# Advice and cost of egg donation clinics abroad



## Jellytots18 (Jan 13, 2014)

Hi Everyone,

My partner and I are both 47 and would like to look at egg donation, my partner has a grown up son, but I have no children and am a newbie/late starter.

I have been told that if we try egg donation abroad, it is about half that of the UK clinics especially as cost is an issue.

Can anyone recommend particular clinics and give me a rough idea of price using my partner's sperm? I was hoping to coordinate tests and medication in the UK with a clinic prior to visiting the egg donation clinic, does this increase the cost by much?


Kindest regards

Jellytots18


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## dillydolly (Mar 11, 2005)

Jelly tots
Have a think what country you want to go to and read the clinics thread. At a guess you'd be looking at €5500 plus meds. You'd have to pay for scans in the uk but you can get them done at lots of place and probably hep b, hepc, HIV blood screening


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## pigsy (Jan 5, 2012)

Have a look at SERUM in Greece.  There is an extensive amount of information on the threads but they also now have a website.


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## suzylee (Oct 5, 2012)

I have spent the last two weeks researching treatment abroad and its so much cheaper and they seem to have better success rates too  I am 41 and thinking about egg donation as the success rates are much higher then trying with my own (old) eggs. 
I think I have chosen Invicta in Poland as they are cheap, have a great website and customer service. It has been a bit tricky to find a local clinic to do my bloods and scans during treatment though! 
Check out their website, they have all the prices which is handy too. Good luck x


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## beck11 (Apr 8, 2014)

Hi there 
I am attending Eugin in Barcelona and they are excellent. You can get a list of the bloods needed from the clinic and get them done with your Gp. I am having FET in May, had 2 OE IVF  BFN, 1 DD BFN in Feb. You should probably get the bloods done soon so as not to hold up treatment. Good luck
Beck


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## KrisN (May 12, 2014)

Hi Jelly tots, I am doing IVF treatment at the moment in a clinic in Sofia , Bulgaria and they are brilliant . Donor programs are around 5000 Euro . Best of luck x


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## deblovescats (Jun 23, 2012)

Hi jellytots
Just wanted to put in my view - you obviously need to research a variety of clinics but don't automatically assume it will be cheaper abroad. Spain can be more expensive than UK. Greece and Cyprus can be cheaper. You also need to factor in cost of hotels, flights and exchange rate. You might also need to pay privately for scans/tests etc in UK before flying out, whereas will be included in UK. There also used to be a long wait for egg donors for UK clinics but now this is much reduced in many. I went to CARE Sheffield and couldn't fault them - only waited 6 weeks for egg donor. I'd previously had 2 failed attempts at a different clinic in UK and was not totally happy with them, so changed clinic.It was much easier for me to travel to Sheffield than abroad, and I don't think there was much difference with the cost when other factors are included. I think it cost me about £6,000 for a fresh cycle with double donation. I also have 3 frozen embryos for a further attempt. I am so happy that this cycle worked - I'm now 35 weeks and due 12th July, so excited. Also, just to put a perspective on the statistics. UK clinics are very regulated by HFEA so they can only claim a success if a heartbeat is detected at 7 week scan, whereas some clinics abroad count a success from chemical pregnancies (positive pregnancy tests) even if embryo does not proceed to develop. This may skew the success rates somewhat. Obviously, I don't mean to have a go at these clinics as some have good results and many ladies are happy with them, just wanted to put an alternative view. Also, information about donor may or not be important. Donation is anonymous abroad so the child will not have the chance to find out about their donor if they wish, whereas in the UK, although it's anonymous, there is donor release and the child can find out non identifying details at 16 and identifying details at 18 if they wish. Some clinics also ask donors to provide a pen portrait of themselves which you can see when having treatment.
Just hope this helps
Deb


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## Highland (Jun 17, 2013)

Hi, i've looked in to this a bit. Serum in Athens seems to be popular, and Spain generally too, although some clinics are reported to be brusque conveyor belts. Prague gets some recommendations.  Costs around 5000 euro, but you have to allow for travel costs too. I heard of one couple who went around the world and were finally successful with a college hospital in london. I think travel can be stressful so that might not help. North Cyprus comes up recommended / experienced with older aspiring mums. A pllace in london called create also seems to be popular, although the HFEA stats i could see didnt seem particularly out of the ordinary. I'm thinking about Glasgow centre for reproductive medicine, who partner with a clinic in Valencia, Spain, although the point about overseas donors not being traceable for your child needs serious thought. Best of luck, can you let me know anything you find out?  Thanks.


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## Highland (Jun 17, 2013)

Hi again, I was interested in your Polish clinic information; looked in to things and found out IVF is unregulated in Poland. One site said that could mean unused embryos could be sold or researched on, there is no regulation to say this is illegal. Of course that was just one site, and it may be wrong or out of date,  but its not something I'd thought of before, so thought I'd share the information.


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## suzylee (Oct 5, 2012)

I never knew that! 
I know that when I had IVF in this country I signed to say that any nonviable eggs could go towards stem cell research so I don't have an issue with research but selling embryos!!?? I'm not sure how I feel about that, I would hope they would ask permission first. Any embryos I have left over I want freezing not selling!


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## daisyg (Jan 7, 2004)

Hello Jellytots,

I just wondered if there was a special reason why you are only considering clinics abroad? I totally understand why people go abroad as I have 7 year old twins via donor embryo in Spain. However, one of the reasons for that was, at the time, UK waiting lists were long which is now changing. Some clinics with short lists are CRM, CARE group, Lister, LWC etc.

I do know that there are a number of UK clinics with short or no waiting lists for both egg share and altruistic donors. The biggest considerations when choosing whether to stay in the UK or go abroad are:-

The chance for your child to have more information about their donor and to have identifying info. at 18. I know only too well that when you so want to have a baby, these considerations seem irrelevant or not real. However, I know from experience that people may feel differently once the baby is here.

The chance to have free counselling at a UK clinic. This can be really important to have closure around the issue of giving up your eggs and there is sometimes some grief around this. These sessions can really help clarify issues for you. Of course you can book them privately if you are going abroad.

I have no information on my children's donors except blood group and age. I decided to be open with them from birth, but would like a little more info. for them. This doesn't stop me talking to my children about it, and they are accepting of this information as just being another fact about them, no big drama!

I think that the decision process is so important so that when you choose your clinic (UK or abroad), you feel as confident as you can. This will also give you confidence with your children (if you choose to tell).

Just for extra info! US and South African clinics also have known/willing to be known donors and offer lots of information on the donor for you.

You can find support on all issues to do with donor eggs on the Donor Conception Network website. Info. on egg donation and waiting lists in the UK from NGDT.

http://www.ngdt.co.uk/

Wishing you the best of luck,

Daisy xxx

This post contains an unconfirmed link/information and readers are reminded that FertilityFriends.co.uk or its owners are not responsible for the content of external internet sites


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## Highland (Jun 17, 2013)

Hi again. The polish people tell me they charge an annual fee for storing unused embryos. If you discontinue paying, the embryos go in to their anonymous embryo bank. I've asked more questions about that, like what these bank embryos might get used for, but i think the thing is you have no control over whatever it might be. They claim 65% success rate on egg donor IVF,, that is 65% pregnancies, not live births. They say they can not collate live birth stats as not all clients keep in touch. I think its a shame there is not a pan European equivalent to the HFEA, we are left to work things out for ourselves and I feel quite overwhelmed by it most times..


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## Steph2012 (Mar 16, 2012)

Hi highland

Just following on from daisyg's post......I'm currently 10 weeks pregnant following DE treatment in the US. We used a clinic called Shady Grove in Washington and I cannot recommend them highly enough. There's no waiting list and they have their own bank of donors - donor choice and donor info was most important to me (as well as great success rates). Am sure there are donors who are happy to be contacted in future but that wasn't for us. We have tons of info about the donor (all physical attribute info (height weight build eye colour blood group), full medical history, full family medical history (siblings, parents, grandparents), details of education & career history, likes/dislikes, hobbies, marital status, children, reason for donating, baby photos, adult photos) - everything apart from name & address I think!!

ED is a very personal choice and what works for some doesn't work for others. There are loads of similar threads on FF - have a look at some of the discussion on those. Whatever you decide, wish you all the luck in the world!


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