At Care Fertility, we want to make the process of egg donation as easy and straightforward as possible and give you all the information you need to decide whether egg donation is right for you. That’s why we’ve put together some of the most commonly asked questions by women considering donating their eggs, to help you decide.

What are the criteria for donating eggs?

• You must be between 18 and 35 years old
• You need to be fit and healthy, with no family history of hereditary illnesses
• For your safety, we can only accept donors with a BMI below 35
• You should be a non-smoker (this includes vaping)

If this sounds like you, click here to fill in our egg donation enquiry form, and one of our expert team members will be in touch to arrange a date for you to visit the clinic for your assessment tests.

What are the benefits of donating my eggs?

Egg donation is an opportunity to give someone the chance of becoming a parent, and it can be a truly rewarding experience. Your generosity can make a real difference to someone’s life and there are some great benefits to donating:

• Free fertility assessment: As part of the donor screening process, you’ll receive a free full fertility assessment. You’ll have a test to assess your levels of Antimullerian Hormone (AMH) and an ultrasound scan called an AFC, these will indicate your ovarian reserves, giving valuable insight into how you might manage your own fertility in the future.
• Compensation for your time: all our egg donors receive a payment of £750 per donation cycle to cover any expenses incurred while taking the time to donate.
• Giving someone the precious gift of parenthood: Having IVF treatment with donated eggs can increase chances of success from <5% to potentially over 80%, removing the pain of unsuccessful treatment and miscarriage so you know you’re truly making a difference.

How many times will I have to visit a Care Fertility clinic?

This will vary slightly from person to person but you will usually visit the clinic between 5-7 times. You will need to visit the clinic for your scans and blood tests, in between these appointments at the clinic, you’ll also have a number of virtual (either telephone or video call) appointments with our lovely donation team. Depending on your availability, we could bring you through to donation in as little as 12 weeks from your application.

Apply to donate – fill out our quick to register your interest in becoming an egg donor by clicking here.

Complete a medical questionnaire - You will be asked to fill in some online medical questionnaires, including details of any genetic illness within your family. This will be reviewed by one of our doctors, who will decide if you are able to proceed.

Phone appointment - You will have a phone appointment with one of our Registered Practitioners in Fertility Care (nurses/ midwives) to go through your forms and discuss the donation process in more detail.

Fertility assessment – you’ll come into the clinic for a vaginal scan and a hormone blood test to check how many eggs you have and to scan your womb and ovaries.

Further blood tests – to screen for infectious diseases.

Counselling session – After you’ve talked through the process with our donation team, we’ll also invite you to meet one of our experienced counsellors. This is a good chance to ask any questions you have and discuss the implications of donating your eggs.

Online consultation – Once you’re happy to go ahead with your donation, you’ll meet again with one of our Registered Practitioners in Fertility Care (Nurses/ Midwives) - this is usually done online. They’ll describe the donation journey in detail, and look at when you may be able to start treatment. If all is well, things can move quickly; you might start the process as soon as two to four weeks later.

Starting treatment – you will begin your injections to stimulate your ovaries. You’ll need to give yourself daily injections for around twelve days, which we’ll teach you how to do.

Monitoring – you may have one or two monitoring scans once you have started your stimulating drugs to monitor the progress of your eggs.

Egg collection – We’ll collect your eggs during a non-surgical procedure. It is typically done under mild sedation or local anaesthetic; you will not need a general anaesthetic. No incision is made, and no stitches are necessary!

Compensation - You will receive your compensation payment within two weeks of your egg collection.

Will I need to take time off work to donate?

We'll do whatever we can to make sure your donation isn't too disruptive. During the short monitoring stage, we'll need you to attend the clinic on specific days, but the appointments won't take long and can be scheduled to suit you where possible.

It will be necessary to take the day off of work on the day of your egg collection. Sometimes, donors feel more comfortable if they also take the next day off after their egg collection, but this is generally not necessary.

In reality, you should only have to visit the clinic around six times, but we'll give you as much support as possible to make sure your visits are convenient and stress-free.

Will donating my eggs affect my own fertility?

No, not at all – and it can give you an insight into your own fertility potential!

Women are born with all the egg cells they are ever going to have, between 1 and 2 million. By the time you’re in your 30s, you’ll have around 75,000 eggs left and each month you lose up to 1,000 eggs in a natural cycle, even though only one egg is naturally matured for fertilisation.

This means that the eggs we collect during your donation would either have been ovulated or absorbed by your body, and if you donate eggs, you’ll still have thousands of eggs left. Many of our donors even donate more than once.

Does egg donation hurt?

No, you shouldn't feel any pain. You may feel some discomfort, and of course different people respond differently to medical procedures, but our clinical teams work incredibly hard to keep you as comfortable as possible throughout your donation.

In the UK, there is a shortage of egg donors of all ethnicities, and many more eggs are needed to help women and couples to achieve their dream of having a baby. If you think you could give the gift of life or have any further questions or concerns regarding egg donation at Care Fertility, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Donate your eggs