[Deker]

My friend and her partner have been TTC for almost two years with no luck at all. They have done 6 cycles of IUI and 3 cycles of IVF without any success and now their starting to look at egg donation. They are interested in using a particular donor because she is a "proven donor" who got two couples pregnant on the first try.

Is it best to use a proven donor verses a "newbie" donor?

[LGB]

My clinic's stance is that a well-tested unproven donor will perform just as good as a proven donor. Both new donors and proven donors can have bad cycles...proven donors can have great cycles in a row and then crash and burn possibly. New donors need to be tested very well for their AFC count, FSH, etc. A proven donor knows what to expect and what to do, so less likely they will back out, flake out, etc.

I used an unproven and she did pretty well stimming and her quality seemed very good. That said, I did get a blighted ovum this cycle, so it's hard to say.

[karens]

Deker-

I dont know but when I spoke to the agency rep, she pushed me from a younger girl who has a child to a "proven" donor. She said that the gal I selected may or may not give good qallity eggs who knows, but the idea of using a proven donor, means that the eggs have been looked at on a previous cycle, and you know if there was a success. You can also ask how many eggs were retrieved for for another cycle if needed.

I am excited for you and wish you luck!

[Kay]

My clinic, after seeing us go through a lot, wanted us to have a proven donor to have greater chances at success. These were their words. Initially we chose a donor that resembled me more closely, but our coordinator suggested we go with a particular donor because of her track record. We were her final cycle (6th) and she never had a bad cycle and everyone who used her eggs got pregnant.... some with twins. We got pregnant the first try and we have 8 embryos frozen hoping to do a FET this Fall. In my opinion it was a good thing to go with proven.
Kay

[fuzzykitten]

When I asked my donor agency what "proven donor" meant, they said it just meant either the donor has had a child, has gotten pregnant at some point in the past, or that she has made follicles. I tried to ask the agency if they have any pregnancy stats, and was told that people that get pregnant don't come back to tell them how great the eggs were, so they don't have such data. They won't even tell me how many mature eggs she has produced in her recent cycle... I don't know how many cycles she has donated either. DE is such a lengthy and expensive process I really wish I could get more info before I commit. Is it actually within my right to press the donor agency for more info?

[Igloochic]

Having a baby does not mean you are a proven donor. You have to donate to be a donor.

Having been pregnant is also not a proven donor. Did that pregnancy go to term? Etc.

Proven donors have a donation track record and that can be shared with you.

In my selection of 6 girls, I had 50/50 (proven donors and new donors). A proven donor was one who'd gone through at least one cycle and produced a satisfactory donation.

And yes they're better. Read these forums...all women respond differently to the meds. Being young isn't the only necessary information. I wouldn't choose a donor that only produced one follie in the past because that gives you a much lower chance of getting pregnant. A proven donor will normally be a higher producer leaving you with follies on ice, but if not that, she'll at least have a few, verses one. 20 follies cost as much as 2...which would you feel would give you the best chance?