IVF clinic’s ‘selfie’ service allows patients to find look-a-like egg donors

An interesting development to say the least.

An IVF clinic has introduced a service that allows patients to find egg donors that look as much like them as possible.

Ovobank's facial recognition software uses selfies of prospective mothers to match those undergoing IVF treatment with donors who have similar facial features.

According to the Spanish clinic's website, many women who choose IVF want their child to resemble them as much as possible. They say that their technology will ensure a "high facial resemblance" in the baby if the egg is inseminated successfully.

"When a couple (or woman without a male partner) decides to go through an egg donation treatment, the question that may be of most concern to you is whether your future baby will physically resemble you. "Ovomatch scans multiple facial points and compares them, thanks to a mathematical facial recognition algorithm, with our extensive database to find donors that more closely resemble the recipients."

The facial matching is carried out by the Ovobank team who consider things like phenotypic traits and blood types, while the facial recognition software matches physical features. The facial recognition service costs about €100. This does not include the high cost of expenses associated with IVF in general which often runs into the thousands.