The Risks of Using Donor Eggs

Before we introduce the difference between frozen eggs and fresh eggs and the advantages of using frozen eggs, we would like to honestly introduce the risks of using donor eggs. All medical procedures should be considered as risky human operations especially to highly specialized treatment like IVF treatment. No matter you choose to use frozen or fresh donor eggs, it is estimated that, about 50‰ chance that any give cycle will result in a pregnancy and 50‰ in failure. Unexpected things like premature delivery, multiple babies, low birth weight, miscarriage or developmental difficulties in child, genetic mutation, and so might happen during the entire process.

At the same time, the process for fresh egg donation itself is increasingly unpredictable because it involves 2 separate persons, the recipient of the eggs and the donor who produces them. Easy calculation shows that the risks are doubled as certain conditions must be met in both cases. A common situation is that the anonymous donor is disqualified to produce high quality eggs due to her ovarian function and genetic factors. You have to perform FDA standard physical examination, psychological screening, sexual transmitted diseases check, genetic screening, criminal background check, and so forth. However, when you decide to move forward with a fresh egg donor, she could be easily disqualified in any of those steps. The donor may also change her mind because of personal incidents. Typically, in a fresh donation process, the recipient bears the financial burden of a donor who is not qualified to move forward.

The process for frozen donor eggs is less risky because the eggs are already frozen and the egg donor has completed her cycle. In Asian Frozen Eggs program, all egg donor candidates have to pass the highest standard FDA physical/psychological examination, genetic screening, and sexual transmitted disease check to make sure that each frozen donor egg in our lab is secure, healthy, and ready to be fertilized, minimizing the risks for donor egg recipients.