Using Frozen Donor Eggs; Benefits, Cost and Success Rates
Fresh donor eggs were once considered the gold standard for IVF with donor eggs. Recent advances in egg freezing techniques and frozen donor egg success rates have made frozen eggs a viable option for couples and individuals who need the assistance of an egg donor to have children. At Santa Monica Fertility, frozen eggs now have comparable success rates to fresh eggs, providing intended parents with a greater choice of prospective donors while avoiding the need to synchronize the donor and egg recipient’s cycles. Frozen donor egg costs are similar to fresh donor eggs, providing another great option for intended parents looking to have a baby with the help of donor eggs.
Should you choose fresh or frozen donor eggs? Your circumstances and preferences will play a significant role in making this important decision. To help you make the right choice for your family, consider the following information about using frozen donor eggs.
Advantages of using frozen donor eggs
Donor eggs are frozen using a process known as vitrification. Vitrification completes the freezing process in minutes, preventing damaging ice crystal formation in the cell. More eggs survive the freezing and thawing process thanks to vitrification, with better results for intended parents.
The benefits of using frozen donor eggs include:
- No need to synchronize the cycles of donors and recipients.
- Any problems that may arise during the donor’s ovarian stimulation have been addressed, so you know exactly how many eggs you’ll receive.
- Egg recipients can choose from a wide variety of donors whose eggs are already frozen.
- No delays due to scheduling conflicts or a selected donor’s availability.
- Cycle cancellations are rare.
Are frozen donor eggs better for IVF than fresh?
This is perhaps the greatest concern for potential parents: how does using frozen donor eggs for IVF compare with fresh donor eggs? The good news is potential parents can feel free to choose fresh or frozen eggs as the success rates are considered the same. Frozen eggs are more convenient in most cases, as your schedule and cycle do not need to match that of the donor. Access to eggs and completion of IVF is much faster when choosing frozen eggs. For more information on the pros and cons of using fresh versus frozen eggs, check out our blog Frozen or Fresh Donor Eggs: The True Story.
What is the success rate for frozen donor eggs?
At Santa Monica Fertility, the live birth rate per embryo transfer of 65% is comparable to that of fresh donor eggs. Our remarkable donor egg success rates are due to a combination of factors, including the care with which donor eggs are frozen. We choose our egg donors with great care, taking into account their age, physical health, and mental health.
Egg donors are typically between the ages of 20 and 29, as a woman’s egg reserve drops as she ages. Many of our donors are young university students with a genuine desire to help prospective parents. Once intended parents choose eggs from our extensive frozen donor egg bank, we use cutting-edge fertilization methods to maximize success. Should you wish, embryo genetic screening and sex selection are available.
How much do frozen donor eggs cost?
Due to Santa Monica Fertility’s high frozen eggs IVF success rates, we charge the same for fresh and frozen donor eggs: $3,925 per egg for patients who complete their whole IVF with donor eggs journey at our clinic. For patients who ship the donor eggs to another clinic, the cost is $3,300 per egg, plus $950 shipping fee. While the cost per egg is the same, frozen eggs are the less expensive option as intended parents can secure six eggs only, while the starting batch for fresh egg donation typically amounts to eight eggs.
What does this mean for the overall price? A batch of 6 frozen donor eggs costs $23,550 ($19,800 if eggs are shipped to another clinic) and a batch of 8 fresh donor eggs is $31,400. The number of eggs you should secure depends on your fertility goals; are you looking to have just one child, or would you like siblings in the future? Are you looking to select sex of your baby, or do chromosomal testing on embryos? We’ll be able to recommend an optimal package, depending on your individual circumstance
What’s included in the frozen donor egg price?
- A dedicated nurse
- Coordination of cycle
- All embryology (including ICSI and assisted hatching)
- All surgical fees for the donor
- Donor’s medical screening, including infectious disease, genetic testing, and psychological screening
- All donor’s expenses, including compensation, travel, medications, monitoring visits, and legal fees
- Embryo freezing
- One year of storage for frozen material
- Complimentary embryo transfer when performed at Santa Monica Fertility. In the event a transfer with SMF is not successful, we will perform another transfer of one of your existing embryos at no additional cost until live birth is reached.
There may also be an opportunity to ship frozen eggs to your local fertility clinic from the Santa Monica Donor Egg Bank.
What’s included in the fresh donor eggs package?
- A dedicated nurse
- Cycle coordination
- All embryology (including ICSI and assisted hatching)
- All surgical fees for the donor
- Donor’s IVF, medical screening, including infectious disease, genetic testing, and psychological screening
- All donor’s expenses, including compensation, travel, medications, monitoring visits, and legal fees
- Embryo freezing
- One year of storage for frozen materials
- Complimentary embryo transfer when performed at Santa Monica Fertility. In the event a transfer with SMF is not successful, we will perform another transfer of one of your existing embryos at no additional cost until live birth is reached.
What’s not included in the cost of our donor egg packages?
- sex selection and chromosomal screening
- out-of-town monitoring visits
- your legal fees
- medications to prepare for embryo transfer
- routine preconception, and prenatal tests, as well as early pregnancy ultrasounds.
- Intended parents working with a surrogate may have additional, surrogacy related fees.
Santa Monica Donor Egg Bank
The Santa Monica Donor Egg Bank allows intended parents access to an online database of fresh and frozen egg donors. Through the database, you’ll be able to view each donor’s profile, including their ethnicity, family medical history, personality, education, and vital statistics (hair color, eye color, age, etc.). Each profile shows the donor’s availability for fresh egg donation, frozen eggs, or both.
All donors in the Santa Monica Donor Egg Bank database are carefully screened physically and psychologically, and all are approved to donate their eggs.
How to choose an egg donor bank?
Take your time choosing an egg donor bank: you should be 100 percent confident in the bank’s screening process and its ability to successfully retrieve, store, freeze and transport eggs.
Opting for an egg donor bank that is affiliated with a fertility clinic, like Santa Monica Donor Egg Bank, makes the IVF with donor eggs process much smoother and more efficient. Unlike many other egg donor banks, Santa Monica Donor Egg Bank offers both fresh and frozen eggs, which intended parents can choose between based on their personal preferences. All our donors undergo thorough egg donor screening process, including medical and psychological testing.
Santa Monica Fertility also provides surrogacy services, through Premium Surrogacy. Individual male intended parents, gay couples, and women who cannot carry a child to term can all benefit from our wonderful surrogates. For men who are HIV positive, we provide HIV sperm washing treatment, which removes the HIV and seminal fluid, leaving only healthy sperm for egg fertilization.
Does Santa Monica Donor Egg Bank ship frozen donor eggs?
Absolutely! We ship frozen donor eggs both domestically and internationally to approved clinics, so intended parents do not have to travel. You can continue to work with your current fertility doctor, who will perform the egg thawing, fertilization, and embryo transfer.
Choosing an egg donor is one of the most important decisions in the egg donation process. We encourage all prospective parents to read more about IVF, egg donation, and surrogacy at the Santa Monica Fertility blog. If you have any questions about frozen donor eggs, fresh eggs, or any other aspect of IVF or surrogacy, please contact us. We’ll provide the facts you need to make the decision that’s right for your family.
