How does egg donation work?

Being an egg donor is a significant and special experience.

Giving such a meaningful gift to someone in need can be very rewarding.

The process also requires a significant time commitment and can be physically demanding as you reach the end.

• You’ll need to visit our clinic for several appointments

• You’ll be required to take fertility medicines, including at-home injections

• You may feel bloated, tired and sore towards the end and after your donation

• This part of the process takes around three months

The whole process, from your application to post-donation screening and payment, takes around six months.

Despite this, many of our donors choose to donate eggs more than once.

Hear Rachel’s experience of donating eggs three times.

You can start an egg donation cycle six months after giving birth.

You must also wait three months after finishing breastfeeding.

You cannot donate eggs while breastfeeding.

You must wait three months after finishing breastfeeding before you can start an egg donation cycle.

Most people feel uncomfortable and sore just before and after donating, but the egg collection itself shouldn’t hurt.

We offer sedation and painkillers to help.

Usually, the body releases one egg per cycle, but egg donation requires a batch of eggs.

To achieve this, you’ll take fertility medicines to stimulate extra egg production.

We tailor the medicines, dose, and timing to you.

The medicines may include:

• Medicine to suppress your menstrual cycle at the beginning, which could be a contraceptive or a nasal spray

• Daily or twice daily injections of gonadotrophins to stimulate egg growth

• An injection of hCG to stimulate the final stage

The HFEA regulates egg donation and offers more information about the process.

It’s a myth that egg donation uses up your eggs.

But it’s easy to see where the confusion starts.

You may have heard about egg count (ovarian reserve) and the concept of 'running out of eggs'.

But this is talking about your overall supply.

Every month, multiple eggs start developing. One is released and the rest naturally die off.

During egg donation, we use fertility medicines to keep these eggs growing, so that we can collect a batch.

Donating your eggs doesn't affect your future fertility potential.

You’ll come to the clinic for several appointments, including:

• Your first consultation and fertility appointment

• Your genetic screening and tests for infections

• Your specialist counselling and consent appointment

• Scans to check when your eggs are ready

• Your collection day

• A follow-up appointment

Our egg donors usually come for 7-9 appointments in total.

We have local satellite clinics where you can have some of your tests and scans closer to home, which can save a lot of time. You can also ask to have your counselling done virtually to reduce trips into the clinic.

You can usually donate eggs while using:

• The copper coil

• The Mirena coil if you have regular periods

Only oral contraceptives would need to be stopped and coils don't need to be removed.

You can keep taking these contraceptives right up until you start your fertility medicines:

• The Mirena coil if you don’t have regular periods

You can’t usually donate eggs if you’re currently using:

• The implant

• Depo injections

• The progesterone-only mini-pill

If you’re not sure – don’t worry.

Just ask our fertility nurses and they’ll explain what to do.

The fertility medicines used for egg collection can have side effects.

For most people, these are mild or moderate, and include:

• Feeling bloated

• Stomach pain

• Tender breasts

• Mood swings

With IVF, about 1 in 100 women may experience a severe reaction called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.

The symptoms include:

• Feeling or being sick

• Breathlessness

• Feeling faint

Your nurse will explain what to expect when taking fertility medicine and what to do if you feel unwell.

There’s no official limit to how many times you can donate eggs, but it’s usually advised to only donate 3-6 times in your life.

UK regulations allow your eggs to be used in creating a maximum of 10 families.

The number of eggs collected varies, but it’s usually around 10 eggs.

On average this is enough to help 1-2 people have fertility treatment.

This is because not all the eggs will fertilise, and we only implant 1 or 2 embryos at a time.