It is surprising that a girl child born with almost one to two million eggs insider her ovary. But puberty starts after a certain age, not immediately after the childbirth. The average age of starting menstruation cycle is 12 years after the gonadotropin-releasing hormone starts producing in the hypothalamus in the brain. And subsequently, the pituitary gland releases the follicle-stimulating hormone and rise-up estrogen level. However, the peak reproductive age of a woman is considered in between 20 years to 30 years. The fertility starts declining in the mid-30s due to poor quality egg production and completely diminished after 45 years due to the onset of menopause.
Therefore, after a certain age, women become less fertile because the number of eggs in their ovaries are fixed. With increasing age, the number starts decreasing. Another important consideration is poor quality eggs with abnormal chromosomal factors produced with increasing age. Certain reproductive health risks like uterine fibroids and endometriosis are also heightened with increasing age.
Age restriction is common in an egg donation program. The preferable age for egg donation is in between 19 years to 30 years. Egg donation agencies usually select egg donors in this age group to donate eggs to hopeful families. The restriction of age limit in egg donation is not to discriminate against women, but important for the success of donor egg recipients — and the well-being of our egg donors.
Age matters the quality of eggs
A woman can produce an egg until her menopause will not arise and can conceive and deliver a child even in the early The 40s or till her menopause does not start because every individual is different. But for egg donation service the age restriction is necessary for the successful outcome of the treatment. Many women require egg donation services in their late 30s due to the suffering of age-related fertility issues.
Women were born with a set number of eggs i.e. one to million and unable to produce new eggs. During the menstruation cycle, women just release a set number of eggs, which are either fertilized or discarded. Therefore, the number is declining every month after puberty and continues until menopause occurs.
Couples who are seeking for IVF with egg donation usually experienced failure of other conventional fertility treatment process. Moreover, IVF with egg donation is an expensive assisted reproductive technology used for infertility treatment. Therefore, intended parents and clinicians do not want to take any unnecessary risks like poor quality eggs that can create a barrier to the treatment.
The primary goal of the IVF with egg donation treatment process is to transfer the best possible eggs. Therefore, age restriction in the egg donation process serves two goals, including confirming commitment from the egg donor to support the treatment of the process by fulfilling her responsibility and high-quality healthy egg retrieval and transfer the best embryo in the intended mother’s womb for successful conception and pregnancy.