All about Egg Quality & Egg Donation: Why it Matters

Ever wondered why the age limit for egg donation is 35? Lots of women have children after this age, so why is it so restrictive?

It’s all down to egg quality. Together with the wellbeing of our egg donors, it’s the focus of everything we do at Manchester Donors.

Why egg quality matters

Quality donor eggs mean the best chance of pregnancy for your recipient – which is what we’re all striving for. Of course it’s not the only factor to affect whether your recipient becomes pregnant, but it is the crucial starting point.

Because of the natural decline of fertility as we age, we can’t risk accepting older women as egg donors because egg quality may be reduced. And when someone is putting their hopes of a family on using donor eggs, it’s our responsibility to make sure the donor eggs we offer for treatment are the best they can be.

How we assess egg quality for donation

There’s actually no way to accurately tell how high in quality your eggs are, when you apply to be a donor. There’s no test we can perform to assess egg quality – only quantity by measuring ovarian reserve.

What we can do is assess the factors we know can affect fertility and egg quality, such as:

• Your age
• Your BMI – if it’s too high or too low
• Whether you smoke
• Your hormone levels and ovarian function

We’ll check all these things as part of the egg donor screening process. If you’re not suitable to donate now, there may be things you can do to change that – such as quitting smoking (you must be nicotine free for at least three months), increasing or lowering your BMI.

Tailored stimulation for quality eggs

Our focus on egg quality is also why we don’t carry out high stimulation protocols for our egg donors. Every egg donor receives individualised stimulation and consultant-led care, with the goal of achieving a good number of quality eggs developed to maturity for donation.

High stimulation protocols aren’t just risky for egg donor health, the eggs can be poorer in quality too which means a higher risk of failed IVF for recipient patients.

Safe and trusted egg donation with Manchester Donors

Manchester Donors is an award-winning egg donor programme, the first National Gamete Donation Trust Donor Centre of Excellence in the UK.

What this means is that you’re in the safest of hands with us, for a positive, informed and supported egg donation experience.

Have a chat to our Donation Team to find out more on 0161 300 2734 or apply online. There’s no pressure or obligation to donate at any time.

You can also learn more about the process and criteria in our FAQs.

We’ll be at the Fertility Show Manchester 24-25 March. Come and meet the Manchester Donors team at stand B10!Book your tickets online here.