Breaking the myths: what you need to know about egg donation

IVF with egg donation, or egg donation, is surrounded by myths, just like everything related to artificial insemination. In most cases, the creation of myths develops where information is lacking. We have gathered the most widespread myths about oocyte donation and asked reproductive specialists and embryologists from a capital clinic to comment on them.

Donation depletes the egg reserve, the donor risks becoming infertile

At birth, a woman has her entire ovarian reserve, which means a lifetime supply of eggs. This amounts to about one million follicles. During a menstrual cycle, only one, sometimes two, mature; throughout a woman's fertile period, about 400 follicles become eggs, the others die. Ovarian stimulation encourages not just one egg to mature during a cycle, but a pool of 8 to 12 follicles. Adding this number to 400 - and we still get a figure very far from a million. Therefore, it is impossible to deplete the egg reserve through donation.

The donation procedure has no lasting impact on the donor's health

Like any intervention on the body’s functioning, donation carries risks. These are associated with hormonal stimulation of the ovaries (risk of developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, OHSS) and the surgical procedure of oocyte retrieval. In recent years, stimulation programs and their medications have improved to such an extent that severe OHSS has practically become a complication of the past. This is also due to the fact that all candidates for hormonal stimulation undergo a thorough examination that identifies risks in advance. Although mild OHSS causes discomfort, it does not lead to any significant consequences and does not even require medical intervention; the body recovers on its own after stopping stimulation; As for the surgical retrieval of eggs, it is performed under visual ultrasound guidance by an experienced physician, and while the risk of damaging neighboring organs with a needle for egg aspiration cannot be excluded, in practice, it occurs extremely rarely.

Weight gain during hormonal stimulation

During hormonal stimulation, a woman may indeed gain weight, but this is mainly due to water retention in the body rather than fat production. Some women do experience an increase in appetite under the influence of hormones, but even in this case, the duration of the program is only a few weeks, thus eliminating the possibility of significant weight gain. Paying special attention to your diet and reasonably limiting calorie-rich foods can prevent this issue.

A donor can donate any number of eggs

Hormonal stimulation allows for obtaining 8 to 12, a maximum of 15 eggs in a single program. Theoretically, there could be many programs of this type, but in reality, the doctors have set a limit. This number has been adopted not because the negative impact of donation has been proven, but as a precaution - frequent hormonal effects on the body do not exclude negative consequences.

Egg donors are dysfunctional women, drug addicts, and alcoholics

Excluded. There is a whole list of requirements for egg donors; only women who meet all the requirements are allowed to participate in the program. The first item on the list is good health. Before preparing for donation, the applicant must undergo an interview with a doctor and a complete medical examination. It is impossible to hide alcohol or any other addiction, as well as social, mental, or psychological distress, under such conditions.

It is unknown what a child from an egg donor will look like

When the donation program selects a donor, one of the main considerations is appearance. Usually, the donor of a couple is a woman whose appearance is similar to that of the biological mother. However, phenotypes cannot guarantee resemblance, as different genes may or may not be activated. We know this from real-life examples: children of the same parents often look completely different from one another - they have different hair and eye colors, different heights, different builds, etc. In other words, we never know exactly what the child will be like until their birth.

The child will have the personality of an unknown donor and will therefore be difficult to manage

Character is much less dependent on genes than on upbringing and the environment in which the child grows up. Even a child's abilities are not entirely determined by genes, and how and which of them will be revealed depends on the conditions in which the baby develops. Again, consanguinity does not guarantee either a good character (according to your understanding) or that it will be easy with the child.

Donor data can be found on the Internet; malicious individuals can use this information

Information about donation is completely confidential, and confidentiality is legally guaranteed. Even the couple benefiting from an egg donor does not receive any personal information about her. A description of appearance, anthropometric data (height, weight), certain medical parameters, such as blood type and Rh factor, and information about education without specifying educational institutions and specific dates are provided. There are no open databases. The only way for the public to find out that a woman has participated in the donation program is if she makes her own story public.

A child from a donor egg shares no genetic material with the biological mother

Until recently, this statement was considered true. But recent scientific discoveries have shown that even if donor eggs are used, the mother still transmits her genetic material to the child. We are talking about microRNA, molecules containing genetic information that are produced by the mother's body and enter the fetus through the amniotic fluid. MicroRNA regulates gene expression, meaning it activates certain genes from the existing set and thus affects the child's physical characteristics. Experts have already noted that children conceived from a donor egg are similar to their biological mothers, and this information has now received scientific confirmation.