Egg donation is a process where a woman provides her eggs to another individual or couple to help them conceive. While the screening process is comprehensive, being on oral contraceptives, commonly referred to as birth control, does not automatically disqualify a candidate. Hormonal contraception plays a specific role in preparing a donor for the cycle. Eligibility is based on a combination of the donor’s health, age, and ability to complete the multi-step medical protocol.
Essential Health and Age Requirements for Donors
The foundation of eligibility for egg donation rests on a donor’s overall health and age. Most programs require donors to be within a specific age range, typically between 21 and 30 years old, because egg quality and ovarian response tend to be highest during this period. The age limit is designed to optimize the chances of a successful pregnancy for the recipient.
A healthy Body Mass Index (BMI), usually between 18.5 and 29, is a requirement to ensure the donor can safely undergo the medical procedures and respond appropriately to the stimulation hormones. Potential donors undergo extensive medical screening, including a detailed review of personal and family medical history to screen for inheritable genetic conditions.
Screening Components
Screening involves a psychological evaluation to ensure the donor understands the emotional and ethical implications of the process. Medical screening includes tests for communicable diseases such as:
- HIV
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- Various sexually transmitted infections
Fertility specialists assess the ovarian reserve through blood tests, like Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) levels, and transvaginal ultrasounds to estimate the potential number of eggs available for retrieval.
The Role of Contraception in Egg Donation Screening
If a potential donor is already taking oral contraceptives, she may be able to continue their use temporarily as part of the preparation phase. For donors not currently using hormonal birth control, they are often instructed to start taking it for a short period. This is done because oral contraceptives suppress the body’s natural hormone fluctuations, effectively putting the ovaries into a temporary resting state.
The primary function of this temporary use of contraception is cycle synchronization. By controlling the donor’s natural cycle, the fertility clinic can precisely time the start of the ovarian stimulation phase to align with the recipient’s uterine preparation. This synchronization is particularly important in fresh donation cycles.
The temporary suppression helps prevent the development of ovarian cysts, which could complicate the stimulation process. Once this preparatory phase is complete, the birth control is stopped, and the donor is ready to move into the active medication phase of the cycle.
Overview of the Egg Donation Cycle
Stimulation Phase
Following the successful completion of the screening and synchronization phases, the active medical part of the donation cycle begins. The donor stops taking the oral contraceptives and starts a regimen of self-administered injectable hormones known as gonadotropins, which contain follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). These hormones are administered daily for approximately 10 to 14 days to stimulate the ovaries to mature multiple egg-containing follicles.
Monitoring and Trigger
During this stimulation period, the donor must attend frequent monitoring appointments. These involve blood tests to track hormone levels and transvaginal ultrasounds to measure the growth of the developing follicles. This close surveillance is necessary to ensure the donor is responding well to the medication and to prevent a condition called Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS). When the follicles reach an optimal size, the donor is instructed to take a final injection, often referred to as the “trigger shot,” which finalizes the eggs’ maturation.
Retrieval and Recovery
The egg retrieval procedure takes place about 35 to 36 hours after the trigger shot is administered, just before the eggs would naturally be released. This is a minor surgical procedure performed in the clinic under intravenous sedation. A physician uses an ultrasound to guide a thin needle through the vaginal wall into the ovaries to gently aspirate the fluid and eggs from each mature follicle. The procedure typically lasts 20 to 30 minutes, after which the donor rests briefly before being released, and a post-retrieval check-up is scheduled approximately two weeks later to confirm full recovery.