How to Select an Egg Donor

If your physician has suggested that you need egg donation, the process of selecting an egg donor can be rather daunting and can feel overwhelming. This can also involve grieving, as your realize that, with egg donation, you'd be losing the hope of a genetic link to your future child.

It's true that your child will not have your genes, but you will be the child's mother, and your influence in raising and nurturing that child will cannot be overstated. 

And as it's been said, even if you have a genetically related child, "There's no lifeguard at the gene pool." 

No matter which donor you select, you are going to love and cherish this child regardless of eye color, hair color, or other physical characteristics.

Types of Egg Donors

• An anonymous egg donor is one that is not personally known to you. With anonymous egg donation, the egg donor��s true identity (name and address) is kept confidential in order to ensure privacy and anonymity. Similarly, your identity will not be disclosed to the donor. The majority of egg donors are anonymous.
   
  • In some cases, the intended parents select the anonymous egg donor from an infertility clinic or independent egg donor agency list. Typically, donors are listed online, along with quite a bit of information about the donors, plus one or more photos.
     
  • In other cases, you may be working with an egg donor program that will do the matching on your behalf, usually by finding a donor that matches your physical characteristics.
     
• A known egg donor is one which you find on your own. She might be a friend or relative, or you might advertise for an egg donor.

Egg donor minimum requirements

Whether a donor is anonymous, or known, minimum requirements should be met in order to qualify. Requirements are set by the clinic or egg donor agency, and do vary to some extent. Some examples of minimum requirements are that the donor candidate:

• be between the ages of 21 and 32
• be a non-smoker
• have no personal/family history of drug abuse
• have no personal/family history of alcoholism
• have no personal/family history of depression
• have an acceptable health history
• have not gotten new tattoos or piercings in the last 12 months
• have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 30. BMI is measured by using your height and weight (BMI calculator)
• be available for all necessary appointments, including psychological evaluation, medical appointments at the IVF clinic or laboratories (or if from out of town, able to travel and stay for the medical appointments where the IVF clinic is located)
• has a history of a past pregnancy (can be helpful, but is not typically required)

Screening

All donor candidates, known or anonymous, must be thoroughly screened before being accepted as a donor. Screening could take from one to two months to complete. Types of screening are:

• Medical screening
• Psychological counseling
• Genetic counseling