Candidates for egg donation include married or single women with one or more of the following conditions: premature ovarian failure, malfunction of the reproductive organs, chromosomal abnormalities, genetic disorders, removal of the ovaries or radiation to the ovaries, and advanced maternal age. Also, IVF patients who have had a poor response to stimulation or poor quality eggs may also be candidates.

Your initial consultation will include a meeting with one of the physicians to review your medical history and may include a physical exam, blood testing, ultrasound, Pap test and cultures. On that day or a later date you will also be scheduled to meet with a nurse coordinator to review the program in detail, discuss the required testing (see recipient screening tests below) for you and your partner and to schedule your consultation with our psychologist. Your visit will conclude with a financial consultation to review the cycle costs, insurance reimbursement and payment schedules. Allow approximately 3 hours for this initial visit.

Standard testing per the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) guidelines include screening for sexually transmitted diseases, infectious diseases such as Hepatitis and HIV, and hormonal evaluations, among others. The uterine cavity will be evaluated using several methods to ensure its receptivity at the time of embryo transfer. Since pregnancy puts added stress on a woman’s body, if you are 45 or older, you will need to obtain medical clearance before starting in our program and may need to do some additional testing.

Donors can be either Known (family member/friend) or Anonymous. Anonymous donors are viewed by clicking on a secured link through our website. You will be given a password to view the profiles of the available donors. Once you have selected your donor you will talk with the egg donor coordinator to discuss next steps. Depending on what donor you select there could be a waiting period for that particular donor.

Donors must undergo extensive physical and psychological testing before they are accepted into our program. Anonymous donors must be 21-28 years of age while known donors do not have an age limit. It is important to note that known donors, regardless of their age, must have sufficient ovarian function to respond adequately to stimulation. A woman may donate a maximum of 5 times. If you choose to use an anonymous donor you will be given a complete medical history of the donor and her family as well as a thorough description of her physical characteristics.

IVF using donated eggs can be quite expensive. First, the recipient of the eggs must pay for the blood tests, medications and ultrasounds for both parties. Then the donor receives compensation for donating. Depending on the recipient’s insurance, some of these fees may not be covered. If her insurance does not cover any of these expenses, one cycle of IVF with donor egg can cost over $20,000.

Many different types of women chose to become donors. Often, the donor is a young mother or a full time student who finds donation a way to supplement her income and satisfy her unselfish desires at the same time. All donors undergo thorough screening before being accepted into the program.

Here at RMA, we carefully recruit and screen young women who meet our stringent criteria. Some recipients may prefer to use an outside agency to select a donor. This is certainly an option and we will work with outside agencies. These agencies may have carefully screened their applicants, or they may not have done screening at all. In these cases, we will review the donor’s records and if necessary, we may request that the donor undergo additional tests.

Yes, provided that she undergoes the same screening tests (HIV, hepatitis, psychological screening, etc) that any other donor would undergo.

Yes, she would be called a “gestational carrier”. In many cases like this, the patient may have a friend or relative who is willing to carry the pregnancy. Both women would need to undergo screening and evaluation, and then their hormonal cycles would need to be synchronized much like a donor egg cycle. We have extensive experience with these specialized procedures.