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You Might Need an Egg Donor IF….

How can you determine if you need an egg donor as opposed to doing IVF using your own eggs? Many factors come in to play in making this decision. Ultimately, it's all about the egg quality.

In this post, we list some of the reasons your egg quality may be diminished, and how our doctors work with you to help you decide if you want to go ahead with egg donation.

The quality of your own eggs may be compromised for a variety of reasons. These include;

  • Advanced maternal age. IVF pregnancy rates decrease after age 40. According to the latest National Data Summary from SART (2019) the live birth rate for IVF using the patient's own eggs at age 41 - 42 was 12.7%, and this drops to 4.1% after age >42. After age 45 the chances of pregnancy are almost zero.
  • Unexplained infertility. Some patients will fail to conceive with several cycles of IVF even though there is no obvious problem.
  • Patients with repeated miscarriages due to egg problems.
  • Few or no eggs retrieved when using stimulation medications during IVF.
  • Diminished ovarian reserve. These are patients whose egg quality has decreased to a point where they are unable to get pregnant.
  • Ovaries have been removed.
  • Premature ovarian failure.

And, of course, gay men or single men who want to have families via assisted reproduction will need to use an egg donor.

At our Chicago fertility clinic, you'll meet with one of our doctors if any of these factors are in play. He or she will review your previous cycles, discuss your lab results, and explain any other reason that an egg donor would be best for your next cycle in an attempt to achieve pregnancy.

Psychological Counseling Can Help

Deciding to use an egg donor is a huge decision to make, and may couples struggle with it. To help our patients understand what is involved psychologically and to help bring about questions that you might not know you have, we have our recipients and partners meet with a psychologist. This decision isn’t to be made lightly, and we like our patients to have all resources available to them.

Choosing an egg donor offers a chance for a woman to carry a pregnancy and to feel a bond with that baby while it grows inside her. It also offers the potential for there to be a genetic link with the intended father.

If you think you might need an egg donor, or just have questions about a recipient cycle and what it entails, please call our office today to schedule an appointment!

schedule appointment invia chicago area fertility clinic

Egg donation Infertility treatment Recurrent pregnancy loss Diminished ovarian reserve

Vicki Meagher

Vicki Meagher

Vicki Meagher has worked with InVia Fertility Specialists since 2006. She is our Third Party Coordinator, so she works with our patients that need an egg donor, sperm donor, gestational surrogate, or any combination of the above. She recruits and screens the egg donors for our in-house donor program as well. She loves working with intended parents and is passionate about third party reproduction and the important role it plays in helping patients achieve their dream of starting or extending their family. She is a member of SEEDS - the Society for Ethics for Egg Donation and Surrogacy.

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