Donor Egg Recipient - FAQS
Medically reviewed by Norbert Gleicher, MD, FACOG, FACS - Written by CHR Staff - Updated on Nov 15, 2014
Egg Donor Recipient Questions
1) Can we view egg donor photos?
In a vast majority of cases, yes. Some of our donors also have videos. A few of our egg donors allow us to show their photos only in the office, but not online. In this case, you can request to see their photos when you visit us for consultation or tests. In the very rare situation where the egg donor does not want to release her picture, the physician will describe the donor in great detail during your consultation. Our physicians take the matching process very seriously, and understand that many recipients want their donors to resemble them - and not just in hair and eye color.
2) How can we be sure that CHR's egg donors will produce good results?
We always say that there is no guarantee in medicine, just as there are no guarantees in life! That said, we take great precaution in selecting donors for our egg donor program, probably more than any other program.
Just take a look at the detailed questionnaire every donor must fill out. You can be assured that all our donors are healthy, with no known genetic problems in the family, have excellent ovarian reserve, do not use controlled substance, and are personable and high achievers in various fields. Amongst approximately 60-70 donor applications we receive weekly, only 1-3% end up admitted into our program's egg donor pool. We have the luxury of rejecting many good candidates because we receive so many applications--something most egg donor programs struggle with.
Bottom line: Our egg donors are not just young; they are thoroughly investigated and have excellent ovarian reserve!
3) Will we be able to "know" the donor? Will the donor ever know who we are?
The answer to both questions is in principle a NO. CHR's egg donor program is strictly anonymous. Neither donor nor recipient receives identifying information about the other.
CHR, however, does accommodate direct ("open") donations, when patients already have their known donors arranged or, when on rare occasions, one of our own donors expresses interest in meeting their recipient. Such donors are rare, and if one of our donors is interested in an "open" donation, we will advise recipients of such an option.
4) How much information about a donor can I receive?
More than you would think! You will be surprised how much you can know about a donor without ever receiving identifying information. From physical characteristics to educational level to personal interest and life's ambitions, we share a lot about our donors with our recipient couples so that the recipients can feel sure that the donor is "the one."
The basic egg donor wishlist system shows you a significant amount of information about our donors. Once you become our patient through a consultation with one of our physicians, you will be given access to an extended wishlist system with more in-depth information on each of our donors.
5) What happens if the first egg donor cycle does not end in pregnancy?
About a third of the fresh donor cycle do not result in a pregnancy. While this is unfortunate, a negative pregnancy test at the end of the first egg donor cycle usually does not mean that you have to start all over again. In our program, you receive all the eggs that your donor produces in a cycle. Since most of our young and healthy donors produce a good number of eggs, you, likely, will have a handful of frozen (cryopreserved) embryos left over. If the fresh embryo transfer does not result in a pregnancy, in the following month, you can try a frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycle (FET) , at a much lower cost than the initial fresh cycle. Cumulatively, our egg donor program has about 85-90% pregnancy chances (pregnancy chances from all the eggs retrieved from one fresh egg donor cycle).
6) What is an LDD (long-distance donor)?
Long-distance donors (LDD) are egg donors who live outside of the immediate NYC metropolitan area who will have to travel to our center for egg donation. Most of our New York egg donors live close to our center, but occasionally we recruit exceptional young women from outside the area in order to match the amazing diversity of our international patient population. When this happens, the donor is identified as a long-distance donor (LDD). LDDs go through the exact same screening process as any other donor, and receive exactly the same compensation as local donors. However, recipients working with a long-distance donor will be charged for the donor's local monitoring expenses, travel, hotel and sustenance during her trip to New York City. These donors are identified with LDD in our egg donor database.
Take a look at our donor database
Norbert Gleicher, MD, FACOG, FACS
Norbert Gleicher, MD, leads CHR’s clinical and research efforts as Medical Director and Chief Scientist. A world-renowned specialist in reproductive endocrinology, Dr. Gleicher has published hundreds of peer-reviewed papers and lectured globally while keeping an active clinical career focused on ovarian aging, immunological issues and other difficult cases of infertility.