Donor Sperm: Real-Life Stories

by Dr Margaret Vereb
Medical Director Donor Match Me
Former Head of Fertility Services, Lahey Clinic

As an andrologist, I am the doctor who treats couples with male factor infertility. It is estimated that 50 percent of all fertility issues are male factor, and yet it usually comes as a shock, and may even bring feelings of shame. Men most often need a donor because they can’t make useful sperm or because they can’t afford the technology to use what they have. (One round of in vitro fertilization [IVF] with Intracytoplasmic sperm injection costs roughly $12,000, while one donor insemination is about $1,000.) I wanted to share these families’ stories to let you know that good things can come from this.

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How do I pick a donor?

by Dr Margaret Vereb
Medical Director Donor Match Me
Former Head of Fertility Services, Lahey Clinic

Selecting a sperm or egg donor is one of the more difficult decisions anyone could face. After all, this person will be contributing 50% of the child’s genetic traits, so how can one be sure they are choosing the right donor? While every person who selects a donor will do so using their own criteria, below is a list of common categories people may consider during their selection process.

1) PHYSICAL

The most common way to select a donor is by physical appearance. Studies have shown adults to be more emotionally invested in a child who resembles them, which is one of the leading motives behind searching for donors with similar features to the prospective parents. Donor banks and online donor databases allow users to sort donors by general physical characteristics, such as eye color, hair color, height etc., which narrows the available donor pool to a more manageable number. Some banks, in addition to written donor descriptions, will also furnish baby and/or adult photos of the donors, as well — though these are much less common in sperm donation than in egg donation. And now, through the use of advanced facial recognition software, prospective parents can use large online databases to automatically match their appearance with donor photos, ensuring a greater chance that the child will look more like them.

2) MEDICAL

This is one of the easiest of categories to include or eliminate a donor. Medical would include such issues as:…

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Why sperm prices vary so widely: isn’t it all the same stuff?

by Dr Margaret Vereb
Medical Director Donor Match Me
Former Head of Fertility Services, Lahey Clinic

For someone new to the world of sperm donation, the wide range of prices—from approximately $290 to $795—can be extremely confusing, especially since the reasons for this range are not often made clear. However arbitrary they may seem at first, there are many factors that cause variations in price between sperm banks. Like most businesses, sperm banks have to account for overhead costs such as real estate…

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