Egg Share Programme

Egg Sharing is a process in which a woman (the sharer or donor) going through IVF treatment (because she needs IVF to get pregnant), elects to give away (donate) half of her eggs to another woman who needs donor eggs because she is unable to produce her own.

Why would a woman going through IVF treatment give away half of her eggs?

Some women produce many more eggs than are necessary for their own treatment and would like to be able to help another woman who is unfortunate enough to be infertile because she has no eggs. Egg sharing provides this opportunity, enabling two patients to be treated during one IVF cycle. Unfortunately free IVF treatment is not available to many couples and because it can be very expensive the sharer also has the advantage of revieving a sunstantial reduction in the cost of their own IVF treatment.

The disadvantage to the sharing couple is that they will give away half of the eggs that they would otherwise have used for their own treatment. In order to safeguard the interests of both sharer and recipient (the woman receiving the eggs) we will only accept patients for the egg share programme who have a very good chance of producing sufficient egges to give both the sharer and recipient a reasonable chance of pregnancy.

The process

Because of the issues that egg sharing gives rise to, such as the act of giving away eggs and the what ifs e.g. what if the recipient becomes pregnant and the share doesn't, and so as to ensure that the interests of all parties are looked after, both recipient and donor are counselled regarding the implications of using/donating eggs. The minimum number of eggs for sharing is 8, maximising the chances of pregnancy for both the donor and the recipient. The criteria for entry to the egg share scheme are:

• to be aged between 18 and 35 years old
• to have both ovaries but not have polycystic ovaries
• to have an FSH (hormone) level of less than 9 IU/L
• to undergo counselling
• to have a body mass index of less than 35 (please telephone the Unit with your height and weight and we will calculate this for you)
• to be screened for HIV, hepatitis B and C, VDRL and cystic fibrosis
• to complete a genetic questionnaire in order to rule out the possibility of an inherited condition being passed on

Please see the egg donation section for futher information on this and our price list for up to date costs.

Our egg donation coordinator or one of the medical team would be happy to chat to you further about this treatment.