If you're a single woman planning to build your family using your own eggs and donor sperm, your fertility options are IUI, IVF or ICSI. These are the same core treatments used in fertility care more broadly, but there are some differences when using donor sperm rather than a partner's sperm.
Which treatment makes sense for you depends on your fertility test results, your age, and your preferences. Your specialist will guide you through that decision, but it helps to already have a general understanding of what each option involves.
Your treatment options
As a single woman using your own eggs, choosing between IUI, IVF, and ICSI comes down to a few key factors:
- The quality of your eggs, which is often linked to your age at the time of treatment
- The quality of the donor sperm
- Your personal preferences
Your fertility specialist will provide guidance and a recommendation on which technique gives you the best chance of success, based on your own circumstances.
IUI
Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is the least invasive of the three options and typically the lowest cost, which is why it's often the first treatment single women try. Your specialist will either manage your
ovulation cycle with medication or track your natural cycle, then insert the donor sperm into your uterus around the time of ovulation.
If you're unsuccessful after two or three cycles, your specialist will usually discuss moving on to IVF. IUI using donor sperm isn't likely to be the right fit if you're over 38, or if you have a blockage or damage to your fallopian tubes, or severe endometriosis, since these factors lower its chances of success.
IVF
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) for a single woman involves retrieving your eggs after a course of ovarian stimulation, combining them with donor sperm in a laboratory, then transferring a single healthy embryo to your uterus. For single women, it's the same scientific process used in any IVF cycle; the only difference is that donor sperm is used instead of a partner's sperm.
ICSI
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) follows a similar process to IVF, but instead of leaving your eggs and donor sperm to fertilise on their own in a dish in the lab, a highly specialised embryologist inserts a single sperm directly into each egg to encourage fertilisation. Your specialist may recommend ICSI if your donor sperm sample is not suitable for IVF. ICSI may also be recommended for other reasons, such as if fertilisation hasn't occurred using standard IVF.
In all three options, patients using donor sperm may still have a fresh embryo transfer, however fresh sperm cannot be used as donor sperm is frozen and quarantined for 3 months prior to use.
