# Where do I begin to research clinics?



## BeccaGabrielle38 (Aug 20, 2016)

Hi-
Any advice on how to research clinics would be great. We are trying egg donation, after failed IVF-no follicles even grew-I have low AMH and high FSH. It's important to me that a baby resemble me-so I am concerned about how these clinics choose a donor. I am not sure if they have info on ethnicity or heritage-and not that it's a deal breaker-but just wondering if you can even request a donor with jewish eastern european heritage (I am american but stationed in germany). If not heritage, how close can they get to my brown hair, brown eyes short in stature look? Is it better to go to Spain or Greece for that? Or will the Czech Republic have any diversity in their donors?

I am at an IVF clinic in Germany now but egg donation is illegal here, so I am starting the search in case my final IVF attempt fails-we aren't even doing FSH shots-they are going to try clomid, which seems like a major step backwards. So I am prepping for the next step. I see a lot of people like Zlin or IVF ALicante-just trying to determine how to choose the best place. I want ease, great communication and high success rates!  Thanks in advance


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## Albatross (Oct 13, 2015)

Hi Becca
There are a number of clinics on here that are really popular and there are boards for them so have a look through. 
I have been to Serum in Athens and think they're great. I was originally looking at another clinic in Athens (Embio) but after reading everything on the Forum about Serum I decided to contact them and had a telephone consultation with Penny which convinced me to go with them. She was also the only one willing to give me a go with my own eggs, even though the chance of it working was negligible due to my age. But I needed to do that to be able to move onto donor egg.
You may wish to contact a number of clinics and see how you feel. Embio and Serum were the only clinics where I got an almost immediate reply. That made a big difference for me as I had been having a nightmare with a clinic in London where communication was really bad (and ended up wasting about a year of my time). The English is also excellent so you don't have to worry about language issues.
I was asked what my requirements were for my donor and then Penny (serum's Director) did the match and she tries to match as best she can with  a donor. The physical match is generally the top priority. You send over some photos to help but they would have already met you probably as well.
I don't know if they would know or even ask donors about Jewish ancestry, but they do have Eastern European donors ( I know that mine is Polish). From comments from other people n the boards it seems like they are really good at finding a good match. They also have a lot of donors in Greece compared to other places so have more to choose from. And I know that Serum really looks after the donors too.
I would recommend getting in touch with the clinic and have the telephone consultation to talk everything through and see how you feel. It's free so you have nothing to lose. Serum is closed at the moment for their summer holidays but will be back at the beginning of September.
Just a comment on the treatment you're having now with respect to Clomid. Serum also use this approach with older women or non-responders to normal IVF as they say that it can improve the egg quality, so it's worth a try.
Good luck x


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## Lily0750 (Aug 1, 2015)

Hi Becca,
If you are single, please research countries' legislation as e.g. Czech Republic won't do treatment to single women.
In most countries egg donors are anonymous so patients have to trust the information provided by the clinics.

I came across the website "egg donation friends" where they have comparison reports on clinics in each country.
Good luck x


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## miamiamo (Aug 9, 2015)

I agree with Lily0750, egg donationfriends com is a good source to compare clinics, prices and stats 

/links


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