IVF With Egg Donation

Over the last 25 years, our teams have focused both on delivering the highest standards of care to our patients and donors, and on perfecting our approach to donor screening, monitoring, egg collection and freezing to help achieve consistently excellent results.

Our success is based on robust science, clinical expertise and 3 decades of innovation. We are experts in freezing techniques and our state-of-the-art laboratories have the latest technology managed by some of the world’s leading embryologists.

We have a selection of eggs available, all our donors are selected with care and screened rigorously to ensure that the eggs in our egg bank are only the highest quality. You will have 24/7 access together with dedicated support from our donation teams to select your donor match.

Our results are driven by robust science and data. We are achieving consistently high cumulative pregnancy rates for patients of all age groups.

We help you achieve your family building goals through truly personal care and the most scientifically advanced fertility treatments. We care for each and every patient, we care about your dream of having a baby and do everything we can to provide you with the best care possible.

We have put a lot of thought in to each step of the journey, and our patient services teams will always be there for you whenever you have a question or need advice so that you feel completely confident and in control of your treatment journey.

We will review your medical history, along with any treatment or tests you’ve already had, and discuss your personal treatment plan. You can expect to have a scan and some blood tests, and an analysis of a semen sample if a male partner is involved.

Your next appointment will be with one of our dedicated donation team who will outline key treatment steps, including choosing your donor. When it comes to matching with your ideal donor, we offer a personalised and supportive matching service. We know how important this is. We will introduce you to our online egg bank and give you all the help you need to choose your donor.

When you’ve selected your donor, you will meet with one of our specialists to discuss your personal treatment plan. You will also meet with one of our nurses to complete your screening tests and consents so that you can start treatment.

During your treatment you can also meet with one of our counsellors.

You will take hormone tablets for about 10 days before transfer to prepare your womb for embryo implantation. Our specialists will monitor you closely with ultrasound and blood tests.

Donor eggs are fertilised in the lab with sperm from your male partner or sperm donor. Fertilised eggs are usually cultured as embryos for five to six days until they reach the blastocyst stage.

When your donor starts stimulation injections to stimulate her ovaries, you will start medication to prepare your womb lining in preparation for embryo transfer.

We expect that 75- 80% of the eggs we collect in a fresh egg donation cycle will be suitable for fertilisation and on the day of your egg collection, the sperm provider attends the clinic and their sperm sample is prepared and used to fertilise the eggs.

If you are using frozen eggs then we can arrange to thaw and fertilise the eggs of your chosen donor in sync with your own cycle and at a time that’s convenient for you. The first step in creating your embryos is warming the eggs under carefully controlled conditions. Following the freeze thaw process, we see varied survival of donor eggs. However, on average 85% of eggs survive and are suitable for insemination.

We then go on to fertilise the eggs by ICSI, using either your partner’s sperm provided fresh on the day of thawing, or frozen partner or donor sperm that was provided in advance. Around 70% of the thawed eggs successfully fertilise to create an embryo. The embryos are then cultured in the laboratory for up to 6 days.

Your treatment plan is designed to give you the best chance of having a good quality embryo to transfer.

When your embryos are created, you will prepare for embryo transfer which may include taking medications and having ultrasound monitoring to check that the lining of your womb (or endometrium) is developing in preparation for your transfer. Your embryologist will keep you updated on the progress of your embryos and schedule your embryo transfer.

Embryo transfer is a straightforward procedure and almost always performed without the need for sedation. We will select your best embryo and the embryologist will load your embryo into a fine, soft catheter. Using ultrasound guidance, your fertility specialist will transfer your embryo into your uterus. The process should take approximately fifteen minutes.

Our embryo transfer can be done with your natural cycle, or at a time that suits you. Because we have already collected and frozen the eggs, you or your surrogate won’t have to synchronise with your donor’s cycle.

The fresh donor program is a highly successful program that will remain appropriate for some patients. However, the frozen model reduced stress and anxiety as we will provide a treatment cycle designed around you and not your donor, along with the assurances that the eggs are already collected and waiting for you.

Not only does the frozen egg model reduce your stress but it is also competitively priced, meaning we can offer this pathway at a lower cost than a fresh program.

Sometimes synchromised (fresh) cycles sadly have to be cancelled at the last minute if a donor’s stimulation does not go to plan. In a frozen egg cycle, the eggs have already been successfully collected and carefully frozen in our lab, ready to be thawed for treatment at your convenience.

There can be a shorter time between choosing your donor and having treatment as you will be choosing from a bank of already collected eggs, although waiting times for a match will depend on the availability.

We do everything we can to give you your best chance of success – success rates at Care are comparable whether you use fresh or frozen donor eggs.