The Possible Risks Associated With Egg Donors and Egg Donations

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For couples who struggle in their quest to conceive a biological child, medical advancements like In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) can help to ease the emotional pain associated with this experience. Many couples who experience infertility turn to the IVF procedure in order to conceive a child. This process requires the harvesting of a female’s egg in order to create and implant an embryo in the hope of achieving a successful pregnancy. Often, this procedure can have a lower success rate if a woman has poor egg quality. Factors like advanced maternal age or hormonal imbalance are some of the issues that lead many couples to turn to donor eggs for quality eggs for an IVF cycle. Quality eggs can result in quality embryos, allowing the best possible chance for a successful resulting pregnancy.

Like any other medical procedure, IVF has its risks. There are also egg donor risks associated with the harvesting of eggs for an IVF procedure. Additionally, it is important for couples to familiarize themselves with the possible egg donation risks before proceeding with donor eggs. Couples will be informed of these possible risks by their doctor before proceeding with the investment in donor eggs.


In order to facilitate the donation of eggs, the egg donor will have their ovaries stimulated through hormone injections to facilitate successful egg retrieval. The importance of discussing egg donor risks before and after this procedure is pivotal. Risks associated with this procedure can include the possible hyperstimulation of the egg donor’s ovaries, which can result in painful swelling. Other common risks include shortness of breath, dizziness, vomiting and nausea. Each of these symptoms is normal and will be monitored closely by a healthcare professional throughout the process of egg retrieval. Vigilance in looking out for these risk factors and issues is very important throughout this process.

Likewise, there are egg donation risks associated with the process. A healthcare professional will apprise the couple of these risks and closely monitor the process leading up to an IVF cycle to give the couple the best chance for a successful pregnancy.

Women who receive donor eggs also experience some risk factors after the embryos are implanted during the IVF procedure. These are not unlike the risks associated with any embryo transfer or IVF cycle. The chance of any IVF cycle, including one using donor eggs, resulting in the birth of multiples is approximately 20-25%. This possible presence of multiples during a resulting pregnancy is dependent upon the number of embryos implanted during the IVF procedure and can vary from woman to woman.


Resulting pregnancy from using donor eggs is not unique, in that it carries the same risk as any other pregnancy of a birth defect. Many industry experts report that for any pregnancy, regardless of the use of donor eggs, the risk of birth defects is approximately 3-5%. Though there are egg donation risks for couples, it could be said that the benefit greatly outweighs any possible risk. The use of donor eggs to achieve the dream of a baby is a worthy investment for egg donors and egg recipients alike.

Julie Collins writes about infertility issues that people may face today including egg donation risks. Always looking for leaders in the IVF industry to refer friends and family, she ends up sending them to http://www.myeggbank.com/ more often than not.

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