Apply to donate your eggs

5 myths about egg donation

A growing number of young women are making the incredibly generous decision to become donors and change the life of a single woman, or a heterosexual or same-sex couple desperate to conceive.

For many young women, the idea that they can make such a momentous difference to someone else’s life is appealing, but they have questions about how donation works and sometimes, concerns. Here we tackle some of the most common myths about egg donation.

  1. Egg donation is new, untested and not something many people opt for when going through fertility treatment

In fact, the BBC reported last year that in the last ten years the number of babies born via egg donation has seen a huge increase. According to figures from the industry regulator, in 2006 1,912 women had IVF using a donor egg, a number that rose to 3,924 in 2016. There’s far more awareness today about donor conception, which is fuelling demand for donor eggs and pushing up waiting lists. It’s a well-established and successful technique to treat infertility in women whose egg reserve is low – so you know that if you decide to donate there’s a good chance that your generosity will result in a healthy pregnancy for another woman.

  1. Donating my eggs will mean I have less chance of getting pregnant myself later on

Every woman is typically born with about one million eggs stored in her ovaries, and studies have shown that a donor cycle – which will usually mean doctors can collect up to 12 eggs from you in one cycle of treatment - will have no impact on your future fertility.

  1. It’s time consuming and inconvenient to donate eggs

Donating with the Egg Bank involves an initial call with us to run through your medical history, then around six visits to the clinic at times arranged to suit you for scans, tests, the collection procedure and counselling. On the day of the procedure you’ll be in the clinic for about two hours. It is a commitment, but women who go for it tell us that they feel strongly that the benefits of what they are doing outweigh the time needed. On top of that, every donor receives DKK 7.000 to cover their expenses through the process.

  1. Donating eggs is painful

The process for donating with the Vitanova is centred around a treatment protocol designed to be kind to your body. CREATE Fertility has a high reputation of tailoring medication to create a mild ovarian response and minimise potential side effects. In your egg donation cycle you will be closely monitored throughout the cycle to check how you are responding to treatment and to prevent an over-response. Medication is given using straightforward injections that you can do yourself. For the collection procedure, you will be sedated by an experienced anaesthetist when our doctor retrieves your eggs. Most women report that the procedure is painless and go home within a couple of hours. There’s sometimes a little bloating or mild abdominal discomfort in the few days afterwards, which is normal.

  1. A child conceived from my donation might surprise me out of the blue

When becoming a donor in Denmark, this is not possible, as you can be an open donor or anonymous donor. If you want to, you are entitled to know about any babies born as a result of your donation. You won’t be given any personal details, but you can be told whether the baby is a boy or a girl, and the year they were born. Egg donation can also occur entirely anonymously, which means that you do not know the recipient and that the recipient does not know you. No more information will be provided about you than what’s within the donor evaluation. You will always remain anonymous to the recipient and any children from your donation. You can also choose to donate as an open donor. This means that you are anonymous at the time of donation, but when any children born of your donation reach 18, they can contact Vitanova for details about you, including your identity. We will contact you before we provide this information. Those who receive your eggs cannot be given this information and it is not possible for you to obtain information about them.