Our team provides tips to help make selecting an egg donor easier

Egg donation can help many types of patients become parents. Single men, gay couples and couples facing female infertility related to the eggs can all benefit from selecting an egg donor. However, many patients feel overwhelmed when they start their journey to find an egg donor. After all, the egg donor will provide half of the baby’s DNA.

There’s no need to worry though. Fertility Specialists of Texas is home to Dallas-Fort Worth infertility doctors who can help. Our practice even offers an in-house egg donor program to help you find the perfect fit for your family.

Where can you look for egg donors?

When you start thinking about selecting an egg donor, you’ll discover you can go with an anonymous donor or a known donor.

• A known donor is often someone you know, such as a friend or a family member who isn’t related to the person providing the sperm for the pregnancy.
• An anonymous donor comes from an egg donation program like the one we offer at our clinic. Donors in reputable programs like ours have passed intensive prescreening. This screening confirms they don’t have any infectious diseases and their eggs are likely to result in a healthy baby.

Most people decide to find an egg donor by using an anonymous egg donation program because the donors have already gone through screening. This tends to speed up the process. However, our Dallas-Fort Worth infertility doctors are happy to help if you will be working with a known egg donor. This woman will just need to complete testing before she can serve as your donor.

What do you need to think about when selecting an egg donor?

You have a lot to consider when you’re building your family using an egg donor. To help streamline your decision-making process, we’re providing a list of things to consider when looking at egg donors.

Donor traits. You’ll want to start by thinking about what characteristics are important to you and your family. For example, do you want your child to share your musical talent or your hair color?

Egg donation programs will provide information about each donor’s appearance, personality, education, talents and interests. This information can help you find the donor who best meets your needs. Just keep in mind that having a donor with blue eyes, for example, does not guarantee that your child will also have blue eyes.

Donor relationship. After you’ve thought about what characteristics matter to you, you’ll want to think about what type of relationship you want to have with your donor.

If having a relationship with your donor is important to you, you’ll want to select a known donor, as donors from egg donation programs are typically anonymous. However, if you do pick a known donor, you’ll want to make sure you have a legal agreement to outline everyone’s rights.

Donor costs. Finally, you need to consider the cost. Because the cost of conceiving using donor eggs can vary, you’ll want to make a reasonable budget before you start your family-building journey. We also recommend thinking about costs you might not have originally considered. An example is the cost of having a lawyer draft an agreement for you and a known donor.

While these aren’t the only factors to consider, they are a good starting point. Our Dallas-Fort Worth infertility doctors can help you explore other considerations involved with selecting an egg donor. Contact us to learn more.