Egg and sperm donation questions

It’s extremely unlikely that donating your eggs will have any negative effects on your own fertility. In a normal donation cycle you’ll only donate as many eggs as you’d lose naturally in that month, which is usually around 10 - that means you’ll still have thousands of eggs left.

You’ll have to have daily injections that mimic the action of the body’s natural hormones and stimulate egg production; these injections are really straightforward, and we’ll teach you how to do them at home. How much medication you’ll need to take will depend on factors like your age, medical history, and size, and we’ll give you a plan that’s individual to you.

You’ll need to come into the clinic between seven and ten times. Your first visit will be for an initial appointment with our Donation Coordinator, at which you will give a blood sample. Normally, you’ll then have an appointment with a counsellor, followed by a consultation with the doctor and a scan. You’ll usually have three or four monitoring appointments and then one visit for egg collection.

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 – you can come in any time from first thing in the morning.

In reality, you should only have between three and five days of inconvenience in the form of attending the clinic, but we’ll give you as much support as possible to make sure your visits are convenient and stress free.

After the procedure you’ll need to rest in the clinic for a minimum of two hours, and then you’ll be able to go home. During the post-operative period you might experience a little abdominal discomfort similar to period pain, but this should subside in two to three days and can easily be controlled with paracetamol. 

No, egg collections are usually carried out under mild sedation or local anaesthetic. 

In most of our clinics you’ll have egg collection under mild sedation, so unfortunately your partner won’t be able to join you in the operating theatre. However, it’s a really short process and nothing to feel nervous about; you can find out more about what collection involves in our quick guide to IVF.

Yes, of course.

Thank you for considering egg donation. We would ask donors for extensive family history of genetic illnesses and if these were present, sadly it's likely we wouldn't be able to accept donor eggs.

This is great news, the upper age limit to become an egg donor is 35. If you'd like to find out more we've a lot of helpful resource on our website here

Our donation teams will guide you through finding a sperm donor. We have a selection of sperm donors in our own bank as well as the facility to direct you to other sperm donor banks with different physical characteristics to choose from.

Unfortunately, if you’re in the perimenopause it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to have treatment with your own eggs, though of course we can talk to you more about this at a consultation.

If you can’t use your own eggs, we can still help you to start or grow your family. At CARE we have a fantastic egg donor programme, and can help you find your very best donor match to use in treatment; find out more about using an egg donor here. To get started, contact us to book an appointment, and on your first visit bring any test results so we can help you explore your options.