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IVF Treatment with Donor Eggs
Manchester Fertility is one of the UK’s most experienced egg donor clinics. Learn all about using an egg donor to conceive, success rates and costs.
What is IVF with donor eggs?
IVF treatment with donor eggs gives women who are unable to conceive the chance to have a family. The process is very similar to IVF treatment, except that the eggs used are from an egg donor.
At Manchester Fertility we have over 35 years of expertise in creating families through egg donation. Manchester Fertility is one of the only fertility clinics in the UK to have a dedicated UK egg donor programme.
We offer fresh and frozen donor eggs and a wide choice of donors for your treatment, from our own UK egg donor programme.
Our personalised approach means you will have a dedicated member of our team taking care of you throughout your treatment journey, providing you with all the support you need.
When are donor eggs recommended?
There are many reasons why donor eggs may be advised. This type of treatment is most commonly used because of:
- Age-related infertility
- Advanced maternal age
- Premature menopause
- Premature ovarian failure
- Poor egg quality
- Infertility caused by medical treatment such as chemotherapy
- A high risk of passing on a genetic or hereditary condition
How do donor eggs work?
If you are using fresh donor eggs, you will have hormone therapy to ensure that your menstrual cycle is synchronised with the donor’s cycle.
Treatment involves fertilising the fresh donor eggs with either partner sperm or donor sperm, with the best resulting embryo carefully transferred to your uterus for pregnancy.
Using frozen eggs is a convenient way to have treatment that works with your cycle, as there will be no need to synchronise the treatment to a donor cycle. Treatment focuses on preparing your body for pregnancy, so the embryo is transferred at exactly the right time.
Why choose us for treatment with donor eggs?
All our egg donors are healthy women between the ages of 18 and 35, who donate to us through our award-winning Manchester Donors programme.
We offer:
- Treatment with UK donor eggs, with a guaranteed number of donor eggs for your treatment cycle.
- UK-based, health-screened and HFEA-registered egg donors, who are identifiable to your child in future.
- Affordable and accessible treatment with donor eggs, through our frozen donor egg bank.
- A choice of funding options and packages for both fresh and frozen donor eggs.
- Personalised fertility treatment that is focused on giving you a healthy and safe pregnancy and a healthy baby.
- Personal support from our dedicated Donation Team, every step of the way.
What our patients say
What is the donor eggs treatment process?
1
Consultation & Pre-Treatment Screening
Treatment begins with an initial consultation with a fertility specialist. Your fertility consultant will discuss your medical history to make sure that there are no existing factors that could affect treatment outcome and provide you with a fully costed and transparently-priced treatment plan. You will also have some blood tests and a scan at this appointment.
2
Counselling support
All patients using donor eggs are required to have counselling. Our experienced and friendly counsellors will talk you through all the implications of using an egg donor to conceive, so you can make an informed decision and give your consent to treatment.
3
Choosing your egg donor
Our Donation Team will provide you with a choice of egg donors that match your preferences, from our UK egg donor programme. You will be given the choice of using fresh or frozen donor eggs.
4
Fresh donor eggs preparation
If you are using fresh donor eggs, your chosen donor undergoes ovarian stimulation and egg collection, whilst you take fertility medications to prepare your uterus for embryo transfer. A fresh donor eggs cycle requires careful synchronisation, so embryos are ready and transferred to you at exactly the right time.
5
Frozen donor eggs preparation
If you are using frozen donor eggs, the eggs are thawed and prepared for fertilisation by our expert lab team, whilst your uterus is prepared for pregnancy using fertility medications.
6
Insemination of donor eggs
A sample of either partner sperm or donor sperm is prepared. Donor eggs are inseminated via Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), which involves injecting a single healthy sperm into each egg.
7
Fertilisation
We monitor the donor eggs for signs of fertilisation. This usually occurs 16-18 hours after insemination.
8
Embryo culture
The created embryos are placed in an incubator where they grow in the lab for the next two to five days.Our embryologists keep you updated on the progress of your embryos and advise when your embryo transfer will take place.
9
Embryo transfer
The embryo chosen by our embryologists is transferred under ultrasound guidance into your uterus by our fertility consultants, in our specially-designed embryo transfer room.
10
Vitrification
Remaining embryos created from both fresh and frozen donor eggs can be frozen and stored for future use, if the first cycle is not successful or for sibling pregnancy.
11
Pregnancy Test
You can take a home pregnancy test around two weeks after your embryo transfer. During this time, you will be supported by our clinic midwife. If your test is positive, you will be booked in for your pregnancy confirmation scan at 6-7 weeks of pregnancy.
What are the success rates for treatment with donor eggs?
We have consistent pregnancy rates for women of all ages using donor eggs, thanks to our focus on donor egg quality, embryo selection techniques and personalised treatment cycles. 56% of women using fresh donor eggs and 44% of women using frozen donor eggs from our donor bank achieve pregnancy with us. (January to December 2019).
To see more of our results data, which has been verified by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, please visit the HFEA website.
2019 Fresh Egg Donor Recipient Results (January-December)
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2019 Frozen Egg Donor Recipient Results (January-December)
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What does treatment with donor eggs cost?
Treatment costs vary depending on whether you are using fresh or frozen donor eggs and partner or donor sperm.
Treatment with fresh donor eggs using partner sperm costs from £10,395* for a single cycle. This includes:
- Six guaranteed eggs from your chosen egg donor
- Treatment consultation & planning
- Donor matching
- Donor medication and injection teaching
- Cycle planning for donor and recipient
- Fertility medications for you & your donor
- Monitoring scans for you & your donor
- Ultrasound-guided egg collection for your egg donor
- Sperm preparation & insemination of eggs using ICSI
- Embryo culture to blastocyst stage using time-lapse Embryoscope
- Embryo transfer using EmbryoGlue
- Pregnancy scan or follow-up consultation
- HFEA licence fee
- Embryo freezing & storage for 1 year
Treatment with frozen donor eggs using partner sperm costs from £7,700* for a single cycle. This includes:
- Six guaranteed eggs from your chosen egg donor
- Fertility medications
- Treatment consultation & planning
- Injection teaching
- Donor matching
- Monitoring scans
- Sperm preparation & ICSI insemination
- Embryo culture using time-lapse Embryoscope
- Embryo transfer using EmbryoGlue
- Pregnancy scan or follow-up consultation
- HFEA licence fee
- Embryo freezing & storage for 1 year
* You will be given a full breakdown of your treatment costs at your consultation.
Treatment with donor eggs FAQs
How do I choose an egg donor?
Choosing your egg donor is one of the biggest and most important decisions to make. Our Donation Team is here to help. First tell us what characteristics you would like your egg donor to have – such as physical appearance, ethnicity, or any other preferences – and we then search our UK egg donor programme for suitable matches.
We aim to give you at least two choices. You’ll be given full donor profiles to help you choose, which tell you all about the donors. Our donor profiles include a personal pen picture written by the donor herself and a goodwill message from the donor to your child.
All these details help to give you a good idea of the type of person the donor is, so you can make a confident and informed choice. We also know our donors well as we support them through our donor programme, so can give you additional and useful personal insight.
Why do I need counselling?
Counselling is mandatory for donor treatment because there are all kinds of things you need to think about when using an egg donor to conceive. Such as how you might tell your child in future how they came to be born, what rights they have to trace their donor if they wish to, and what rights you have as a parent.
Counselling helps you to understand all of this, so you can look forward to having your baby and feel prepared for the future. Counselling is all about supporting and helping you, and it is a very valued and vital part of treatment for people using donor eggs.
How many eggs will I receive from my donor?
We guarantee six eggs from your chosen donor for your treatment cycle. The eggs we provide are of the highest quality for your best chance of pregnancy. This is because of the tailored stimulation protocols we use for our egg donors, which concentrate on safe and individualised stimulation for each donor, for a good number of quality eggs.
What is your upper age limit for treatment with donor eggs?
We do not currently specify an upper age limit for treatment with donor eggs at Manchester Fertility, instead we will look at your individual health and chances of success to determine whether or not treatment would be suitable for you.
What can I find out about my donor?
We make sure you have as much information as possible about your egg donor. So our donor profiles include:
- Physical details: Such as height, weight, hair, eye colour, ethnicity
- Hobbies & career: What your donor likes to do and the job she has
- Pen picture: A personal ‘about me’ written by the donor. This is where your donor will go into detail about her outlook on life, personality, family background, current family life, the type of person she is and why she decided to be an egg donor.
- Goodwill message: Your donor also writes a goodwill message to the child you may have which you can show them someday.
Donor profiles do not contain anything that identifies your donor, as your donor is anonymous to you.
If your treatment is successful you can also find out if your donor has helped anyone else to have a family and if your child has any donor siblings, via the HFEA.
Useful links
Here are some useful external websites for more information about using an egg donor to conceive:
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