Many young women are curious about whether they can donate their eggs to other couples. Sometimes they wish to help someone they know. Sometimes they wish to help strangers. Sometimes they’ve simply heard that donating eggs is a relatively easy way to make a significant amount of cash that they may need to improve their lives.
No matter what your motivation for donating eggs, each egg donor must go through a screening process to ensure that they’re physically and mentally healthy. At OC Fertility Dr. Sharon Moayeri, Dr. Nidhee Sachdev and their team conduct screening tests to determine if you’re a good candidate for egg donation.
If you’re curious about egg donation, the following questions may help you decide if it’s right for you. If you seem to be a match, contact our team to start the screening process.
Most egg donors that we select are between the ages of 19 and 29. This age range ensures that it’s most likely that you’re fertile. You should also be old enough to understand the implications and responsibilities of egg donation.
Your health is an important part of being an egg donor. Even though you won’t become pregnant, your overall health still affects the health of your eggs. It also predicts how well you react to the stresses of the donation process.
Generally, you should have a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9. You can check your BMI here. If you’re an athlete or are particularly muscular, that may throw off your BMI calculations, which we take into consideration.
Being healthy is paramount to becoming an egg donor. In addition to a healthy BMI, you must have a healthy lifestyle, which includes:
No smoking
No alcohol abuse
Not use of recreational drugs
No sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
No underlying health conditions
You also should have no personal or family history of genetic disorders
Before becoming an egg donor, you must undergo an intense screening process. First, you fill out an application form to ensure you meet the bare requirements, such as being in the right age range for donation.
Next, you undergo testing for STDs, other infections, genetic disorders, and general health. You’re also tested to be sure that you’re mentally healthy and can handle the emotional as well as physical stresses of the egg donation process.
Even if you pass your egg donor tests, the tests aren’t yet done. Throughout the process where we stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple eggs in a single cycle, you must come to our office for tests that monitor your progress, including vaginal ultrasound and blood tests.
The expense of all tests and examinations are paid for by the donor service. You won’t have any medical expenses related to the donor egg process.
Normally, your ovaries release one ripened egg per monthly menstrual cycle. For donation purposes, however, you must regularly inject yourself with hormone-containing drugs that stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple eggs per cycle.
When your ovaries produce more eggs than is natural for them, you may experience cramping, mood swings, and bloating. The egg retrieval process can also have side effects, such as cramping.
In addition, you must refrain from sexual intercourse or any sex play that could accidentally result in sperm coming in contact with your eggs. The entire process of producing and retrieving eggs takes about a month.
To be a donor, you must sign legal documents that ensure you have no parental rights to any children that are created from your eggs. When you and the parents sign the contract, both signatures are anonymous, except in the case when you’re donating to friends or relatives. In those cases, too, you need to sign contracts that limit or dissolve your rights.
Do you still think egg donation might be right for you? If so, contact our team today by calling 949-706-2229. Or, simply book an appointment on our website.
