Around 10-20% of women aged 33 – 35 years demand for egg donors. And the demand continues to rise as the woman’s age increases. Women in 40s are one of the majorities of people who require egg donors. Since the Indian women experienced menopause around 5 years earlier than women of the same age in the west, the quality of eggs retrieved is lower and in Indian women when compared to its western counterparts. Hence, they require egg donations much earlier.
On selection of egg donors:
Most donors are from agencies and is selected on the basis of physical traits to match with the intended parent’s requirements in terms of skin color, hair, and eyes etc. We conduct investigations to determine if the egg donors possessed any infections or genetic disorders. All the essential medical tests and checking her detailed medical history is done to evaluate their complete health.
Risks in egg retrieval process:
There are usually no complications in the egg retrieval process yet we do follow up with the donors for about a week post-retrieval. Sometimes, during the retrieval process, the needle may hit a blood vessel in the ovary and blood may ooze out and the donor may even faint unknowingly n 2-3 days after the process.
While, there are a few clinics that over-stimulate ovaries to retrieve more eggs as much as possible. The side-effects of such hyper-stimulation may lead to distended ovaries, presence of fluid in the abdominal cavity resulting in hospitalization or admission in the ICU.
Increase the minimum age of donors:
“The age limit to use an egg donor is above 21 years as per the ICMR guidelines. This means college-going girls or young girls who are unaware of the risks involved in the egg donor process opt for egg donation to improve their living standards.”
They do not acknowledge the fact that egg donation may affect their fertility conditions in future.
Still I believe that the minimum age of egg donors should be increased from 21 to 25 years so that the young egg donors are mentally, physically and emotionally mature so that they themselves do not have to go through IVF while assisting other couples to have babies.