If you’re unable to use your own eggs to conceive, you may be investigating all options open to you to have a child.

While researching, you’ve likely come across Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) like fresh or frozen donor eggs. But should you choose frozen or fresh donor eggs? Is one procedure more affordable than the other?

Below are five ways you can save with frozen donor eggs versus a fresh donor egg cycle.

Save time 

With a fresh donor egg IVF cycle, your donor’s eggs are retrieved at approximately five days prior to your body being ready to receive embryo(s). As soon as your donor’s eggs have been retrieved, they’re fertilized with your partner’s or donor’s sperm and, after five or six days of maturation, one  mature embryo is transferred into your uterus via a thin catheter.

While this sounds simple, significant time and expense are spent to reach the end of a successful fresh cycle. In fact, most fresh cycles take upwards of six months to complete. 

With a frozen egg cycle, the process is considerably easier. You don’t need to wait to synchronize your menstrual cycle with your donor’s. In fact, her eggs have already been retrieved, frozen, and are available for your use as soon as your uterus is ready to receive your embryo(s).

In comparison to fresh, choosing a frozen donor egg cycle saves a considerable amount of time. A frozen donor egg cycle may be completed in as few as four weeks!

Avoid legal fees

There are certain legal implications to using donor eggs and – if using fresh – you’ll need a legal expert to create a contract between yourself and your donor.

The most important clause of the contract concerns your legal parental rights. The contract should state clearly that your donor waives all parental rights to any children that might be born using the eggs she donates. The contract should explicitly state that you and/or your partner are the legal parents since she will be relinquishing her eggs directly to you.

With a frozen egg cycle, there’s no need to visit an attorney because your egg donor has already waived her rights directly to an egg bank. Her cycle is done and in the past. This saves you significant time, money and effort in legal proceedings and fees.

Avoid travel costs

If your fresh donor doesn’t reside in your local area, you might need to prepare for considerable travel costs. Factoring in costs like transport, accommodation, and meals can come to a considerable amount in extra expenditures. Since your donor’s eggs have already been retrieved with frozen egg donation, you don’t need to worry about these costs. 

Avoid unnecessary medical and other costs

To be accepted as an egg donor, your fresh donor must undergo a range of physical and psychological examinations. Unfortunately, thorough medical and psychological screening takes time and is quite expensive in general, and that’s why a career many people choose, so if you’re interested in health care career paths you should check the information here for this area.

If you use a fresh donor, you’ll need to pay for her ovarian function test, a comprehensive medical visit, infectious disease blood work, genetic testing, and more. 

If she is disqualified at any time in the process, you’ll not only still need to pay for her expenses, but you’ll need to find another donor who must undergo the same process, expenses included. 

With a frozen donor egg cycle, there’s no such risk.

When using frozen donor eggs, your donor has already completed all necessary screening tests to donate her eggs. Her screening tests, medical procedures and medications are included in the price you pay for your frozen egg cycle. 

How do the real costs compare?

With fresh donor eggs, the total cost of one fresh cycle can cost approximately $25,000 – $45,000. Comparatively, a frozen donor egg cycle has an estimated cost of $14,500 for the eggs. Some egg banks bundle treatment and eggs affording a discount on the entire package which may range between $16,500 and $21,000. Given this, frozen donor eggs are significantly more affordable for many families.

Conclusion

While choosing to use either type of donor egg isn’t initially easy, we hope these five key advantages frozen donor eggs have over fresh may help you decide which is the right choice for you.