The Advantages of Frozen Donor Eggs

For many individuals, when using donor egg to conceive a child, the choice comes down to which type of donor egg should they use; fresh or frozen. Initially, when the process began (around 1984), only fresh eggs were used with donor egg IVF procedures. Eventually, frozen donor eggs became an option as well, but were used less frequently. That is, until 2013, when a newer, more effective way to preserve eggs became more widely used and accepted. The process, known as “vitrification,” helped to make frozen donor eggs a truly viable alternative to fresh donor eggs.   

While fresh and frozen donor eggs boast comparable rates of success, using frozen donor eggs has proven to have some real advantages over fresh.   

Convenience Is Key  

Perhaps the biggest benefit of using frozen donor eggs is that they’re ready whenever and wherever you are. The eggs have been successfully retrieved from a screened and qualified donor, undergone a safe and effective preservation process, and are ready for transport to your chosen clinic.   

The same cannot be said, however, about fresh donor eggs. That’s because in order for fresh donor eggs to be successfully transferred, both the donor and the recipient need to be in the same physical location and have successfully synchronized their cycles. And that takes time, medical treatment, and a great deal of planning. In fact, when using a fresh donor egg, you can depend on the process taking a number of months  — not including the time you spend finding a suitable donor. Whereas individuals using a frozen donor egg, can begin immediately and complete their preparation treatment within weeks. 

Factoring in the Additional Expenses of Fresh Donor Eggs  

If you were to use fresh donor eggs, you would most likely be responsible for a number of expenses to help facilitate the egg donation. That includes (but isn’t limited to), the donor’s stimulation medication and treatment, lab testing, and standard genetic screening for her. And, often times, you would also incur travel expenses for the donor if she were not in your area.   

When you choose to use frozen donor eggs, however, (depending on the financial plan you select) these type of expenses are already included in the cost of the egg lot.   

Donor Availability and Diversity  
Searching for a donor who meets all your criteria — regarding appearance, background, genetics, and availability — can be an overwhelming task.   

One important advantage of using frozen donor eggs, is that — when it comes to locating egg donors — the donor egg bank, such as Donor Egg Bank USA, has already done all the vetting, scheduling and heavy lifting for you. The result, is ready access to frozen donor eggs from an extensive and more diverse pool of pre-qualified donors.  

Gaining Control 
When you choose to use frozen donor eggs, you’re also gaining more control over the process. That’s because, you are dealing with the donated eggs, not the donor. So that means, you not only eliminate the inconvenience of synching schedules (as previously mentioned), you also eliminate the risk of the donor cancelling the donation. With frozen eggs, you can be assured of actually receiving the donor eggs whenever you are ready.  
 
Additionally, using frozen donor eggs means that you can depend on a certain number of eggs to be in the egg lot you select — generally five to eight eggs. While with fresh cycles, there is no promise regarding the number of eggs the donor will be able to produce per cycle. Which means you would run the risk of having to undergo one or more additional cycles — as all the additional expense, time and emotional investment that go along with each cycle.   

Make the Right Choice for You  
These are only a few of the advantages frozen donor eggs can offer. To understand how each type of egg performs in individual cases, it’s important to discuss your choice with your health care provider, to make sure your donor egg experience truly fits your needs and expectations.