All About Egg Donation

For women who are encountering certain fertility issues, donated eggs can provide the missing piece to the fertility puzzle.

At NOVA IVF, we routinely handle both sides of the egg donation process — donating and receiving. 

Under the expert guidance of fertility specialists Drs. Meera Shah and Richard Schmidt, our practice helps women safely navigate the egg donation process for the best possible chances of success.

Here’s a closer look at egg donation.

Why donor eggs?

There are many reasons women turn to donor eggs to build their families, including:

• Early or premature menopause
• Ovarian failure
• Advanced age
• Poor egg quality
• Recurrent pregnancy loss
• Lack of response to ovarian stimulation

In some cases, women may have tried in vitro fertilization (IVF) with no success, which may be due to a problem with their eggs.

A donor of your choice

If you have an egg donor in mind, our first step is to perform an extensive evaluation of the egg donor’s health. For your best chances of success, we recommend donors who are in their 20s, which is when egg viability is usually highest.

We do our part and extensively screen and test your donor to ensure that she’s healthy on all fronts, including genetically.

Through blood tests and other analyses, we screen for more than 100 genetic diseases, sexually transmitted infections, and other health issues that may affect the health of her eggs.

Once we’re satisfied that your chosen donor meets our stringent criteria, we begin the egg donation process with your donor, which is exactly like the IVF process you may have already been through.

Choosing an anonymous donor

If you don’t have an egg donor in mind, there are many agencies from which to choose viable eggs. Rest assured, all reputable agencies perform the same evaluations that we do here at NOVA IVF to ensure that you receive the healthiest eggs possible.

These eggs are frozen, and we receive them here at our practice, where we perform the IVF and implantation.

If you’re unsure where to start in your search, we’re happy to help. We have relationships with many outstanding egg donation agencies.

Donating your eggs

If you want to donate eggs anonymously to help women achieve their dreams, we can help here, too. After extensively evaluating your health as we described above and establishing your candidacy, we start you on a hormone regimen to stimulate your ovaries.

Shortly before we retrieve your eggs, we give you an injection that helps your eggs to mature. The retrieval process itself is very quick: Using ultrasound guidance, we thread a needle into your ovaries and aspirate the eggs.

At this point, your role in the egg donation process comes to an end, as another woman’s journey begins.

If you’re interested in learning more about egg donation from either side of the fence, please contact our office in Mountain View, California, to set up an appointment.