Learn the true story about common misconceptions about egg donation
Our Southern California egg donor center has found that there are many myths about egg donation that cause women to be wary of this amazing opportunity. When women learn the truth about these myths, many realize that it is a safe and rewarding process they're excited to explore further.
Top misconceptions about egg donation
There are numerous egg donor myths that make some women nervous to become an egg donor. We want to expose the truth of these myths so women can have accurate information when deciding whether or not to donate their eggs.
Myth #1: The children that result from egg donation will contact you. A common concern is that the children hopeful parents have after using donor eggs will contact the egg donor. However, egg donors can can rest assured that if they choose to do an anonymous egg donation cycle their identity is kept private and it would be highly unlikely that the hopeful parents or their children would be able to contact the donor after the donation. Egg donors can even use an alias if they don't want the hopeful parents to know their real first name.
Myth #2: Egg donation is like a full time job that requires months of your time. Many women think that egg donation requires more time than it does. While there are simple tasks to complete before and after a match is made, like creating the donor profile and receiving a medical, genetic, and psychological evaluation, the egg donation cycle itself typically only last about 10 to 12 days. During this time the egg donor is taking fertility medications and will need to go in for about six to eight monitoring appointments at the fertility clinic, depending on how her body is responding to the fertility medications. These appointments typically only last about an hour and are usually done in the morning. The only full day egg donors will need to take off work or school is the day of the egg retrieval procedure.
Myth #3: Egg donation is painful. Most egg donors report very little discomfort during the egg donation cycle. The fertility injections involve incredibly thin, short needles that are injected into the fatty tissue around the belly button. Typically, women feel little more than a pinch when administering these injections. The medications usually only cause mild abdominal bloating and a sense of fullness. During the egg retrieval women will be under sedation and typically only have light cramping and bloating, and sometimes some spotting, after the procedure.
Myth #4: Most of your eggs will be taken. Egg donation definitely does not use up all of a woman's eggs. By the time a woman begins menstruating she will have about 400,000 eggs. When she starts menstruating one of her eggs will mature each month, and about 10-20 eggs will be shed each month. During an egg donation cycle, fertility medications cause the eggs that would normally be shed to mature, so they can be retrieved. So, an egg donation cycle only removes the amount of eggs that the woman would normally lose in that month.
If these myths were holding you back from taking the next step forward on the path to egg donation, we encourage you to reach out to our Southern California egg donor center for more information. We can help you determine if this rewarding opportunity is right for you.