IVF with preimplantation genetic testing (PGD) to identify the sex of each embryo with 99.9% accuracy and screen for sex-linked inherited disease, performed inside Kamiloglu Hospital, Kyrenia, with the price confirmed at your free consultation.
Important: In Cyprus, sex selection is permitted only in the case of a genetic disease; it is not available for social reasons. Your eligibility is assessed at your free consultation.
Treatment Overview
What is Gender Selection with PGD?
Gender selection is an IVF treatment in which embryos are genetically tested before transfer, so that you know, not guess, the sex of the embryo placed in the uterus. The testing method is called PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis, also referred to as PGT, preimplantation genetic testing). A baby's sex is decided by its chromosomes at the moment of fertilisation: an embryo carrying two X chromosomes (XX) will be a girl, and an embryo carrying an X and a Y (XY) will be a boy. PGD reads those chromosomes directly from a few cells of each embryo, which is why its accuracy is 99.9% rather than the rough probability shift offered by older techniques such as sperm sorting or timing methods.
The treatment follows the same path as a standard IVF cycle: your ovaries are stimulated to produce a group of eggs, the eggs are collected under light sedation and fertilised one by one using ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection, where a single chosen sperm is injected directly into each egg). The embryos then grow in our laboratory for three to five days. At that point our embryologist removes a few cells from each embryo, a procedure called embryo biopsy, and the genetics laboratory analyses them. Within 24 to 48 hours we know two things about every embryo: its chromosomal sex, and whether it has the correct number of chromosomes. A healthy embryo of the sex you have chosen is then transferred to the uterus in a quick, painless procedure.
That second piece of information matters more than many patients expect. Because standard PGD examines chromosomes 13, 18 and 21 alongside the sex chromosomes (X and Y), it simultaneously screens each embryo for common chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome (trisomy 21), a benefit usually sold separately as PGT-A or PGS. If you want a broader analysis of every chromosome, NGS (next-generation sequencing) can be added. Chromosomally abnormal embryos are the single biggest reason IVF cycles fail and early miscarriages happen, so transferring only tested, chromosomally normal embryos tends to mean higher implantation rates per transfer and lower miscarriage risk. In other words, you choose your baby's sex and stack the odds towards a healthier pregnancy in the same step.
The legal position matters too, and we are careful to state it honestly. Under current regulations in Cyprus, sex selection is permitted only for a medical reason: to prevent a serious sex-linked inherited disease (conditions passed down through the X or Y chromosome, such as haemophilia or Duchenne muscular dystrophy). Elective sex selection for personal or social reasons is not permitted. Every procedure at our clinic, from egg retrieval to embryo transfer, takes place inside Kamiloglu Hospital, Kyrenia Medical Center: a full hospital with surgical theatres, an intensive care unit and a 24/7 anaesthesia team, not a standalone clinic. Your eligibility is assessed personally during your free consultation before you book anything.
In simple terms: we create embryos through IVF, read the chromosomes of each one to learn its sex and confirm it is healthy, and transfer a healthy embryo of the sex you have chosen, all inside a real hospital, with the legal position explained to you honestly before you commit.
Who is This Treatment For?
Sex selection at our clinic is offered for medical indications. You may be a candidate if:
There is a sex-linked inherited disease in the family. Some serious genetic conditions are carried on the X or Y chromosome and affect one sex far more than the other, for example haemophilia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy or fragile X. Selecting an embryo of the unaffected sex can prevent passing the condition to your child. This is the medical basis on which sex selection is permitted in Cyprus.
Preventing X-linked genetic diseases. Some serious inherited conditions, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and haemophilia, are carried on the X chromosome and almost always affect boys. If you carry such a condition, selecting female embryos can prevent passing it on. PGD can also test for many specific single-gene disorders directly; tell us your family history at consultation.
Couples who also need IVF anyway. If you already need IVF for fertility reasons, adding PGD gives you chromosome screening of every embryo plus the choice of sex within the same cycle, rather than treating these as separate journeys.
Patients with recurrent miscarriage or failed cycles. Because PGD screens for the chromosome abnormalities behind most early losses, it is often recommended after repeated miscarriages or unsuccessful transfers, whether or not sex selection is the main goal. See our Had a Failed IVF? guide.
Women using donor eggs. Gender selection combines naturally with egg donation for women over 43 or with low ovarian reserve, since donor eggs typically produce more embryos to test and therefore a better chance of a healthy embryo of the chosen sex.
Age and embryo number considerations: gender selection with your own eggs is generally available up to age 45 under current TRNC regulations, with eligibility always confirmed at consultation. The honest caveat we give every patient: PGD can only choose among the embryos you actually produce. Statistically about half your embryos will be of each sex, so the more embryos you have, the better your odds of a healthy one of the sex you want. If your ovarian reserve is low, your doctor may recommend banking embryos over two stimulation cycles, or discuss donor eggs, before testing begins. We would rather plan for that possibility upfront than surprise you with it mid-cycle.
No obligation. Our coordinator responds within 2 hours during working hours.
The Process
Your Gender Selection Journey, Day by Day
Gender selection is an IVF cycle with two extra laboratory steps: the embryo biopsy and the genetic analysis. Here is exactly what happens on which day, and how each step tends to feel.
1
Day 1 · Before your cycle starts
Free Online Consultation & Eligibility Check
Everything begins with a video call with our fertility specialist, free and without obligation. We discuss your medical reasons and genetic concerns, review your medical history and confirm your eligibility under current TRNC regulations before anything else. We then arrange a short list of tests near home: an AMH blood test (anti-Müllerian hormone, which estimates your egg reserve), a pelvic ultrasound with antral follicle count, and a semen analysis. Based on your reserve, your doctor gives you a realistic estimate of how many embryos you are likely to have available for testing.
How it feels: reassuring, this is where every "is this allowed, will it work for us" question gets a straight answer. Duration: 30–45 minute call; tests done locally within a week or two.
2
Day 2–12 of your cycle
Ovarian Stimulation, Daily Injections
For around 8 to 12 days you take one or two small daily injections to encourage a group of follicles (the fluid-filled sacs that each contain an egg) to grow together. For gender selection, egg numbers matter more than in standard IVF, because roughly half the resulting embryos will be of each sex, so your protocol is tuned to safely maximise your response. Progress is monitored by ultrasound and blood tests every 2 to 3 days, near home if you start there, and most patients fly to Kyrenia around day 8. A final "trigger" injection matures the eggs exactly 35–36 hours before retrieval.
How it feels: the first injection is the hardest; after that it is routine. Expect bloating and heaviness in the final days. Duration: 8–12 days.
3
Day 13–14
Egg Retrieval at Kamiloglu Hospital
Under light sedation (you sleep, but no breathing tube is needed), your doctor guides a fine needle into each follicle under ultrasound and gently collects the eggs. The procedure takes 15–20 minutes and is performed in a hospital theatre with a consultant anaesthetist present, one of the practical advantages of operating inside Kamiloglu Hospital rather than a standalone clinic. Your partner provides a sperm sample the same morning, or a frozen sample is prepared. You know your egg count within the hour.
How it feels: you wake in recovery with mild, period-like cramping and walk out about 2 hours later. Duration: half a day including recovery.
4
Day 14
Fertilisation
A few hours after retrieval, our embryologist injects a single selected sperm directly into each mature egg. For PGD cycles, this technique is not optional polish, it is essential: conventional insemination leaves stray sperm attached to the embryo's outer shell, which could contaminate the genetic test and produce a false result. The next morning you receive your fertilisation report; typically 70–80% of mature eggs fertilise normally and begin dividing.
How it feels: a rest day for you while the laboratory works. Your coordinator messages you the fertilisation report first thing. Duration: same day as retrieval, report next morning.
5
Day 17–19
Embryo Biopsy on Day 3 or Day 5
As the embryos grow in time-lapse incubators, our embryologist removes a few cells from each one for testing. Wherever embryo development allows, we biopsy at the blastocyst stage (day 5, around 100 cells), taking cells only from the trophectoderm, the outer layer that becomes the placenta, never from the inner cells that become the baby. If embryo numbers are limited, a day-3 biopsy of a single cell may be used instead; your embryologist explains the choice on the day. The biopsied cells go to the genetics laboratory and the embryos return to the incubator, unharmed and still growing.
How it feels: nothing physically, this all happens in the laboratory, but most couples say these are the tense days. Daily embryo updates help. Duration: biopsy itself takes minutes per embryo.
6
Day 18–20
PGD Analysis, Results in 24–48 Hours
The genetics laboratory analyses the biopsied cells from every embryo, reading the sex chromosomes (XX or XY) and counting all the other chromosomes at the same time. Within 24 to 48 hours you receive a written report for each embryo: its sex, its chromosomal health and its quality grade. Your doctor walks you through the results personally, embryo by embryo, and you decide together which embryo to transfer. This is also the conversation where we discuss what to do with the healthy embryos of the other sex.
How it feels: the results call is the emotional summit of the cycle, you learn how many healthy embryos you have and of which sex. Duration: 24–48 hours from biopsy.
7
Day 19–20
Transfer of the Selected Embryo
A healthy embryo of your chosen sex is loaded into a soft catheter and placed in your uterus under ultrasound guidance. No anaesthesia is needed; it feels like a smear test and takes about ten minutes. Under current TRNC regulations up to 3 embryos may be transferred, but because PGD-tested embryos implant at higher rates, we counsel most patients towards a single embryo transfer, the safest route to one healthy baby. Remaining healthy embryos of either sex can be frozen for the future. You rest for 30 minutes, then return to your hotel.
How it feels: emotional in the best way, many patients keep the ultrasound photo of the transfer moment. Mild cramping afterwards is normal. Duration: 30 minutes plus rest; fly home from the next day.
8
Day 20–32
The Two-Week Wait & Beta-hCG Test
You continue progesterone support at home while the embryo (hopefully) implants. Twelve days after transfer you take a beta-hCG blood test (the pregnancy hormone, far more reliable than a urine stick) at a local clinic or GP, and we interpret the result with you the same day. If positive, we guide your medication through the early weeks and schedule the first heartbeat scan at around week 6–7, already knowing your baby's sex months before any scan could show it. If negative, your doctor personally reviews the cycle and discusses next steps, including the use of any frozen tested embryos at much lower cost.
How it feels: the hardest wait of all. Your coordinator stays in touch daily, and our two-week-wait guide explains what symptoms mean (and don't mean). Duration: 12 days from transfer to test.
Want this plan applied to your own dates, age and test results?
A gender selection cycle uses the same medications as standard IVF; the selection itself happens in the laboratory, not through drugs. Here is what each medicine actually does.
Stimulation injections, FSH
Brands you may see: Gonal-F, Menopur, Puregon. These contain FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone), the hormone your body already uses to mature one egg a month, given at a higher dose so a whole group of follicles grows together. In a PGD cycle a good egg number is especially valuable, since about half your embryos will be of each sex. Taken once daily as a small injection under the skin of the belly for 8–12 days.
The "brake", antagonist
Brands: Cetrotide, Orgalutran. From around day 5 or 6 of stimulation, a second daily injection stops your body from releasing the eggs too early (premature ovulation), which would mean losing them before retrieval. Think of FSH as the accelerator and the antagonist as the brake; together they keep every egg exactly where we need it until retrieval day.
The trigger shot
Brand: Ovitrelle (or similar hCG/agonist triggers). One single injection, timed to the hour, that tells the eggs to complete their final maturation so they can be collected 35–36 hours later. Your coordinator confirms the exact time with you personally; it is the only truly time-critical moment of the cycle.
Progesterone support
Brands: Progestan (capsule) or Cyclogest (vaginal pessary), sometimes Prolutex (injection). After egg retrieval, progesterone keeps the lining of your uterus thick and receptive so the selected embryo can implant. You continue it through the two-week wait and, if the test is positive, typically until week 10–12 of pregnancy.
"I could never inject myself", yes, you can
Almost every patient says this at the start, and almost every patient is surprised by how manageable it is. The needles are very short and fine, similar to those used by people with diabetes, and most medications come in pre-filled pens where you simply dial the dose. The injection goes into the soft skin of the lower belly and takes a few seconds; most people describe a brief sting, nothing more.
Before you start, your coordinator walks you through your first injection live on a video call, and you receive short video guides for every drug in your protocol. Partners often take over the injections as their part of the journey. And if anything ever feels wrong, a missed dose, a bent needle, a bubble in the syringe, we are one WhatsApp message away, every day of your cycle. You can read more about remote cycle support on our How It Works page.
What to Expect
Honest Expectations: Body, Mind and Logistics
Knowing what is normal removes half the anxiety. Here is what a gender selection cycle feels like, physically and emotionally, and how to plan around it.
Physically
Physically, this is a standard IVF cycle: the biopsy and genetic testing happen to your embryos in the laboratory, not to you. During stimulation, expect mild bloating, breast tenderness, occasional headaches and a heavy, full feeling in the lower belly towards the end. After egg retrieval, period-like cramps and spotting for a day or two are normal; most patients need nothing stronger than paracetamol.
Embryo transfer itself is painless. Progesterone in the two-week wait can cause tiredness, mild nausea and twinges that imitate both period pains and early pregnancy, so try not to read too much into symptoms either way.
Emotionally
Gender selection adds one extra emotional moment to the IVF rollercoaster: the results call. Until the PGD report arrives, you will not know how many healthy embryos you have or of which sex, and we prepare every couple for the full range of outcomes before the cycle starts, including the possibility that no embryo of the hoped-for sex is available. Couples who have thought that scenario through in advance cope far better if it arises.
What helps: a clear plan, daily updates from your coordinator during the laboratory days, and deciding together beforehand what you would want to do in each scenario. There are no judged questions here; ask us anything.
Practically
Plan for 8–10 days in Cyprus if you start injections at home, or 18–21 days for a fully monitored cycle in Kyrenia. The PGD results arrive within 24–48 hours of biopsy, so a fresh transfer usually fits within the same trip. You can fly home from the day after transfer; flying does not affect implantation. Most patients work normally through stimulation and take 2–3 days off around egg retrieval.
Your coordinator arranges airport pick-up, hotel options for every budget and all appointment scheduling. See our Travel Guide for flights, airports and what to pack.
Success Rates
Accuracy vs Pregnancy Rate: Two Numbers, Not One
Some clinics blur "99% accuracy" and "success rate" into a single impressive figure. They are different things, and you deserve to understand both before you book anything.
99.9%Gender accuracy with PGD
70%Up to · Pregnancy rate with PGD
90%Up to · Healthy embryo rate, under 35
24–48hPGD results turnaround
What "99.9% accuracy" actually means
Accuracy answers one question: if a PGD-tested embryo implants and a baby is born, will it be the sex the report said? The answer is yes in 99.9% of cases, because the laboratory reads the embryo's own chromosomes rather than estimating probabilities. This is fundamentally different from sperm-sorting techniques, which shift the odds to roughly 75–90% and still leave room for surprise.
What accuracy does not tell you is whether you will get pregnant, or whether your cycle will produce a healthy embryo of the sex you want in the first place. A clinic quoting only "99% success" for gender selection is answering the easy question and skipping the two that matter.
What the pregnancy rate means, and how we measure it
Pregnancy rate answers the harder question: how often does the transfer of a selected embryo lead to a pregnancy? Our figure of up to 70% is a clinical pregnancy rate per embryo transfer, meaning a heartbeat confirmed on ultrasound at around 6–7 weeks, a stricter measure than a positive blood test alone, though still higher than the live birth rate, because sadly some clinical pregnancies miscarry. PGD-tested embryos implant at higher rates than untested ones precisely because chromosomally abnormal embryos, the main cause of failed cycles and early miscarriage, have already been screened out.
Your personal chances depend most on age, egg reserve and embryo numbers; younger patients produce more chromosomally normal embryos to choose from. Full methodology and age-banded data are on our Success Rates page, and at consultation we give you an individualised estimate, not the banner figure.
Disclaimer: Success rates vary based on individual circumstances including age, medical history, ovarian reserve and egg and sperm quality. The figures above represent clinic averages based on our clinical data and are not a guarantee of outcome for any individual patient. The 99.9% accuracy figure refers to the identification of chromosomal sex by PGD, not to the chance of pregnancy. We will always give you a personalised estimate before you commit to treatment.
Wondering Whether Gender Selection Could Work for You?
Send us your age, how many children you have and a short history. Our specialist will review your case, confirm your eligibility and give you an honest, individualised assessment, free, within 2 hours during working hours.
Is Gender Selection Legal in Cyprus? An Honest Answer
Most clinics either avoid this question or answer it with a one-word "yes". Neither serves you. Here is the position as clearly and honestly as we can state it.
Permitted only for a medical reason
Under current regulations in Cyprus, sex selection is legal only where there is a medical reason: to prevent a sex-linked inherited disease that passes through the X or Y chromosome, such as haemophilia or muscular dystrophy. Elective sex selection on purely personal or social grounds (for example, wanting to balance the sexes of your children) is not permitted under the regulations. This is done through preimplantation genetic testing (PGD) as part of an IVF cycle. Licensed IVF centres here operate under Ministry of Health oversight with annual inspections, and our programme runs within Kamiloglu Hospital, a fully licensed medical institution.
Because regulations in this field have changed over time and clinics can differ in how they handle requests, we do not make blanket legal promises on a website. What we promise instead: your eligibility is assessed during your free consultation, in writing, before you book flights or pay anything, and we will tell you honestly whether your situation meets the medical criteria.
How this compares with the UK, the EU and Turkey
In the UK, sex selection is permitted only to avoid serious sex-linked medical conditions; choosing your baby's sex for non-medical reasons is not allowed under HFEA rules. The position is similar across most of Europe, and in Turkey sex selection is likewise restricted to medical indications. Cyprus follows the same principle: sex selection is available to prevent a sex-linked inherited disease, within a regulated medical setting and a short flight from the UK and Europe, but not for elective social reasons. You can read more about the wider legal framework for fertility treatment on our Why Cyprus? page.
A benefit beyond selection: chromosome screening for every embryo
Whatever your reason for choosing this treatment, PGD delivers a medical benefit that has nothing to do with sex: every embryo is screened for chromosomal abnormalities, the screening sold separately as PGT-A at many clinics. Chromosome errors such as trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) become more common with maternal age and are the leading cause of failed implantation and early miscarriage. Transferring only chromosomally normal embryos improves the implantation rate per transfer and reduces miscarriage risk, which is why some couples choose PGD primarily for screening and treat the sex information as secondary.
Transparency
Risks and Realities, The Section Most Clinics Skip
Gender selection is safe and accurate, but it is not free of physical risks or hard scenarios. You deserve the full picture before you decide.
The honest one: there may be no healthy embryo of the sex you want
PGD identifies the sex of your embryos; it cannot change them. On average half of your embryos will be of each sex, but biology does not deal evenly: some cycles produce five embryos of one sex and none of the other, and some embryos of the hoped-for sex turn out to be chromosomally abnormal and unsuitable for transfer. The fewer embryos you have, the more real this possibility becomes, which is why your doctor estimates your likely embryo numbers honestly at consultation. If your ovarian reserve is low, we may recommend banking embryos over two stimulation cycles before testing, or discuss donor eggs, so you start with realistic odds rather than hope alone.
What happens if it occurs: nothing without your consent. Your options are to transfer a healthy embryo of the other sex, to freeze your healthy embryos and run a second stimulation cycle to create more (quoted at a reduced package price), or to pause and take time to decide. Some couples choose each of these paths. We will tell you the situation straight, lay out the options and costs, and support whichever decision you make. What we will never do is quietly transfer an embryo you did not choose, or promise beforehand that this scenario cannot happen.
Embryo biopsy: small, real, honestly stated
Removing cells from an embryo sounds alarming, so here are the facts. At the blastocyst stage the biopsy takes a few cells from the trophectoderm, the outer layer that becomes the placenta, never from the inner cell mass that becomes the baby, and large studies show no meaningful difference in birth outcomes between biopsied and non-biopsied embryos. In experienced hands the risk of an embryo being damaged by handling is well under 1%. There is also a small chance (around 1–2% of samples) that a biopsy yields no clear result and an embryo cannot be classified. We report every embryo's status to you exactly as the laboratory does.
OHSS and standard IVF risks, and how we minimise them
The stimulation and retrieval stages carry the same risks as any IVF cycle. Hormonal side effects (bloating, tenderness, mood swings) are common and temporary. OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome), an over-response in which the ovaries swell and fluid shifts into the abdomen, is the complication we take most seriously; moderate to severe cases occur in roughly 1–2% of cycles. We reduce the risk with individualised dosing based on your AMH and follicle count, antagonist protocols with a safer agonist trigger for high responders, and a freeze-all strategy with frozen transfer later when your hormone levels suggest a fresh transfer would be unwise, entirely workable in a PGD cycle since tested embryos freeze and thaw extremely well.
Egg retrieval itself carries small risks of bleeding or infection, quoted at well under 1% in large studies. Because we operate within Kamiloglu Hospital, with its theatre, laboratory, ward and ICU in the same building, in the unlikely event you needed observation or treatment there would be no ambulance ride and no delay.
Minimum embryo numbers: why we may advise waiting or changing plan
PGD makes statistical sense when there are enough embryos to test. If monitoring shows that only one or two follicles are developing, testing them may leave you with no transferable embryo at all, and we will say so before retrieval rather than after. In that situation your doctor may recommend converting to a standard IVF cycle, banking embryos across two cycles before testing, or considering donor eggs. Some clinics let small cycles proceed to testing regardless, because the package is already sold. We think telling you the truth mid-cycle, even when it is commercially inconvenient, is what you are actually paying us for.
Multiple pregnancy: why we recommend single embryo transfer
Under current TRNC regulations up to 3 embryos may be transferred, and some clinics use that maximum to inflate their headline success rates. We take the opposite approach, especially with PGD: a tested, chromosomally normal embryo implants at a high rate on its own, so transferring several mainly adds the risks of twin or triplet pregnancy, premature birth, low birth weight, pre-eclampsia and caesarean delivery. We recommend single embryo transfer for most PGD patients, explain the trade-offs honestly, and freeze the remaining healthy embryos for the future.
Pricing
Gender Selection Cost in Cyprus: One Package, No Surprises
Most clinics advertise an IVF price and add PGD, biopsy and freezing on top. Ours is one figure that already includes the genetic testing, and we tell you what is not included too.
IVF with PGD Gender Selection Package
Price
Contact us
Included:
All consultations, eligibility confirmation & treatment planning
Ultrasound monitoring scans in Cyprus
Egg retrieval under sedation, with anaesthetist (others charge ~€250 for sedation)
Fertilisation of all mature eggs (elsewhere often €500+ extra)
Blastocyst (day-5) embryo culture with time-lapse monitoring
Embryo biopsy & PGD analysis of all viable embryos, sex plus chromosome screening (sold elsewhere as PGT-A at €2,500+ on top)
Transfer of the selected embryo with ultrasound guidance
Personal coordinator, airport transfers & follow-up through the pregnancy test
Not included:
Stimulation medications (≈€900–€2,000 depending on dose; can be bought at home or in Cyprus, we quote before you start)
Flights and accommodation (hotels from ≈€40/night; we recommend options)
Pre-cycle diagnostic tests done in your home country
Optional freezing & storage of remaining embryos beyond the first year
Final price confirmed after medical assessment. No payment until your protocol is agreed.
How does this compare with the UK and Europe?
The nearest UK comparison is an IVF cycle with PGD and embryo biopsy for a sex-linked condition, which typically totals £9,000–£13,000 once biopsy, testing fees and medication are added. As in Cyprus, sex selection in the UK is permitted only for a medical reason; elective choice on social grounds is not available in either country.
Among clinics in Cyprus, gender selection packages are commonly advertised around €6,500, often with the genetic testing, biopsy or freezing billed separately. Our package includes the PGD testing of all viable embryos, blastocyst culture and time-lapse monitoring, and we confirm the full price for you at your free consultation. The saving comes from lower operating costs in Cyprus, not from cutting corners: your procedures take place in a licensed hospital with a consultant anaesthetist present.
For the full breakdown of every package, payment timing, see our transparent pricing page, including a list of everything other clinics commonly charge as extras.
Beyond the package price you should budget for medications (≈€1,200), flights (≈€250pp) and around 8 nights' accommodation (≈€500). We confirm the full package price at your free consultation, for a treatment that includes screening of 5 chromosomes (13, 18, 21, X, Y) and is offered only where there is a medical (sex-linked disease) indication.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions About Gender Selection in Cyprus
Under current regulations in Cyprus, sex selection is permitted only for a medical reason: to prevent a sex-linked inherited disease passed through the X or Y chromosome, such as haemophilia or muscular dystrophy. Elective sex selection for personal or social reasons is not permitted. It is carried out through PGD as part of an IVF cycle. Regulations in this field have changed over time, so we do not make blanket legal promises on a website. Your eligibility is assessed individually during your free consultation, before you commit to anything, and we will explain exactly what applies to your situation.
PGD identifies the chromosomal sex of an embryo (XX or XY) by directly analysing its cells, so accuracy is 99.9%. It is not a prediction or a probability-shifting technique like sperm sorting; the laboratory reads the chromosomes themselves. The only practical caveat is that PGD tells you the sex of the embryos you have, it cannot change them, which is why pregnancy rates and accuracy are two different numbers, both explained honestly above.
It can happen, and we discuss it openly before you start. Your options would be: transfer a healthy embryo of the other sex, freeze your healthy embryos and plan a second stimulation cycle to create more, or pause and take time to decide. Nothing is transferred without your explicit consent, and a second cycle is quoted at a reduced package price. We will never quietly transfer an embryo you did not choose.
When performed by an experienced embryologist at the blastocyst stage, biopsy removes a few cells from the trophectoderm, the part that becomes the placenta, not the part that becomes the baby. Large studies show no meaningful difference in birth outcomes between biopsied and non-biopsied embryos. There is a very small handling risk, well under 1% per embryo in experienced hands, and we are transparent about it rather than calling the procedure risk-free.
Yes. PGD is performed on embryos, so it works the same whether those embryos were created from your own eggs or from donor eggs. Combining gender selection with egg donation is common for women over 43 or with low ovarian reserve, because donor eggs typically produce more embryos to test, which raises the chance of having a healthy embryo of the chosen sex. Pricing for the combined programme is confirmed at consultation.
Age does not affect the 99.9% accuracy of the sex result, but it strongly affects how many eggs you produce and how many embryos are chromosomally healthy. A woman of 32 might have six embryos to test; a woman of 43 might have one or two, with a higher share showing chromosome abnormalities. That changes the odds of having a healthy embryo of your chosen sex available for transfer, which is why we give you an individualised estimate, based on your AMH and scan results, before you commit.
Transferring two embryos of the chosen sex, or one of each sex, is technically possible under current TRNC regulations, which permit up to three embryos per transfer. However, twin pregnancies carry meaningfully higher risks of premature birth and complications for mother and babies, so we counsel most patients towards single embryo transfer and explain the trade-offs honestly. The final decision is made together with your doctor, never imposed.
Healthy embryos that are not transferred, of either sex, can be frozen by vitrification (an ultra-rapid freezing method with excellent survival rates) and stored for future frozen transfer cycles, which are simpler and cheaper than a full new cycle. Embryos found to be chromosomally abnormal are not suitable for transfer and, with your written consent, are not stored. You decide what happens to every embryo: storage, donation or disposal, and nothing happens without your signed consent.
Completely normal, and we respect it. Many couples take time to reconcile sex selection with their faith or personal ethics, and views differ between and within religions. We will answer every factual question honestly, what happens to embryos, what the biopsy involves, what your choices are at each step, and we never pressure anyone to proceed. Some patients consult their own religious advisor before deciding, and we encourage taking whatever time you need; your consultation commits you to nothing.
Most patients spend 8 to 10 days in Cyprus. You can start stimulation injections at home under our remote guidance and fly to Kyrenia around day 8 for final monitoring, egg retrieval, the PGD testing days and embryo transfer. A fully monitored cycle in Cyprus takes around 18 to 21 days. Because PGD results arrive within 24 to 48 hours of biopsy, a fresh transfer is usually possible within the same trip, and your coordinator plans the dates around your work and travel.
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