What is the procedure to donate eggs?
We can help research or help other women have children by donating our eggs, but what is the whole process like?
Today medical advances have made possible many events that, without them, would always have been considered impossible. The egg donation is one of them. Currently, many women are unable to have offspring naturally well because they suffer the consequences of female infertility whose causes can be diverse and more or less serious. When the problem cannot be solved, there are external responses that make offspring possible.
At the same time that a woman, no matter how many treatments she undergoes and how many drugs she takes, is not able to have children by her own natural means due to her null fertility, that is when the possibility of pregnancy comes into play. adoption or assisted reproduction . In this last option, the genetic information of at least one of the parents is found in the DNA of the child and this develops and grows, since it is an embryo, in the uterus of the adoptive mother . All this is a process that is carried out thanks to in vitro fertilization and egg donation that PregDream explains to you below:
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WHAT IS EGG DONATION?
Egg donation is a process in which a woman becomes a donor of mature oocytes (eggs) in order to help another woman who is unable to generate fruitful eggs or who does not even generate them. This donation is carried out with the ultimate goal that, through assisted reproduction, a woman unable to have offspring is able to become pregnant and gestate an embryo inside .
All this process supposes, in the case of the donor, a use of an ovum that is not going to be fertilized. For this to be better understood, it must be known that a woman produces a mature egg every month . If it is not fertilized by a sperm, this egg is lost during menstruation . Precisely what the donation is for is to use the fertility of a woman and that “useless” egg to give it to another who does need it.
WHAT PROCESS IS FOLLOWED TO DONATE AN EGG?
The donor in question, first of all and before doing any type of intervention for the removal of the ovum, must undergo a series of tests that show that, both physically and psychologically, she is ready for the entire donation process . Tests by the gynecologist and blood tests are key to determine if a woman is eligible to donate or not. Once approval has been made, the donor has to receive treatment.
The treatment that a donor must undergo is quite simple and its purpose is to ensure that the ovarian cycles of both the donor and the recipient coincide . This is so because mature eggs cannot be preserved if they are not fertilized. As for the recipient, she is also given medication to prepare her body for future pregnancy.
Egg retrieval is a painless process that poses no risk to the donor. This is carried out by means of the so-called follicular puncture that consists, as its name indicates, in a small puncture in the follicles of the ovaries. At all times, the donor is under a very light type of anesthesia that does not last more than 30 minutes .
WHAT ABOUT THE DONATED EGG?
Once the mature egg has been retrieved, what happens next is known as in vitro fertilization . This process involves fertilizing the mature egg with the semen of the partner of the recipient of said egg. Since this is a delicate procedure, the so-called intracytoplasmic injection is also used , which consists of manually introducing a sperm into the egg, that is, making it easier for the sperm. Once the ovum is fertilized, it is quickly implanted in the recipient’s uterus so that its gestation continues there .
WHAT REQUIREMENTS ARE NEEDED TO DONATE?
The requirements that are asked for a woman to be an egg donor are quite demanding and this precisely means that only approximately 20 are accepted for every 100 applications received. Regarding the requirements, these are the ones currently requested:
– Know the medical history of the donor’s family . In other words, an adopted woman cannot be a donor since the anonymity of her parents is an impediment to knowing her history and that of her closest relatives.
– Be between 18 and 35 years old. To be an egg donor, you must be of legal age .
– Have a normal menstrual and ovarian cycle . That is, it does not present any type of irregularity that may denote ovulation problems.
– Do not suffer from genetic or congenital diseases, neither hereditary diseases nor suffer malformations. In addition, it is not only necessary that the donor does not suffer any of the above described, but neither do her closest relatives.
– Be physically and psychologically healthy . For this, several tests are carried out and thus verify that the possible donor is suitable to undergo the treatment and the egg extraction process.
– Not having been the mother of more than 6 children and not having previously been an egg donor more than 6 times .
– Do not suffer from any type of STD infection .
To carry out all these tests, the potential donor with suitable fertility undergoes different medical tests . By doing this, it is sought to guarantee that the woman is healthy and that she does not have any type of disease that can be transferred to her mature eggs . In the blood tests that you will have to undergo, possible herpes, Hepatitis BY c, Syphilis, HIV and hormonal problems are analyzed.
Finally, the psychological tests seek to demonstrate that the potential donor has the full capacity to decide on herself and give consent to donate eggs. In addition, it is also analyzed that the process will not involve any psychological disorder during the duration of the procedure or in the future.
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.