Egg Donation Process for Donors

Women between the ages of 19 to 30 are eligible to apply to be an egg donor.

It is important for any donor to have the maturity to fully understand the undertaking of donating eggs. We require our donors to be a minimum of age 19 to apply.

On the other side of our age requirements, we have to ensure our donors remain healthy and that the eggs are also healthy. Women who provide the gift of egg donation have the potential for cycling up to 6 times. We have set the age limit to 30 for any new donors admitted into the program. Learn more about Fairfax EggBank egg donor age requirements.

There are no conclusive studies indicating that egg donors are at an increased risk for experiencing infertility issues. Plenty of our donors go on to becoming mothers or have more children after they donate. You may have seen some media hype on this topic, but these cases tend to lack proof of correlation. Just because a donor experiences infertility later in life doesn’t mean that it has anything to do with her being an egg donor when she was younger. Infertility is relatively common for women over the age of 35. Learn more with these articles: Can I Get Pregnant After Donating Eggs?  and Will Donating Eggs Affect Your Future Fertility?

Administering self-injections is not an enjoyable experience, but the needles are very thin and small. Most donors find the experience gets easier after each shot. For the actual egg retrieval, you won’t feel anything since you’ll be asleep under conscious sedation. Once you wake up, you’ll probably be a little groggy. You may also experience some cramping and bloating, similar to what you may feel during a menstrual cycle. Tylenol is typically sufficient to quell any discomfort. Most donors are able to resume normal activity and return to work/school the next day. Pain tolerance varies widely from person to person. Read more with these two articles: How Painful Egg Donation Was For Me and Straight Talk: Is Egg Donation Painful?

BMI is a medically accepted and scientifically proven formula that is an indicator for medical risk. Medical evidence shows that people with BMI’s under 18 or over 26 are at a higher risk for developing medical complications. Our donors’ health and safety are our primary concerns, which is why we only accept donors with BMI’s between 18-26. We realize that there are many healthy individuals with BMI levels outside our requirements; however, due to the volume of applications we receive we’re unable to evaluate every applicant on a case-by-case basis.

To learn more about why BMI matters, click here.

We provide counseling and conduct thorough interviews to make sure our donors are emotionally prepared and confident enough to go through the process with appreciation rather than regrets. Egg donation isn’t for everybody but the experience can be extremely rewarding. You get to make someone’s dreams of having a family come true. Learn more about how the Fairfax EggBank program works to make sure donors don’t feel any regrets after they donate.