The majority of women who go through egg donation do so without any complications and return to their pre-donation health status within a few days after donating their eggs. The egg retrieval is a surgical procedure and as with any surgical procedure there is a minimal amount of risk. The donor is given fertility medications and studies have shown no increased risk of cancer in women having taken fertility medications. A woman is born with several million eggs, and by the time she reaches puberty she has 300,000 eggs. Thus, donating a small number to another woman does not decrease the woman's chance of conceiving a child in the future or reaching menopause sooner. There are some risks associated with the various steps in egg donation:
Ovulation Induction: The fertility medications used to induce ovulation of the female's eggs may cause the ovaries to become overstimulated. This can lead to a condition called ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS). Usually OHSS can be treated with bed rest at home and increased intake of fluids. Very rarely patients are hospitalized with OHSS for intravenous fluids and monitoring until the syndrome resolves. Worldwide there have been rare reports of death following severe OHSS.
Ultrasound Monitoring: Vaginal ultrasound examinations are done frequently in conjunction with taking the fertility medications. These examinations may be uncomfortable at times, but there is presently no known long term medical risk from ultrasounds.
Retrieval of Eggs: Retrieving the eggs is done in the surgery center under intravenous sedation. The eggs are retrieved using ultrasound to guide the needle aspiration of the follicles. On extremely rare occasions there could be bleeding from the site where the ovaries were punctured. This could require further surgical procedures to control the bleeding.
There are various side effects of the medications that are given during the egg donation process. A registered nurse will discuss the various side effects of the specific medications given to each donor.
