FAQs

What causes infertility in men?

Infertility in men is most often caused by:

• Problems making sperm – producing too few sperm, or none at all.
• Problems with the sperm’s ability to swim to or fertilise the egg.
• Previous illness which has stopped a man from producing his own sperm – for example, cancer treatments, surgeries, mumps.

Why are donor sperm needed?

Donor sperm are usually used when a man has no sperm of his own, or the female has no male partner.

They can also be used if a man has an inheritable disease, has had cancer treatment, or has experienced a testicular injury.

How is the donor sperm used?

Once your donations are complete, we hold the samples in quarantine for 6 months until we have repeated the final blood screening. This ensures that the sperm are safe for the recipient to use, and do not carry any infectious diseases.

Donor sperm are defrosted, and then used either in fairly simple artificial insemination techniques (often called IUI or intrauterine insemination), or occasionally IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) if the female has other fertility problems.

As a large teaching hospital, we sometimes (with your permission!) use samples for training and research. We’ll talk to you about this if we would like to use your samples in this way.

Why are sperm donors in short supply?

• Lack of awareness of the need for sperm donors.
• Embarrassment, or fear of being judged for taking part in an activity that is mistakenly considered seedy or sexualised.
• Cultural or religious factors, which can prevent some ethnicities from being willing to donate.
• Sperm donors must have very high sperm quality, way above the average – and so many men who do volunteer cannot be accepted onto the donation programme.

I’ve thought about it, but I’d feel embarrassed?

That’s perfectly understandable.

Sperm donation is something that our staff are used to! We keep everything highly confidential, and our donors are all dealt with in a very professional manner.

You’ll also soon get used to us and comfortable in the department, and slowly become more relaxed about it.

Something to consider is that people attend our unit for all kinds of reasons, not just donation – nobody in our waiting areas knows anyone else’s reason for attending.

Donation is a wonderful and admirable action that helps to create life and build families.

How does the process work?

We can demonstrate this if you click on this link: ‘process of sperm donation’.

Bear in mind that this is not like blood donation – we require a commitment of at least 6-12 months to ensure that we can collect sufficient high quality samples.

What screening tests are required before I can start?

Apart from testing your sperm quality, we must test for infectious diseases – especially those which are sexually transmitted such as Syphilis, Gonorrhoea, Chlamydia, HIV and hepatitis.

These tests are performed before and after a period of donation. We also perform a couple of genetics tests, which reduce the risk of any inheritable disease in the offspring.

What is included on my donor profile?

Only non-identifying information is provided to others, including: height, weight, build, skin colour/tone, ethnicity, hair/eye colour, occupation, hobbies and interests.

We do want our potential parents to get a real sense of who you are before making their donor choice, so we also encourage donors to write a little bit about their personality, their reasons for donating, and hopefully a message of goodwill to any offspring born as a result of their donations.

This extra information is really valued by the recipients, as it helps them explain to the child who their donor is and why they chose to help create them.

How do I prepare for donating?

Nothing special is required, other than avoiding excess alcohol, tobacco or recreational drugs and ensuring you are clean.

We also ask that you refrain from any sexual activity from 2-3 days before providing a sample (but no longer).

We ask that if you suspect you may have caught an infectious disease (sexually transmitted or otherwise), you refrain from donation and inform us immediately.

Are there any medicines or dietary changes that can be used to improve sperm?

There are a few anecdotal reports that nutritional supplements containing vitamins and antioxidants can improve sperm, but very few good quality trials to show that these are any better than a good diet.

Does the process interfere with my sex life?

We do ask that donors refrain from any sexual activity for 48 hours before providing a sample.

If donors are not completely honest with us and are highly sexually active, we will see a reduction in sperm quality, which could mean that the donor must be suspended.

Do I get paid for donating?

We provide ‘out of pocket’ expenses paid directly into your bank account.

The maximum permitted by UK law is £45 per donation, and should cover travel/ parking and some compensation for your time.

To avoid too much administration, we normally wait until after 8-10 visits before submitting your claim for expenses (unless asked otherwise).

How often can I donate sperm?

Staff will discuss this with you once accepted, but you will need to be committed to making regular weekly donations for approx 6-12 months.

How many donations do I need to make?

The average range of donations is 20-30. This will allow us to build up a good supply of your sperm.

Not all cycles of treatment are successful the first time, so we have to ensure that we have enough samples for your recipients to use several times if necessary.

We also have recipients who choose to use the same donor to expand their family, so we need to ensure we have sufficient samples to cover this.

What am I allowed to know about the recipients and any children born using my donations?

Current UK law allows donors to request limited information about the outcome from their donations – essentially just the year of birth and the sex of the child.

You can access this information either by contacting us directly, or through the HFEA who hold the central database that records all donor treatments in the UK.

You will not have access to any information about your recipients, and the recipients only have access to very limited non-identifying information about you.

Is sperm donation anonymous?

By law, all sperm donors must be registered with our regulatory authority The HFEA (Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority).

Whilst we commit to protecting your privacy and confidentiality whilst you are donating sperm, the law does allow those born through donated sperm to ask for the donor’s identifying information once they reach the age of 18.

We will explain this in greater detail if you decide you would like to become a sperm donor.