Blog

Blog written by Fairfax Cryobank Laboratory Director, Michelle Ottey, PhD. 

To start, there really is no “perfect” sperm donor, but they come pretty close! When we are recruiting prospective sperm donors we are looking for many physical and personal characteristics that will be appealing to our patients. These traits are variable. When we screen these prospective sperm donors’ specimens, we are strict, precise and hold high standards.

We know what ethnicities, physical characteristics, and personalities our patients want in a sperm donor. We focus on recruiting men who meet these criteria. But even if we find the “perfect” prospective sperm donor, it all comes down to the sperm.

When the prospective sperm donors come into one of our collection sites, they are greeted by our well-trained staff who will give them a tour and explain the process to them with discretion. We show them the sperm donor rooms and explain what is required to produce the best specimen. Then we leave them to it.

We treat our prospective sperm donors and active sperm donors with respect and discretion, setting an appropriate professional tone for our interactions. We want them to be comfortable and feel welcome, but the experience is similar to a doctor’s visit.

When it comes to analyzing the sperm donor specimen, we are incredibly precise and hold our sperm donors to higher than average semen standards. If a prospective sperm donor’s semen sample passes several screening tests that ultimately require a large number of sperm to survive the freeze thaw, he will be invited to participate in the sperm donor program pending a panel of infectious and genetic testing.

It takes a significant commitment of time, abstinence hours, ongoing testing and reliability to be a sperm donor. When we find a man who is willing to make this commitment, meets all of our requirements, and is appealing to our patients, we feel as though we found The Perfect Sperm Donor.