Egg Donation Timeline: From Application to Post-Procedure

1. 🩺 Egg Donor Screening
2. 🤰 A step-by-step timetable for the process
3. ⭐ How long does the procedure take?

Specialists of Feskov Human Reproduction Group prepared a step-by-step chronology guide for the entire process of donation. So that both the donor and the future parents understand the whole procedure better, what to expect, and what to prepare for.

Egg Donor Screening

Usually, egg donation is indicated for those women whose ovaries do not produce good oocytes. And there is no way to get them. Then the couple is forced to seek help from an oocyte donor that is the most suitable for phenotypic characteristics and personal wishes.

In any case, the egg donation process requires strict checks to ensure a healthy physical, mental and genetic inheritance.

A healthy adequate woman can become an oocyte donor:

• 20-35 years old;
• mother of at least one normal child.

In addition, she must be mentally prepared for all the stages and vicissitudes of the action, including medical manipulation of the collection of eggs.

At the very beginning, the candidate fills out an admission form, where social information, medical history and other related information will be indicated to create a unique profile. Based on it, future recipient parents will decide on possible cooperation with her as a donor.

An extensive preliminary medical examination is an important point:

• consultations and examinations of doctors, ultrasound, tests for infectious diseases, hormones, etc.;
• tests for drugs, smoking, precursors;
• screenings for hereditary diseases.

The next step will be a small meeting-interview with the team of the Reproduction Center to get to know each other better and ask the necessary questions about the oocyte donor pathway.

At the end of all activities, the team conducts a final verification of the file to add it to the existing database. Once approved, the donor profile is made available to recipient parents through a secure site.

A step-by-step timetable for the process

The waiting time for selecting a donor can happen very quickly for a married couple. Some donors are selected almost the next day after the questionnaire is posted. Or it may take several months. However, in the end, patience of real recipients will be rewarded. The use of fresh oocytes is preferable to frozen ones, which can wait for years for their recipient in a cryobank, sometimes in vain.

If the candidate lives in another city, she will have to travel to get to the meeting with the parents-to-be. Feskov Human Reproduction Group even offers prospective parents the opportunity to personally get acquainted with the selected candidate in order to make the most informed decision.

After the couple has selected the right woman, a process begins for her, which can be conditionally divided into the following stages:

1. Repeated, but already complete medical examination, immediately after the approval of the candidacy (examinations, ultrasound, testing for hormones, infections, drug testing, psychological and genetic diagnostics). By the way, while the woman is in the Center's database, she regularly gets tested for drugs, smoking and precursors.
2. Taking individually selected hormonal drugs for 2-4 weeks, allowing to achieve maturation of not 1-2, but 5-10 or more oocytes (birth control pills, follicle-stimulating hormones and other drugs).
3. Regular visits to the attending physician to monitor the condition of the body. While taking medications, the woman undertakes to come to the doctor at a strictly appointed time (3-10 fixed visits to the doctor). This schedule is not flexible, as the donation process is highly time-bound.
4. Egg-harvesting travel. Once the oocytes are mature, it's time to collect them. To do this, the donor must come to the clinic with the recipient. Sometimes, for this you need to go on a journey that can take from 4 to 10 days. During this time, there will be approximately 5 hours of medical visits, the rest of the time can be spent on yourself. Some donors describe this part of the process as a mini vacation.
5. Egg retrieval procedure. It starts on the morning of the day of admission. Follicular puncture - this is the name of the manipulation of the collection of female germ cells, it is low-traumatic and is carried out under local anesthesia for about half an hour. It consists in the fact that the doctor, under ultrasound control, extracts mature oocytes using a thin needle. Usually, in this way, from 5 to 25 eggs are selected. The procedure is not painful and does not require inpatient care. Most donors return home the very next day after the manipulation and calmly return to work or studies. And this stage is the completion of the donation process for the donor. And for the recipient, everything is just beginning!

The best egg is fertilized with the genetic material of the father or also the donor. At the same time, the recipient undergoes a similar hormonal therapy so that its cycles and the donor's one are synchronized and the endometrium is ready to accept the embryo. As a result of the fusion, an embryo is obtained, which, after genetic examination, is transplanted into the uterus of a real or surrogate mother. After confirmation of pregnancy, everything goes as usual.

How long does the procedure take?

Once the intended parents have chosen the right donor for themselves, the whole process takes just over a month. Although, all people are different and the process can vary for several days more or less, depending on individual moments. However, egg donation rarely takes less than a month. Therefore, it is always best to count on a longer process.

It should be borne in mind that throughout this time, you must definitely visit a doctor. Also, the donor may need to travel to the clinic or reproduction center for the oocyte retrieval procedure. These are the obligations faced by women in full-time jobs.

Specialists of Feskov Human Reproduction Group value the efforts and patience of their donors and always try to meet their needs, compensating for temporary inconveniences. Also, a reward is guaranteed after the extraction of good oocytes.

For the comfort and peace of mind of the prospective parents, the number of children born from each specific donor is tracked at the Center for Reproduction of Prof. Feskov. Their place of residence are also always monitored. This is necessary in order to avoid the risk of closely related marriages between children born from the same donor. Many clinics underestimate this fact, but it is very important to prevent future problems.

You can always rely on on the employees of Feskov Human Reproduction Group concerning all issues and relaxedly wait for a miracle!

Authors, contributors:

Alexander Mikhailovich Feskov
MD., Ph.D., Professor, founder and director of Feskov Human Reproduction Group

published: 02 March 2021
updated   : 03 March 2023

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