Why Choose an Egg Bank from Cyprus?

The laws regarding egg donation and the use of donor eggs to become pregnant are very different across Europe. Therefore, it is impossible and, in some countries, illegal to open an egg bank. In most countries, factors such as your age, marital status, or preferences regarding donor type or treatment may affect your choice of the donor.

One of the countries where egg donation is less regulated is Cyprus. The regulation in Cyprus means that it is possible for you to not just purchase donor eggs for fertility treatment, but also to choose between different donor profiles depending on the amount of information available regarding the egg donor. Of course, the possibility of choosing a non-anonymous egg donor depends on the laws in your treatment country. If the donor profile is not legal in the treatment country, you have to travel to another country or choose another type of donor.
Because of the different laws regarding the use of donor eggs for fertility treatment, we recommend that you investigate the regulations in your country before choosing a clinic. If you want a particular type of donor profile, that is not available possible in your country, you must travel to another country to receive the treatment.

Choosing an egg donor from Cyprus

Once you have found a fertility clinic it is time for you to choose an egg donor. One of the egg banks in Cyprus is Cryos International Sperm and Egg bank, located in the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia. Cryos has over 30 years of experience in dealing with donor gametes and has the largest selection of donors available in the world. A large selection of donors means that you have the possibility of choosing an egg donor with a physical appearance like your own. A lot of parents with donor-conceived children highlighted the importance of similar physical factors when choosing a donor.

Besides a large number of donors available, Cryos gives you the option of choosing between ID Release and Non-ID Release egg donors. When choosing an ID Release egg donor, the last known contact information on the donor can be released on request to the donor-conceived child when he or she turns 18. ID Release donors were previously known as non-anonymous donors, whereas the Non-ID Release Egg Donors were known as anonymous. Neither the parents nor the donor-conceived child will receive the contact information on a Non-ID Release Egg Donor.

The choice between an ID Release and Non-ID Release egg donor is important. You must decide whether you would like your child to be able to get in contact with the donor or not. The choice between the two types of profiles is highly individual and complex. Some parents do not want the donor to play a part in their child’s life, which is why choosing a Non-ID Release Egg Donor is the right choice for them. On the other hand, some parents choose an ID Release egg donor, for their child to have the possibility of contacting the donor in the future. The reason for choosing an ID Release Egg Donor is the possibility for the child to choose on their own. By choosing an ID Release donor, your child has the option of learning more about their genetic heritage and family history.

Making sure the egg donors are healthy

Apart from the possibility of choosing the level of information available on the donor, another reason for choosing Cryos is their high standards regarding donor eggs. To become an egg donor at Cryos, the women must go through an extensive screening process to make sure that they are healthy both mentally and physically. Cryos operates under the strict Tissue and Cell Directive from The European Union, which ensures a high standard regarding the small possibility of passing on diseases – both genetic and non-genetic.

The screening process consists of a general assessment of the potential donors and their family’s medical history. The assessment of their medical history is carried out to make sure that no genetic disease is passed on to potential donor-conceived children. The questionnaire about the donor’s family history is comprehensive and if our donor coordinators find any serious hereditary mental and/or physical diseases, the candidates are rejected. The screening is comprehensive because Cryos has committed to a strong responsibility towards both the future children and their parents to make sure that no hereditary mental or physical disease is passed on.

Aside from the family history of the donors, their physical health is tested. Cryos’ in-house nurses test the candidates’ physical health to make sure that they are in good health, meet the body mass criteria, and do not have chlamydia or gonorrhoea. They also perform a genetic carrier test, where the candidates’ genetics are examined. Cryos are looking for genetic variants causing the most frequent serious hereditary diseases worldwide:

• Cystic fibrosis
• Hemoglobinopathies (including Alfa thalassemia, Beta-thalassemia, Sickle cell)
• Spinal muscular atrophy
• Fragile X
• Tay Sachs disease.

By screening the donors for the most common genetic variants they can make sure that the risk of passing on a genetic disease to a donor-conceived child is very small. After the genetic carrier test a psychological assessment is done, to make sure that the egg donor is comfortable with their decision and understands what it means. A psychological assessment is required to become an egg donor, since Cryos wants to make sure that every woman donating their eggs at their facility understands what it means and is comfortable with their decision.

Egg freezing and storing

It is also possible to store your eggs at Cryos’ facilities in Cyprus. Egg freezing is relevant for those that wish to preserve the ability to have children later in life. There can be many different reasons for this. Maybe you are not ready for parenthood just yet, or perhaps you are facing medical treatment that could reduce the quality of your eggs and therefore you wish to preserve the possibility of becoming a parent. If you wish to get started on egg freezing at Cryos, the first step is to contact the egg bank in Cyprus, where a Customer Care consultant will help you figure out what the best solution is for you. The process of storing eggs takes up to 8 weeks and requires a visit to Cryos Egg Bank in Nicosia approximately 4-6 times. Because of the laws on egg storage in Cyprus, the maximum period of storing is 10 years.

The Cryos Donor Egg Guarantee

For most people, the process of undergoing fertility treatment will demand a lot of emotional and financial resources. This is something Cryos knows and therefore wants to ensure that their customers are helped with as much as possible. They want their customers to feel the highest possible level of comfort and security during the fertility treatment. Therefore, Cryos wants to give a sense of security to their customers in the form of an egg guarantee. The Cryos Donor Egg Guarantee works as a safety net for their customers so that they can fully concentrate on their fertility treatment.

Cryos already has a high success rate with donor eggs, in part because of the high quality of donors and in part because of the fertility clinics they cooperate with. For a clinic to become a Cryos reference clinic, they must have a certain standard and quality regarding their handling of eggs. Cryos makes sure that each reference clinic is taught how to use donor eggs from Cryos properly. If you want to make use of the Cryos Donor Egg Guarantee, you need to have at least 6 oocytes delivered to your chosen fertility clinic. Cryos guarantees that treatment with the donor eggs will result in one blastocyst (and possibly more) or pregnancy from embryos that have not reached the blastocyst stage by day 5.

If these parameters are not met, Cryos ensures that the oocytes purchased are replaced one time free of charge. If the culture does not result in a blastocyst on day 5, but viable embryos less than the blastocyst stage are available, a transfer must take place for the guarantee to be utilized.

Aside from providing the number of donor eggs to be delivered to your clinic of choice, you must fulfil the following criteria to qualify:

• The fertility treatment must be in a Cryos reference clinic.
• The sperm used for the treatment must be tested before the procedure and must contain a minimum of 5 million total motile sperm cells with a morphology of 2% or higher.
• Surgical procedures that require TESA, TESE, or MESA may not have been used to extract the sperm.
• All kinds of previous sperm quality tests must provide favourable results.
• Any history of clinical or embryological significance may be requested for review.

Because of the high-quality eggs, an average client at Cryos purchasing more than 6 donor eggs from Cryos will end up with more than one high-quality embryo. Hopefully, the Cryos Donor Egg Guarantee can give you a calm and peaceful journey towards parenthood.