How to Choose an Egg Donor: A Step-by-Step Guide for Intended Parents

Step 1. Create an account to View Egg Donor Profiles 

We know that choosing a donor is a highly emotional and demanding process. To ease the stress and feelings of uncertainty for the recipients of donor eggs, we provide both childhood and adult photos of our open-id egg donors so you can imagine what your future could look like. Additionally, you can read all relevant donor information, and thus ensure similarity of yourself and the donor according to particular parameters: phenotype, age, hobbies, education, interests, and personal beliefs. 

After creating an account, you will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the donor's medical history and family overview. In our donor database, you can find data about the donor's allergies, hereditary diseases and the results of obligatory medical tests. In the family overview, you can find information about the family of a specific donor in the form of a genealogical tree.

Step 2. Establish Your Search Criteria 

Most intended parents already have established some certain criteria which their egg donor should fulfil. The following sections will address some of the most common criteria which you might want to consider when selecting your egg donor. Information related to all the listed criteria is available in our egg donor database. 

Physical Characteristics

One of the most important aspects to consider when choosing an egg donor is their physical appearance. It is favourable to choose a donor with a similar set of physical characteristics compared to the recipient. Finding an egg donor with similar hair colour, eye colour, height, and skin tone will ensure that the intended mother and future child will share more resemblance. 

• Appearance: hair and eye colour, height, skin tone,
• Type of donor: anonymous or open id donor
• Background: ethnic, religious.
• Personal background: education, personality, career, skills, talents 

Anonymous vs. Open-ID 

Intended parents must also decide whether they should have an anonymous or open-id donor. An anonymous donor is an individual whose personal information remains confidential. In their profile, the donor's photo is not provided, and they are not privy to any details regarding the recipient or the specific cycle in which their biological material is utilised.

Open ID, or known donors are individuals who opt for transparency and do not wish to keep their identity confidential. Children born from these donor eggs can access the donor's information once they turn 18, including their full name, country, city, address, contact phone number, and email.You can read more about Anonymous vs. Open-ID donors here. 

Background 

Lastly, egg recipients should consider the individual's background when selecting an egg donor. This includes criteria related to the donor's education, personality, career, skills, talents, ethnicity and religious beliefs. Our database is constantly changing, so we recommend that you explore our catalogue often. This way, you'll know which donors you haven't checked out yet.

Step 3. Review the Medical History of the Donor Match

One of the most important things to know about your egg donor is her overall health. As we mentioned before, in medical history, you can find data about allergies, hereditary diseases and obligatory medical tests of each donor. However, at Ovoria, we conduct comprehensive donor screening and delve into the donors' family medical history, so there will be no genetic diseases that could be passed on to your child.

Step 4. Contact Us to Get More Information or Help 

Our experienced team of professionals consists of fertility specialists, embryologists, and geneticists all have academic degrees in medicine and are members of ESHRE, ASRM, and UARM. We are at your disposal and will help you with your questions or disappointments. Our goal is to provide guidance and support through constantly improved employee knowledge and skills, and implement cutting-edge technology to turn your dream of a happy family into reality.

You can also contact us via phone or fill the form and we will get back to you within 24 working hours:

• United Kingdom: +44 203 807 90 07
• Canada: +1 613 416 90 70
• France: +33 17 997 89 88
• Spain: +34 91 008 29 88
• Brazil: +55 613 181 04 88

What are the main criteria for egg donors in Ovoria Egg Bank?

Ovoria Egg Bank has strict requirements for women who want to donate eggs. Thus, we are able to guarantee oocytes of the highest quality. The requirements include; 

• young fertile women at the age of 18-32;
• perfectly physically and mentally healthy;
• thoroughly screened and rescreened;
• without detrimental habits or addictions;
• with proven fertility (have at least one own healthy child);
• without hereditary diseases and negative phenotypic signs.

After Choosing the Right Egg Donor - The Egg Donation Process

After finding a donor, the intended parents will start their treatment process at their fertility clinic. This often entails an In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), a medical procedure known as one of the fertility treatments with the highest success rates. In general, the fertility treatment includes the following stages;

1. Matching
2. Screening and monitoring for the donor and recipients
3. Egg retrieval
4. Embryo transfer
5. Pregnancy test

To learn more about the egg donation process, you can visit our website. 

References

• Rubin, L. R., de Melo-Martin, I., Rosenwaks, Z., & Cholst, I. N. (2015). Once you're choosing, nobody's perfect: is more information necessarily better in oocyte donor selection?. Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 30(3), 311-318. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1472648314006798.

• Gezinski, L. B., Karandikar, S., White, M., & Kaloga, M. (2016). " I may not know you but I know you'll make great parents." An analysis of egg donor profiles. International Journal of Child Health & Human Development, 9(2). Retrieved from https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB%3Agcd%3A1%3A759057/detailv2?sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Ascholar&id=ebsco%3Agcd%3A118800307&crl=c.

• Berkson, M. (2014). Choosing Egg Donors and Gestational Carriers: Avoiding the Pitfalls. Third-Party Reproduction: A Comprehensive Guide, 227-230. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-7169-1_20.

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