Become an Egg Donor with Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago

Whether you’re donating your eggs or seeking eggs from a donor, we can help.

What Is Egg Donation?

Egg donation is a form of third-party reproduction that offers young women an incredible opportunity to change the lives of others. Egg donors provide healthy, fertile eggs to couples and individuals who are unable to conceive on their own. This includes patients who are facing certain forms of infertility, same-sex male couples, and single men.

Egg Donor Compensation and Benefits

Egg donation is a uniquely rewarding experience in its own right. When you become an egg donor, you donate so much more than just your biological materials – you’re providing the gift of fertility to those who need it most. Egg donors are generously compensated for this amazing and selfless act.

The egg donor program at Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago offers egg donors between $7,000 to $9,000 for each completed cycle. Egg donors often use this compensation to accomplish their personal goals, such as paying for their education, traveling, or building up their savings. As a bonus, we also offer our egg donors egg freezing options, which allows egg donors to preserve their own fertility.

Egg Donor Requirements

The health and safety of our egg donors, as well as the babies born from their eggs, are our top priorities. Candidates must undergo thorough medical and psychological screenings before being accepted as egg donors to ensure that the experience is healthy, positive, and rewarding for everyone involved. Some of these requirements are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which oversees donor tissue eligibility in the US. The FDA requires that all donors and donor eggs be screened for communicable diseases, such as HIV and hepatitis C.

To become an egg donor with Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, candidates must:

  • Be between the ages of 21 and 31
  • Not use any tobacco products, including cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and snuff tobacco
  • Have no history of drug use
  • Have no sexually transmitted diseases
  • Have no genetic disorders
  • Be in good reproductive health, with regular monthly periods and no reproductive conditions
  • Not be using certain types of birth control, specifically hormonal IUDs, implants, and injections
  • Be able to commit to the process and keep appointments

The Egg Donation Process, Step-by-Step

Step 1: Application

The egg donation journey begins by filling out and submitting an application. The application asks questions about you, your medical history, and your characteristics. 

Step 2: Egg Donor Screening

Once we have reviewed your application, we will initiate the screening process and schedule you for various evaluations, including general health, reproductive health, genetics, and psychology. The results of these evaluations will be used to determine if you are an ideal egg donor candidate. If so, we will prepare an egg donor profile for our database that will be viewed by our recipient parents. Your egg donor profile will feature information about your medical details, physical traits, personal characteristics, hobbies, interests, education, and career. However, it will not feature any private information, such as your name, contact information, or address.

Step 3: Synchronization* and Ovarian Stimulation

Upon being matched with recipient parents, you will begin the process of cycle synchronization, which involves placing both you and the recipient on birth control. Once your menstrual cycles have synced, you will undergo ovarian stimulation to help produce and mature multiple egg follicles. This is accomplished using fertility medications that are self-administered via injection. During this time,  you will come to our facility for follicle monitoring, where we will use a transvaginal ultrasound to keep track of how your follicles are developing. This takes about 10 to 14 days.

*Synchronization is only necessary for egg donors involved in fresh donor egg cycles. If desired, egg donors have the option of participating in frozen egg donation. The process for frozen egg donation is medically similar in terms of ovarian stimulation and retrieval. The main difference is that your donation is not coordinated with the recipient parents; instead, the donated eggs are frozen and stored in our egg bank for future use. 

This is a great option for women who want to donate their eggs on their own timeline. When you connect with Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, we’ll discuss all the options available to you and help you figure out which is the best path for your egg donation journey

Step 4: Egg Retrieval

Once your egg follicles have reached the desired size, we will give you will be prescribed what is known as a trigger shot, which sets the stage for the last stage of egg maturation and prepares the eggs for retrieval. About 36 hours later, the egg retrieval procedure is performed. During the procedure, you will be placed under light sedation. Guided by ultrasound, our doctors will gently suction your eggs from your ovaries using an aspirating needle and a very thin catheter. The entire process typically takes about 15 to 20 minutes.

Step 5: Recovery

After the egg retrieval procedure is complete, you will come out of sedation and go home the same day. You must have transportation arranged to ensure that you get home safely. Plan on taking at least 24 hours to rest after the procedure. While recovery times can vary from person to person, you will likely need to take a few days to rest and relax after the procedure. We will also schedule a follow-up appointment to make sure that you are doing well.

Become an Egg Donor and Give the Gift of Fertility

When you become an egg donor, you change lives by giving the gift of life. We’re always seeking egg donors of all ethnic backgrounds at AFCC. Contact us today to learn more. If you’re ready, take the first step by filling out an application.

 

Fill out this form to become an egg donor