What is egg sharing?

Some IVF clinics have introduced an egg sharing programme, in which an infertile couple who cannot afford the cost of IVF treatment have their treatment paid by or subsidised by an egg recipient couple. The egg sharer donor (often called the 'egg provider') must be fit and healthy & under the age of 35.

The potential egg sharers are carefully assessed and screened for infectious and genetic diseases as altruistic donors. Potential donors with known or suspected poor ovarian response or poor egg quality are excluded.

Because of the complexity of egg sharing programmes, independent counselling is essential for all couples wishing to embark on the programme - both donors and recipients.

To summarise the process:

The egg sharer undergoes ovarian stimulation treatment. After the eggs are collected they are shared between the donor couple and the egg recipient couple. The minimum number of eggs for sharing is usually 8 but varies between different centres. The donated eggs will be inseminated with sperm from the recipient's woman's partner while the other eggs will be inseminated with sperm from the egg donor's partner. Each couple will have their own embryos transferred.

Occasionally, the donor treatment cycle does not go as smoothly as planned. For example, few eggs are collected that are not enough to split. Sometimes, the treatment cycle has to be abandoned because of poor follicular development or risk of ovarian hyperstimulation. The eggs may fail to fertilise or the embryos may fail to divide.

We produce Guidance Notes for Egg Sharers.

I am considering egg sharing.  Does that mean that I’m a ‘donor’?

Yes.  Egg sharing involves donating some of your eggs to someone else for treatment.  This means that the rules regarding donation apply to you. For more information see Guidance notes for Egg Donors and The HFEA Guide to Infertility.