Non-anonymous egg donation in Portugal - ADVICE?

[Fabsco]

Dear all,

After three IVF cycles and three miscarriages since 2020, my husband and I are considering egg donation in Portugal. It is important for me that our future child is able to identify the donor, so we chose Portugal as they only do non-anonymous egg donation. I am also of Portuguese descent, so it may be easier to find a compatible donor. For the ladies doing DE treatment in Portugal:

*What clinic did you choose? At present we are considering IVI Lisbon.
*How long did it take for the clinic to find you a compatible donor?
*How much was the treatment, if you don't mind me asking?
*How did you get the medication required for embryo transfer? Did your local clinic accept a Portuguese prescription?

Thank you so much for your help with this!

Hi I’m also considering IVI Lisbon as well as Ferticentro in Coimbra.

Any info you have on either of these would be much appreciated! It seems to me although I might be wrong, that IVI have a slightly higher success rate but potentially feel bigger/more impersonal? I’m not sure if Ferticentro are more used to dealing with international clients than ivi?

Hi both,

After 6 IVF attempts (1 x miscarriage) we have now started with IVF egg donation in Portugal (IVI Lisbon). My experience with the clinic is certainly not bad, but not very good either. They are just not well equipped yet for foreign patients. This is in contrast to the clinics in Spain. But that is not a choice for us because it is anonymous. The doctors are ok, but I have the impression that they are even busier than usual after the covid period. You have to keep a close eye on your treatment plan. They can "forget you" because they are so busy. The doctors are very friendly and willing. I am certainly not dissatisfied because they seem experienced and knowledgeable. Because of my first experience with IVF Spain, I do see a difference in how experienced they are with foreign patients. But on the other hand at IVF Spain I didn't had a good feeling about the donor selection at all. They talked about the donors as if they were numbers or if they weren't people at all. In Portugal it feels totally different. The doctors are very open and clear about this and also indicate that the health of the donor "patient" is just as important to them as the "receiving and paying patient". That makes me feel good about it. In terms of costs we paid € 8500 fpr ivf with egg dination. In addition, €150 for a first consultation and about €1500 for an extensive gene seeker test. The standard test costs about €500 I think. Medicines should cost around €1000. The donor selection can go very quickly. They really have a lot of donors. Within 2 weeks we already had a match with a donor. Our donor has already donated before and 15 eggs were frozen that we could use immediately. The advantage of frozen eggs is that you know exactly how many eggs you can work with and whether the donor has had a proven pregnancy. You can also plan the transfer much better. The disadvantage of frozen egg donation is that the chance of pregnancy is slightly smaller. 55% vs 45% But on the other hand if you have a fresh donation you can end up with "just" 6 eggs. This can also reduces your chances. I trust the doctors on what to choose. I have my transfer the last week of May. I still have to arrange the medicines and all the preparations still need to be done. I will share my experiences again. Feel free to ask me any questions if you still have them.

Hi GK2022
Hope everything is going well. Just wondering how you getting on

All I know is I used IVI spain and got pregnant the first time, but the baby looks nothing at all, at all like me, the skin the hair it's all completely wrong and people stare. They are good at getting you pregnant but awful at admin, translating things, I even had a bad experience waking from general anaesthetic and being moved forcefully from the table to something with wheels, the oderly clamped her hand down twice on the thing attached to the vein on my hand, even though I pulled my hand away the first time. But nothing tops being told they picked a donor based on similar features when we look 100% like different races.

All I know is I used IVI spain and got pregnant the first time, but the baby looks nothing at all, at all like me, the skin the hair it's all completely wrong and people stare. They are good at getting you pregnant but awful at admin, translating things, I even had a bad experience waking from general anaesthetic and being moved forcefully from the table to something with wheels, the oderly clamped her hand down twice on the thing attached to the vein on my hand, even though I pulled my hand away the first time. But nothing tops being told they picked a donor based on similar features when we look 100% like different races.

Dear Fastfad,

I am very sorry to hear this. Did you discuss it with the doctors? What did they say? I did my egg donation ivf in Portugal. And I also got pregnant the first time (now 6 weeks). The donor selection should be made partly by a computer scanning your face and partly by similar appearance according to a doctor and partly by genetic screening blood type etc. I understand it is very difficult to match everything, but if you say you look like diffrent races that doesn't feel good. But to be honest, if I look at my baby pictures, I didn't look like my parents at all. This did not change until I was a teenager. They were white, I was tanned, they had straight hair, I had curly hair, they were a little chubby, I was like bones only. But I am 100% sure they are my genetic parents. Later the similarities came. So give it some time. Maybe the appearance will change by time. But even if it doesn't this baby is yours. And he or she chose you as a mother. I believe you have this baby for a reason... I was also very curious and a little bit anxious if the donor would look like me, but I have already adjusted my expectations on appearance. The fact that I hopefully will have a healthy baby surpasses all other feelings. If you go on the street and look at the first 1000 or even 10000 people you meet, you propably won't see no one you think she looks like you. But maybe others will, just like they will see similarities with you and your baby. And people stare for many reasons, not always why we think they stare.

Yes all went well and now 6 weeks pregnant. I am still in disbelief and I am very afraid I will have a miscarriage. But that is just me being insecure after 8 years and 6 ivf rounds with no succes.

Hey @Fabsco , I did the whole donor thing so can give some advice, but I used donor sperm instead. The process of donor egg is similar to what I know of. Initial tests, get the donor sample, injections, embroyology do their thing, two week wait. I'm sure you know the whole thing already. Best of luck for your Portugal treatment. My treatment involved Denmark. It's like we gotta travel the world to have our LO. Aww good luck @Fabsco

Hi there.
My name is Sarah and after a no. Of failed IVF transfer I am considering egg donation in Portugal. I would really love to hear more about your experience. Would you recommend?

Thank you! I've only just seen this. The problem is that the doctors were never on hand to speak we had only to speak to the admin people for most of the time, and their english wasn't good. They said they had chosen a donor who looked like me but they located the donor before we sent the pictures and it wasnt clear if later they made a match using a computer, I think they had just used the descriptions of us on the form and then were spurred on by the match of the egg to the sperm, they are hell bent on success rates rather than customer service. It is still a real issue and I wish i could sue those f""kers, as much as I adore my kid, who is definitely mine and I know I'm lucky etc. but this was a rip off and a betrayal of our faith.

Hi everybody,
I've found this thread looking for reviews of IVF clinics in Portugal offering egg donation programs.
After years and years of IVF failures with my own eggs + three miscarriages I'm considering egg donation in Portugal as they have non-anonymous donations ,which is important to us, and age-wise it is still possible there (in contrast to Finland, for example).
Anyway, if anybody could share their experiences or write a review of clinics in Portugal offering egg donations, that would be wonderful.
Many thanks in advance!!

Actually, the two clinics I'm thinking of choosing are AVA Lisbon and Ginemed Lisbon.
Has anybody undergone treatment in any of the 2 clinics?
I'd really appreciate it if you could share your experiences!

Hope to hear from you.

Bloody hell, you do realise that sometimes they just don't look like you? One of mine is blonde with blue eyes. No idea where he got that from and there was no ivf involved

Hi I’ve had a good experience with Ginemed, feel free to PM me.

Can i ask you more information? I want to start a double donation ivf in Ginemed-Lisbon.

Yes of course I realise that. We look like different ethnicities, however. And while my love for my child is none the less, it is painful.

Hi, is there anybody who could share their experiences with either Ginemed or AVA clinic in Lisbon?
I'm still undecided for which clinic I should opt and would really appreciate to read about your experiences with either one of the two clinics.

Hope to hear from you!!!

I cant speak about AVA, but I used Ginemed earlier this year, for a round of embryo adoption.

I really liked the clinic and everything was great! I got my positive on first try, had zero wait for an embryo compatible with me... Just overall a great experience!
If I ever decide to go for a second, I will definitely go back!

Many thanks for sharing your experiences, dear ASGIRC!
I've sent you a PM. :-)

Hi all,

I wonder if you might be able to help me understand the issue of medical record for an potential child in Portugal. If I was to have a child by ED under the law in Portugal, if the child was to get sick would doctors be able to access any medical records? TIA

@Missdel I am not sure what you are asking... You need to be a bit clearer.

Who would access what records?

@ASGIRC Thanks for coming back to me. A medical professionals. Not me. I guess I m wondering if a situation arose could medical professionals contact the clinic and request information from the medical records. I understand under the law in Portugal an donor child can assess medical records themselves at 18.

@Missdel Yes, that is a possibility.
However, because of all the genetic testing that the donors do before hand, it is assumed that nothing will be needed, and you dont get provided with any medical history.

But I did ask the same thing and was told that yes, if something, that could have been hereditary, arose in the child, I could contact the clinic, and they would do the due diligence in regards to that, but, if the child is under 18 you would still not have any access to any private information from the donors.

@ASGIRC thank you so much for the clarity on that. I d say the doctor I got Dr. Catarina Policiano was a little inexperienced on the law. However, she was kind and helpful.