to reasons of confidentiality, we are not able to inform donors whether a pregnancy resulted from their donation. However, donors often feel much fulfillment knowing that they have given an infertile couple the chance to have a baby. Whether or not a pregnancy results, egg donors are greatly appreciated for the very generous gift they are able to provide.

What are the risks?

The medicines and procedures of egg donation are unlikely to affect your future fertility, and it is rare that they would cause any major harm to your health. The risks of the medications can include cysts on the ovaries and a condition called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). In this condition, the ovaries become very large and may cause significant discomfort and fluid in the abdomen. Although mild OHSS is common, more severe cases of OHSS are rare and could require admission to a hospital and careful monitoring.

The risks of the egg retrieval can include infection, bleeding that could require a blood transfusion or major surgery, or a puncture that injures the bowel or the bladder. These are very rare events. To prevent infection, you will take an antibiotic before the egg retrieval.

You should either abstain from intercourse or use barrier contraception, such as a condom, during the egg donation cycle and until you get your period after egg retrieval (usually two weeks after egg retrieval). We also ask that you avoid strenuous exercise while you are taking the gonadotropins. Because your ovaries are enlarged during this time, there is a chance that the ovaries could twist during high-impact aerobic activities.

Ready to become an egg donor? Then download the application form. Please fill it out and either email thirdparty@genesisfertility.com or fax back to our Donor Program Coordinator at Genesis, at 929-560-2718.