The Ultimate Guide to Choosing an Egg Donor - 6 tips

In this guide, we will cover the 6 most important things to consider when choosing a donor from our egg donor database:

• Check the legislation in your country
• Decide the main criteria for your egg donor
• Decide the level of information you want about the donor
• Consider if your child should have the possibility to contact the donor (sometimes depends on the legislation in the country where you are having treatment)
• Make sure that the egg donor has enough eggs available for your treatment
• Choosing the right egg bank

Check the legislation in your country

Before looking through the egg donors in our database, you need to research the current legislation in your treatment country. Some countries only allow treatment with fresh donor eggs, while others only allow you to use a specific type of Egg Donor Profile. The easiest way to learn more about the legislation in your country is to speak to your fertility clinic or contact our Customer Care Consultants. If you want to read more about fresh vs frozen donor eggs, then follow the link.

Contact our Customer Care Consultants

How to choose the right egg bank

When choosing an egg bank there are a few things you can research before making your choice, to make sure that the egg bank lives up to your expectations:

• The screening process: When choosing an egg bank, you want to feel secure and confident regarding the quality of the donor eggs. At Cryos we have an extensive screening procedure to ensure that all our egg donors are healthy, young women with high-quality eggs. In fact, only about 4% of the women applying are approved as donors. The thorough screening process also ensures a high success rate when using our frozen donor eggs for fertility treatment.
• Variety of egg donors: Another important factor in choosing the right egg bank is the number of donors available in their database. Similar physical traits are important to most future parents, but many also prefer to learn more about the donors before choosing them. At Cryos, we have a lot of egg donors with different phenotypes and personalities available in our database.

Focus on the main criteria

Before you start searching for egg donors, we recommend deciding on two or three main criteria you would like the donor to fulfil. You may focus on a donor with similar physical traits or personality as yourself. If the criteria are too narrow once you begin, you may find yourself in a situation with a limited field to choose from. Try to figure out what is important to you and move on from there.

Decide the level of information you want about the donor

One of the main criteria we recommend you consider before you start the process is the level of information accessible about the donor. Are you only interested in finding a donor with similar physical traits as yourself, or are you more interested in a donor with a personality reminiscent of yours? In our egg donor database, there are two different types of profiles to choose from: Basic or Extended Egg Donor Profiles.

Many of our customers choose a donor with an Extended Profile because it includes childhood pictures of the donor. Thereby, giving future parents a possible glimpse into how their child may come to look. In some Extended Profiles, it is even possible to see pictures of egg donors as adults. 

Possibility of contact between the child and donor

The decision between a Non-ID Release (anonymous) and an ID Release (non-anonymous) donor is a question of whether you want to give your child the opportunity to contact the egg donor in the future. Some donor-conceived children want to meet their donor and know as much as possible about their genetic heritage, and in those cases, choosing an ID Release Egg Donor will be the right choice. Other donor-conceived children never wish to contact the donor even though they may appreciate having the possibility to do so. Obviously, you do not know how your child will feel, and therefore you should choose the type of profile you prefer.

You may not even have this choice, because of your country’s regulatory restrictions on this matter, which means that you can only use either Non-ID Release or ID Release donors. Therefore, we recommend you research the legislation in your country before deciding on your donor.

Usually, your fertility clinic can inform you about the current regulation. Otherwise, Cryos’ Customer Care Team will be happy to guide you.

Make sure that the egg donor has enough eggs available for your treatment

When you have narrowed down your search to 3-5 egg donors, you need to make sure each donor has enough eggs for your entire treatment cycle and the Cryos Donor Egg Guarantee. Most women need a few treatments to receive a positive pregnancy test. Consider making a reservation for extra eggs, to ensure that you have enough eggs for your entire fertility treatment – and for possible future siblings. Reservations are held at Cryos and can always be sold back to us.

The Cryos Egg Donor Guarantee

At Cryos we have a high success rate regarding the use of frozen donor eggs. Therefore, we are happy to offer you a guarantee on the purchased eggs. To qualify for the Cryos Donor Egg Guarantee, you need a minimum of six oocytes delivered to your fertility clinic. If you meet the qualifications, Cryos guarantees that treatment with the donor eggs will result in:

• One blastocyst (and possibly more)
• OR a pregnancy from embryos that have not reached the blastocyst stage by day 5

If these parameters are not met, we will replace six oocytes one time free of charge. If the culture does not result in a blastocyst on day 5, but viable embryos less than the blastocyst stage are available, a transfer must take place for the guarantee to be in effect.

If you are ready to begin your journey towards parenthood, we recommend you create a free account and start looking through the egg donors in our database. If you are unsure of how to approach the process of ordering donor eggs for fertility treatment, you can follow the link to our page How to get started with donor eggs.

See all our egg donors here