Egg donation is a generous gift to infertile couples who are struggling to conceive. Women who become egg donors may be motivated to help a couple make their dream of building a family to come true and in return, donors are generously compensated for their time and dedication. If you’re considering donating your eggs, you probably have a lot of questions starting with “What is the age limit for egg donation?”
At the Center for Reproductive Health, donors must be between the ages of 20 and 31. We’re always looking for bright and healthy young women to participate in our egg donation program.
Why Age is Important for Egg Donation
Women who undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF) with donated eggs want to make sure their chance of having a healthy pregnancy is good. For this reason, they need the donated eggs to be as high quality as possible. The highest quality eggs usually come from donors in their twenties and early thirties.
Women are born with all their eggs and don’t produce new ones as time passes. As women age, the number of available eggs that remain decreases and the chance of eggs carrying defective genes increases. The older you are, the more chance there is that the pregnancy will fail and there’s also a higher risk of genetic disorders.
Other Factors Required to Be an Egg Donor
Besides being between the ages of 20 and 31, egg donors must be in good overall health including a healthy BMI, so donors can’t be excessively overweight or underweight. You should be in good mental health with no history of substance abuse and you should be a nonsmoker, usually for at least six months.
During the screening process, your family medical history is reviewed to make sure there’s not a history of hereditary diseases. You’re given a comprehensive physical exam to check the health of your ovaries. To qualify for egg donation, you should have both ovaries and a healthy ovarian reserve. Tests are done to check for sexually transmitted diseases.
A psychological evaluation is done, and you’ll be given more information on what’s involved in egg donation such as the time commitment that’s involved, side effects that you may experience and potential complications. There are several steps to egg donation including injections of fertility hormones to stimulate the production of eggs, several visits for ultrasounds and then an appointment is scheduled for egg retrieval. There’s no evidence that egg donation has an impact on your remaining eggs.
Final Steps
If you successfully pass all the screenings, you’ll sign a legal contract that clearly states your rights and responsibilities as well as the compensation you may be receiving for egg donation. You should carefully review this document with an attorney to make sure you fully understand.
Egg donation is a very generous gift and in return, donors usually receive between $5,000 and $10,000 per cycle. If you’re interested in learning more about becoming an egg donor or you’re ready to apply, reach out to the team at the Center for Reproductive Health.
