This information was correct at the time of publishing. It may not reflect our current practices.
Does egg donation make you infertile, or diminish your egg supply? There are a lot of misconceptions around donating eggs, particularly relating to your own health and fertility.
Our Donation Team explores the facts, so you can make an informed and sound decision about whether egg donation is the right choice for you:
Myth 1: Donating eggs affects your fertility
Various studies have shown that egg donation doesn’t affect your ability to have a child yourself. Donating eggs doesn’t put you at an increased risk of infertility either.
Remember that the fertility drugs used are proven to be safe – they are the same as those used in IVF. These drugs replicate the body’s own natural hormones when producing eggs each month, including Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Human Chronic Gonadotropin (hCG), during the short ovarian stimulation process.
Myth 2: Donating eggs reduces your own egg supply
Although you may think that you’ll be ‘using up’ your eggs by donating, did you know that your body naturally uses several eggs each month just for ovulation?
Usually only one of all these immature eggs is grown and matured and released for ovulation, the rest are absorbed. What the fertility drugs do is to encourage more eggs to reach the right stage of maturity, so they can be retrieved and used in fertility treatment.
Myth 2: Egg donors are over-stimulated to produce lots of eggs
Many of the negative stories you’ll read about egg donation relate to high stimulation where women donate large numbers of eggs; and side-effects such as Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome.
At Manchester Donors, we do not over-stimulate our egg donors as it’s not only risky to your health but it means the quality of the eggs you donate is likely to be poor.
We use individualised protocols to ensure a safe ovarian response and a good number of quality eggs for donation. In comparison high stimulation protocols would result in around 20-30 eggs of varying quality and maturity.
Myth 3: Egg donors don’t get good care – the focus is on the recipient
Exceptional egg donor care is why so many women choose to donate to Manchester Fertility through our Manchester Donors programme. You are given considered consultant-led care, counselling and personal tailored support – just as we provide to the infertile couples and people we help.
Our high standards is why we were the first UK fertility clinic to be named a Centre of Excellence for egg donation and why we’re a preferred referral clinic for the National Gamete Donation Trust – the UK’s leading egg and sperm donor charity.
Myth 4: Egg donation takes too long
If you’re worried about egg donation fitting in with work or family commitments, we streamline it where we can to make it easy and convenient for you, helping to reduce travel time and appointments at our Cheshire clinic.
The actual process of donating eggs takes just a few weeks, with additional time needed for screening and counselling. You don’t need to live locally to our clinic to donate eggs with us, we welcome many women from across the North West who wish to be an egg donor and want the reassurance of an award-winning, established and successful donor-focused egg donor programme.
Myth 5: Egg donation is too risky to my own health
As with any medical procedure, egg donation does carry some risk. But the risk of side-effects is minimal if you donate to a programme like Manchester Donors, that focuses on an individualised stimulation protocol and prioritises egg donor health.
Through this approach, we very effectively reduce the risk of side-effects and complications for our donors, for a positive, safe and rewarding egg donation journey.
Egg donation with Manchester Donors
If you’re aged 18-35, a non-smoker in good health with no medical history of genetic or hereditary diseases you could be an egg donor with Manchester Donors. If you’d like to apply, complete our short no obligation online application form.
Egg donors receive £750 compensation for time and expenses; egg-sharers donating eggs as part of their IVF cycle receive subsidised IVF instead of compensation.
Chat to our Donation Team on 0161 300 2734 to find out more. You can also read our FAQs and browse our egg donation blog.
As a Centre of Excellence for egg donation in the UK, Manchester Donors is one of the busiest and most successful egg donor programmes in the country....
Start your journey to become an egg donor. Give the gift of life today!
