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IVF Treatment with Donor Eggs
A single wonderful gift of egg donation changes the lives of many.
IVF with egg donation
The journey to parenthood varies for everyone. IVF with donor eggs is a treatment used by many patients and intended parents hoping for the chance to experience the joys of parenthood.
We have one of the UK's most established and successful egg donation programmes. We are trusted by thousands of patients who choose us as their IVF clinic for our unparalleled patient care, state-of-the-art technology, and comprehensive egg donor profiles.
How does treatment work?
IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) with donor eggs is a fertility treatment used to assist individuals or couples struggling with infertility, medical, or genetic conditions that affect egg quality or production, or those who are not biologically able to carry a pregnancy.
The process is very similar to an IVF cycle except eggs from a donor are mixed with the male partner’s sperm to create embryos, which are then implanted into the uterus of the intended mother or surrogate.
At Manchester Fertility, we have over 35 years of expertise in creating families through egg donation. We are one of the only fertility clinics in the UK with our own dedicated egg donor programme. We have a wide choice of donors from which to choose, available from our frozen donor egg bank.
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?
The journey to parenthood varies for everyone, but whatever your reasons for seeking IVF with donor eggs, rest assured you will receive the support and care you need to see you through your individual journey.
- Advanced Maternal Age: Women over 35 or 40 may experience reduced egg quality and quantity, making conception and pregnancy more challenging.
- Medical Conditions: Medical conditions or treatments that affect fertility, such as cancer treatments.
- Same-Sex Male Couples: Same-sex male couples who want biological children will seek an egg donor and/or surrogate to achieve pregnancy.
- Single Women: Single women who want to become mothers but do not have viable eggs of their own.
- Premature Ovarian Failure (POF): Women who experience premature ovarian failure, where the ovaries stop functioning before age 40.
- Low Ovarian Reserve: Some women, regardless of age, may have a low ovarian reserve, meaning they have fewer eggs available for fertilisation.
- Genetic Disorders: Individuals or couples with genetic disorders that they do not want to pass on to their offspring.
- Unsuccessful Fertility Treatments: Couples who have undergone multiple unsuccessful fertility treatments using their own eggs.
- Recurrent Pregnancy Loss: Women who have experienced recurrent miscarriages due to poor egg quality.
Why choose us for treatment with donor eggs?
All our egg donors are healthy women between the ages of 18 and 35, they have been fully screened and have undergone a robust examination of their family’s medical history. We work hard to make sure our egg donor programme meets your needs and offers you a guaranteed number of eggs for your treatment cycle. All our donors have gone through our Manchester Donors programme.
Decades of Expertise:
As one of the first IVF clinics in the UK to welcome fertility patients, we have been dedicated to upholding the utmost levels of care for both our patients and donors. From our recruitment and meticulous screening of donors, to our specialist fertility consultants, anaesthetists, nurses, and embryologists, as well as our egg donor programme coordinators, we ensure every aspect of the journey meets our patients' expectations.
State-of-the-Art Technology:
IVF treatment with donor eggs happens in the state-of-the-art laboratory at our headquarters in Manchester. Our clinic is equipped with the latest medical advancements in assisted reproductive technology to maximise your chances of success.
Donor Selection:
We understand the importance of finding the right egg donor for you. Our program provides a diverse selection of health-screened, HFEA-registered frozen egg donors, who are identifiable to your child in future. Selection from our egg bank comes with unwavering assistance from our supportive egg donor team and a dedicated egg donor programme coordinator, who will help you find your perfect donor match.
Dedicated Care and Support:
We offer the best care and support to our patients, which is shown through our patient reviews, testimonials, and success stories. We have a dedicated Donation Team who is here to guide you through your treatment journey, providing all the support you need because we know that fertility treatment is a time of renewed hope of starting a family and, while exciting, can also be a time of uncertainty.
Payment Options:
IVF with donor eggs is a big commitment, emotionally, physically and financially. That’s why we have payment options for patients including single packages and finance options.
Leading Success Rates:
Our latest success rates show that we have some of the best success rates for IVF with donor eggs for all age groups.
Personalised Treatment Plans:
Our experts create tailored treatment plans that consider your unique circumstances. As one of the first fertility clinics to recruit egg donors we are experts in providing the best and most appropriate and effective care.
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.
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 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 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. 44% of women using frozen donor eggs from our donor bank achieve pregnancy with us*
To see more of our results data, which has been verified by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, please visit the HFEA website.
* Stats are from January to December 2019
2019 Frozen Egg Donor Recipient Results (January-December)
Clinical pregnancy rates per Embryo Transfer
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Pregnancy rate (%)
Age
What does the package include?
Treatment with frozen donor eggs using partner sperm includes:
- Six guaranteed eggs from your chosen egg donor
- Access to online consultation platform
- Access to patient support app
- Electronic witnessing
- Donor matching
- Cycle planning
- Fertility medication (up to 7 weeks pregnancy)
- Treatment consultation & planning
- Injection teaching
- Monitoring scan
- Preparation of eggs for ICSI and injection of sperm
- Embryo culture up to blastocyst stage
- EmbryoGlue
- Embryo transfer/Embryo freeze1
- HFEA license fee
- Embryo freezing and storage for one year
- Pregnancy scan
- Follow up consultation
(1) Embryo freeze - all of your embryos are frozen and a replacement does not take place in your treatment cycle, your first frozen embryo transfer will not incur a charge.
* You will be given a full breakdown of your treatment costs following your consultation.
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: