Risks of Being an Egg Donor

Not every woman can have babies naturally. For those who have fertility problems involving unhealthy eggs, turning to an egg donor is a choice for starting a family. If you're a healthy female, you may be able to donate your own eggs to someone who could not otherwise conceive. However, before you make the choice to give someone one of your eggs, make sure you understand the risks involved.

Injection Discomfort

• When you decide to become an egg donor, your fertility doctor will inject you with certain hormones to stimulate healthy ovulation. According to the New Hampshire Fertility Center, most women don't have problems with this process, but some could experience discomfort such as bruising and redness at the injection site. Others have reported pain, moodiness, fluid retention, and tenderness around the breasts and ovaries after injections.

Cysts

• Egg donors could experience ovarian cysts. This happens in less than 1 percent of all cases, according to the New Hampshire Fertility Center, but if the cysts burst, surgery is needed for repair.

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome

• Some egg donors develop ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, which can cause dehydration, kidney damage, fluid accumulation in the organs and blood clotting problems, according to the New Hampshire Fertility Center.

Egg Retrieval

• When the doctor harvests the eggs, there are very small risks that include injury to blood vessels and infection, according to the New Hampshire Fertility Clinic.

Future Risks

• According to the University of North Carolina Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, donating eggs is not expected to cause fertility problems for you in the future. In the past, it has been suggested that there is a link between ovarian cancer and the fertility drugs used for egg donation, but most recent information suggests that there is no cancer risk, according to UNC.