IVF treatment using frozen donated eggs
Egg Donation IVF using frozen eggs with Care
The aim of our egg bank is to give our patients a wide choice of donors with little or no wait. You will be able to select your egg donor online and then have your treatment at one of our world leading clinics.
The benefits of IVF treatment using frozen eggs
- Excellent success rates. We do everything we can to give you your best chance of success. Our success rates are comparable whether you use fresh or frozen eggs. Our clinical pregnancy rate in 2019 was 48% for treatments with frozen eggs and 47% for treatments with fresh eggs.
- A more flexible approach to treatment. Your embryo transfer can be done with your natural cycle, or at a time that suits you. Because we have already collected and frozen the eggs, you won’t have to synchronise with your donor’s cycle.
- No treatment disruptions. Sometimes, synchronised (fresh) cycles sadly have to be cancelled at the last minute if a donor’s stimulation doesn’t go to plan. In a frozen egg cycle, the eggs have already been successfully collected and carefully frozen in our lab, ready to be thawed for treatment at your convenience.
- More certainty. There will be less chance of a cancelled cycle which can happen when using fresh eggs, either due to your donor pulling out for personal reasons or because not enough eggs are collected.
- Reduced stress and anxiety. Our fresh donor programme is highly successful and will remain the appropriate choice for some of our patients. However, our frozen egg programme reduces anxiety as we can provide your treatment cycle around you rather than your donor, with the assurances that the eggs are already collected and waiting for you.
- Quicker Treatment. There can be a shorter time between choosing your donor and having treatment as you will have a bank of already-collected eggs to choose from.
What is frozen egg donation?
We freeze eggs with a process called vitrification that allows eggs to be frozen and thawed successfully without being damaged. This method freezes eggs instantly at -196⁰C using liquid nitrogen and is so effective that an estimated 97% of eggs survive the freeze-thaw process.
Thousands of babies have now been born worldwide from treatment using previously-frozen eggs, and we are using this technology to offer frozen donor eggs from our bank for immediate treatment without the need to synchronise cycles with an egg donor.
Our donation teams are very experienced in managing every aspect of donor recruitment, screening and egg-freezing and this gives our patients an advantage in comparison to other clinics where the only option may be to use frozen eggs imported from international overseas egg banks. We can maintain excellent quality control by freezing and thawing eggs in our own laboratories using our robust and identical procedures. This is important because thawing success is dependent on the freezing and thawing methods in different laboratories being fully compatible.
Frozen eggs can only be fertilised by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI): where a single sperm is directly injected into an egg, so all our treatments using frozen eggs use ICSI.
How successful are IVF treatments with frozen eggs?
The national average success rate for women who use their own frozen eggs during IVF is 18%. This goes up to 30% when they use frozen donor eggs.
Our own rates are slightly higher. In 2019, we achieved success rates of 48% when using frozen eggs during IVF.
Our purpose is to help you achieve your dream
As one of Europe's most successful providers of egg donation treatment, we truly understand our patient's needs and we care about your future family. We are completely aware of what donation means to you and we designed our egg banking and donation programme with you in mind. You'll receive the very best care and comprehensive personalised treatment plans together with choice and flexibility in your treatment.
“Nothing is impossible, and with the right people with you, the dream of becoming parents is achievable.”
Selecting your egg donor from Care's egg bank
All Care donors are included in our egg bank database. Each donor has their own profile to help you choose your ideal donor. When you have selected your donor, we'll get in touch to answer any questions you might have and take you step-by-step through the process.
Starting with egg donation at Care
You can call our new patient enquiry team who will be able to give you the information you need to get started. You can call them on 0800 564 2270.