Thanks to their generosity and selflessness, egg donors make the impossible possible for countless numbers of infertile couples around the world. It’s thanks to these women that thousands of couples can call themselves parents to a little bundle of joy.
At Asian Egg Bank, we pride ourselves on having a process that is comfortable for both the donor and prospective parents.
The Donation Process
- Screening: First, we require every donor to fill out a brief questionnaire that asks about their physical, mental, and sexual health, as well as basic personal information.
- Application: If your first screening questionnaire is approved, you’ll be asked to fill out a second, more detailed application. You’ll also be asked to undergo psychological and medical testing to ensure your interview questionnaire was truthful.
- Donor Database Listing: Once your screening and application have been completed and approved, your information can be added to our egg donor database.
- Match With Intended Parents or Apply for Frozen Egg Donation: As a donor, you’ll be asked if you want to donate your eggs fresh or frozen. If you qualify our criteria for our Frozen Egg Banking option, you can begin the process right away. If you chose to be matched with intended parents through fresh egg donation cycle, you’ll have to wait until a match has been found.
- Ovarian Stimulation: Ovarian stimulation will take place two weeks before your egg retrieval process is scheduled. The purpose of ovarian stimulation is to increase the number of eggs you produce and the chances of a successful pregnancy from your donated eggs. Ovarian stimulation takes place in the form of hormone injections. Egg donors are required to give themselves 1-2 injections a day and the injections must be administered at specific times. Our staff will provide all donors with extensive training regarding how to safely give yourself a shot.
- Egg Retrieval: The final, and arguably quickest, step is the egg retrieval. The procedure takes roughly 20 minutes to complete and most patients are able to return home shortly after they wake up from the light IV sedation they’re placed under.
An In-depth Look at the Screening and Application Process
What We Screen For
To provide prospective parents with the healthiest eggs possible, we hold egg donors to a very high standard. Though not having/abiding by one of these factors won’t automatically prevent you from donating, we typically look for women who are:
- Physically healthy: Women who are between 21 – 30, exercise regularly, and eat a healthy diet are those most likely to be chosen. We also require applicants to have regular periods.
- Mentally healthy: We consider a woman’s mental health just as much a priority as physical health. First and foremost, we want to make sure that any woman donating her eggs is emotionally able to handle the donation process. Secondly, psychological traits such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia, can be passed down just like physical ones.
- College educated: Though college-educated women are those most likely to be chosen by a couple, women with a high school degree are also welcome to apply.
- Of Asian ancestry: Though women of all races are welcome to apply and will be considered, we prefer those with Asian ancestry.
Factors That Can Cause You to Be Rejected
- Poor mental or physical health: Most women who don’t qualify do so because of poor mental and/or physical health. Women who smoke, are overweight, drink excessively, have a history of drug use, or are mentally unstable will not pass our screenings.
- You’ve donated too many times: For both the health of the donor and the health of the eggs, we recommend not donating more than six times throughout your life. This guideline is also in place for the children that will be born from these eggs, since the more often a woman donates, the more half-siblings will exist.
- STI-free: Past, curable STIs will likely not prevent you from donating, however women with incurable STIs are not eligible to donate.
- You recently traveled to a Zika-affected country: If you traveled to Mexico, South America, or any other country affected by Zika recently, you may be asked to wait up to six months before donating.
- A recent tattoo or body piercing: If you recently got a tattoo or piercing of any kind, you may also be asked to wait at least 12 months before donating.
Your Health and Safety are our Main Concerns
From cancer risks to future fertility, donating is a safe procedure that does not have any long-term effects on the donor’s health. To ensure the health of our donors, we take every precaution possible. During the ovarian stimulation phase, we optimize each medication dose to prevent an extreme amount of eggs from being harvested per cycle. We only use Lupron trigger injection (as opposed to HCG injection) which virtually eliminates the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).
Deciding Between Becoming a Fresh or Frozen Egg Donor
Women are given the option to choose between becoming a fresh or frozen donor. The main difference between both options is timing. A frozen egg donation cycle can be done immediately after a woman completes, and passes, the application process because her eggs will be held in a “bank” for future couples to choose from.
In a fresh egg cycle, the donor is matched with a couple before her eggs are retrieved (a process that can take several months). The donor’s menstrual cycle may be synced with the recipient’s cycle so that the retrieved eggs can be implanted in the recipient right away.
Compensation
The decision to donate your eggs is one that could have far-reaching effects and span generations. To show our appreciation for donors, women are compensated for their time and efforts invested in this donation process.
Fertility Information
During our genetic and physical testing, donors learn about their reproductive health and their risk of certain hereditary diseases. If for any reason we discover a woman is unable to donate, we still share all of the information we learned with her. We believe that the better educated a woman is about her health, the better she can take care of herself and plan for the future.
Financial Compensation
With a process that’s designed to weed out women donating exclusively for a paycheck, we’re confident that women donate at Asian Egg Bank because they truly want to give the gift of life to another couple.
That being said, donors do have to travel, undergo minor surgery, and part with something near and dear to their heart. For that reason, we offer donors financial compensation of $8,000 for a first-time donation and for repeated cycles it could be more, up to $15,000. Though donors can use that money how they please, we find that many women use this money to help pay for the cost of college tuition, pay back tuition debt, or to fund their own egg freezing cycle in the future.
Do you have a question we didn’t answer here? Give us a call at 858-381-3224 for more information!
Asian Egg Bank was established to satisfy the ever-rising demand for Asian egg donors. Thanks to rigorousquality and screening standards, we are able to offer the highest quality eggs and surrogacy services to improve the chances of a successful pregnancy.