How to Choose an Egg Donor – The Ultimate Guide
This is an exciting moment in your journey towards parenthood. You have chosen to use an egg donor to make your dreams come true and now you must find the perfect one. However, we understand having to choose a donor can be an overwhelming process. This is why we have made this guide for you. Read along to learn the most important things to consider when choosing an egg donor.
In this guide, we will cover the 5 most important things to consider when choosing a donor from our egg donor database:
- How to choose the right egg bank
- 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
1. Choose the right egg bank
When choosing an egg donor, you must first choose an egg bank to purchase donor eggs from. When doing so, it is essential to consider the following factors to ensure that you find a reputable and reliable institution that meets your needs:
- Screening process: Focus on egg banks that implement a rigorous screening process. A thorough screening process is related to good quality donor eggs, and good quality donor eggs can increase your chances of success with fertility treatment. At Cryos, only 4% of the applicants get approved as donors.
- Variety of egg donors: Having a large and diverse pool of donors to choose from often helps with finding an egg donor you truly like. Many future parents want to find an egg donor with similar physical or character traits. At Cryos, we offer a wide range of egg donors with different phenotypes, ethnicities, and personalities.
2. Try to be flexible when starting your search
If you are too specific in your search for an egg donor, you may end up excluding many good candidates. We recommend you filter donors based on 2-3 criteria. For example, ethnicity, eye color, and height. Determining what is the most important to you and what you can be flexible with is the best way to start your search.
3. Establish how much you want to know about the donor
When choosing an egg donor, it is important to figure out the amount of information you would like to have about her. At Cryos, we have two types of donor profiles: Basic or Extended. A Basic Donor Profile provides basic information like physical appearance and blood type. An Extended Donor Profile provides extras like voice recordings, handwritten letters, and childhood photos.
If you want to know as little as possible about the donor, we suggest you choose a Basic Donor Profile. But, if you want to choose an egg donor with similar personality traits to you or your partner, we suggest you focus on donors with Extended Donor Profiles.
4. Consider if you want your child to have the option of contacting the donor in the future
For some donor-conceived children, it may be important to know who their genetic parents are. That is why when trying to conceive with donor eggs, you should consider whether you want your child to have the option of contacting the donor in the future.
Donors can be ID Release (not anonymous) or Non-ID Release (anonymous). If you choose an ID Release egg donor, your child can contact us when they turn 18 and receive the donor’s latest known contact information. If you choose a Non-ID Release egg donor, we can never provide your child with the donor’s information.
5. Make sure that the donor has enough eggs available for your treatment
You never know how many rounds of fertility treatment you may need before a positive pregnancy test, so make sure to check for donors who have multiple eggs available. If you are set on a specific donor, we highly recommend you make a reservation as we have learned that even donors with lots of eggs can sell out fast and unexpectedly.
You will also probably want to check the donor has enough eggs for your purchase to qualify for the Cryos Blastocyst Guarantee:
- When you buy a minimum of six oocytes, but your fertility treatment does not result in at least one blastocyst or a pregnancy from embryos that have not reached the blastocyst stage by day 5, Cryos will replace the eggs one time free of charge.
Cryos is here for you
We hope this guide helps you narrow your Egg Donor Search so that you can find the match of your family dreams! 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 on how to get started with donor eggs.
If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact us. Our Customer Care Team is ready to help you via phone at +1 (407) 203 1175, via e-mail at [email protected], or via live chat on our website.