Caperton Fertility Institute

Dr. Capteron is an amazing doctor who took time with my husband and I during our initial visit. His wife performed my egg retrieval and I wasn't aware this would happen until I was in the OR and he came in and said his wife would be performing the procedure. He made himself available after the egg retrieval to discuss next steps and find out what our future plans were.

Be sure to ask a lot of questions. He will cover a lot and it can be overwhelming but he is always willing to answer questions.

I was immediately started on Aygestin birth control the day after my consultation. I was on that for about 1.5 months before starting Lupron Acetate. I did that for about 1.5-2 weeks prior to starting STIM medications. For STIMS I was on 150 units of Gonal-F and 75 units of Menopur and I triggered with 10,000 units of Pregnyl. I was also told to take a baby aspirin, pre-natal vitamins, CO-Q10. They were able to retrieve 13 eggs, 9 mature, all 9 had fragmentation by day 3 and were slow growers. They all survived to day 5 but still had severe fragmentation and were allowed to grow to day 6. On day 6 only one was considered viable and was biopsied and sent for genetic screening; it came back normal. We had a total of 3 survive to day 6 but the other 2 were not considered viable and the other 6 had arrested between days 5 and 6.

Costs for one cycle of IVF without medications was $17,900 Cost of STIM medications were about $2,600 Waiting for transfer so not sure what cost of those medications will be just yet.

Dr. Capteron prefers to transfer 1 embryo at a time. He did ask if we had another embryo if we would consider transferring 2 because of my severe endometriosis. I told him the thought of twins terrified me at this time and we could not financially afford another cycle right now, and he was very supportive of that and did not pressure us towards doing another cycle.

Dr. Caperton is a perfectionist. He will tweak, adjust and individualize your protocol based on what he sees. He's not always great at explaining his "why" so you frequently have to pin him down and ask him to explain himself, but he will. He is very blunt about prognosis and plans, but he absolutely cares. He'll adjust your pillow during an ultrasound or come chat even when there's not a specific clinical concern.

Keep asking questions until you're satisfied with the answer and ready to move forward.

I was initially on lupron and birth control for suppression, he added poor responder meds to my stim cycle when my suppressed AFC was low (testosterone and HGH). He plans to suppress me between retrieval and transfer because I have endometriosis.

Ivf includes icsi and pgs and a cycle is about 18k. Anesthesia for egg retrieval is another 500 Carrier screening was 250 and we're still not sure if my insurance will cover that. Meds ran me about $4500 with extra lupron from the cancelled cycle and poor responder meds.

Dr. Caperton feels very strongly about only transferring one genetically normal embryo and recommends PGS for this reason.

Dr. Caperton has been through the ivf process with his wife. He knows the concerns and the stress. He talked us through everything. He is very personable and helpful. He also helps with keeping things light and fun. Yes, this can be a stressful time but while with him you don’t feel the stress. My husband and I always leave his office feeling prepared.

Don’t be afraid to ask anything. He will always give you an honest answer.

One thing that I like that he does with protocol is preparing the uterus. I know not all fertility clinics do this. He spends a few months getting the uterus ready to carry a baby to term.

The whole thing cost around $22,000. There were three different payments. One to the clinic, one to the pharmacy for all the medication and one for anastegiologist. With the clinic it was about $17,900. That includes all the monitoring, retrieval of eggs, genetic testing, assisted hacking, transfer, 10 week monitor and more. The pharmacy was for all the medication that I have to inject. And the last is for the retrieval.

Dr. Caperton spent lots of money and time to research and figure out the safest way to do eset. He only does single transfers unless the parents otherwise directs him.

Dr. Caperton was always available to answer questions I had. He was receptive to concerns and was willing to explain why his plan was a better idea than yours if that was the case. He was still willing to go your way if that was a safe plan and your wish after hearing him out. He always took the time to make sure I was comfortable with the plan and procedure, without feeling like I was being rushed. While he has a good bedside manner and can treat you delicately if need be, I don’t feel like he ever sugarcoated things. He was honest about the potential for risks and the potential results. Personally, he is charming and funny which helps put you at ease.

Don’t judge a book by its cover—he is good-looking which for some people can be off-putting or make you think he is just a pretty face or arrogant. He is good at what he does and I felt comfortable working with him and have been a patient for 7 years now. If you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask them—even if you think they are silly or dumb questions. He will take the time needed.

I first decided to start with trying IUI using donor sperm. Dr. Caperton suggested this approach as it was the least invasive and least expensive. These cycles involved using Clomid because I have PCOS. The first two cycles produced no pregnancies. The third cycle produced a pregnancy which I carried to full-term. He caught a thyroid problem very early on and remedied it which I was extremely grateful for. After that, I tried 7-8 more IUI cycles before deciding to switch to IVF. He was willing to let me continue with IUIs but I decided that if I was going to keep spending all that money, I might as well go the IVF route with hopefully better chances of success. I completed one IVF egg retrieval cycle which produced 20 eggs. 5 of those made it to the embryo stage and were genetically sound. The genetic testing done gave us information about the quality of the embryos but also the gender of each embryo. I completed one frozen transfer with one embryo which produced a negative pregnancy test. Next frozen embryo transfer cycle I chose to put 2 embryos in. Because of a uterine anomaly I have he was more Inclined to take a conservative approach and only put one embryo in, but allowed me to put 2 embryos in explaining the risks. My pregnancy test came back positive this time. I started off with 2 embryos and 2 heartbeats. Around 11 weeks I lost one, but successfully carried the second to full term.

My health insurance does not cover any infertility costs. This meant I was considered “self-pay” and because of that, the Clinic offers you a discount. My IUI cycles ranged from $600-1000 including the IUI transfer, and ultrasound(s)—some of those cycles warranted more than one ultrasound. My IVF retrieval including one transfer, genetic testing, and all required medications cost around $16-18K, with my insurance covering some of the medication cost, and applying for a discounted pharmacy to begin with.

Dr. Caperton takes a more conservative approach. He will likely not be willing to put an excessive amount of embryos in because as he told me they are more interested in success of healthy babies rather than quantity of babies. I appreciate this because in the end you want a healthy baby, not 3 babies who may have health issues, right? He is not closed to hearing your arguments about wanting to put more than one in, just don’t expect him to agree to putting in more than 2-3 depending on your medical situation. I was able to select which embryo(s) to put in. In other words, if you have both male and female embryos you can choose which to put in. This can be disconcerting for some, or exciting that they can predetermine which gender they put in.

Dr. Caperton is passionate about his work. He is always straight-forward and honest with his opinions. He seems to always be striving to do better at his work. He also is knowledgeable on the current research and findings in reproductive medicine.

Trust the process.

Dr. Caperton began or process with suggested IUI. After several failed attempts and one miscarriage, he consulted with us and advised us to consider IVF and genetic testing. We ultimately because of cost decided to continue trying via IUI. Unfortunately, we were not successful. We again consulted with Dr. Caperton and with his guidance decided to obtain a loan to begin the process of IVF. We are currently in the middle of this process. We've already gone through egg retrieval l, however we are waiting to undergo the transfer as I am currently being treated for endometriosis.

Our insurance does not provide infertility coverage. Typically, IUIs cost us near $500. The IVF process has cost us around $22,000.

Dr. Caperton strongly recommends single egg retrieval as he believes that the risk of having multiples outweighs the gains of success. We agree with this as well.

I was initially able to call and email Dr. Caperton. He got more busy as time went on, and then he was less communicative. He has a humorous manner which is sometimes relaxing and sometimes off-putting. He performed several surgeries on me. He seems to diagnoses septate uterus and adenomyosis more than other doctors.

Don't take his jokes seriously.

I did egg retrieval. I was on menopur and follistim, and used shots of human growth hormone. I was on a lower dose of follistim (I think 150mg) than most because I had diminished ovarian reserve (low AMH), and he felt over-stimulating was bad for egg quality. I was also given an androgen gel for my arm early in the cycle, and I may have used Ganirelix at the end, but I can't remember. I only had one egg at the start, I wound up with six collected, four fertilized and made it to day 3, one made it to day 5, and PGS tested normal. The eggs were fertilized with ICSI. I had thyroid problems and uterine problems. I wound up on Lupron. I don't know if it helped or not. I wound up not completing a transfer at this clinic because I felt the doctor was overstretched.

It was $20000. He charges tax and he charged a credit card fee, I don't know if that still happens.

eSET, although I only had one. I did not complete a transfer with him.

Very knowledgeable but has a demenure that can appear cocky. Seemed like the clinic is after high priced treatment. Often felt like there was not good explination or rushed visits without clear indication of next steps. A lot of visits told need to loose weight before treatment. Then would try weightloss and so much time passes he would want to start process all over again with preliminary testing

Be prepared with the questions beforehand that you want to ask and ask for clarification on things you dont understand before he leaves the exam room. Be your own advocate and be clear about the treatment method you want

Clomid then suggested IVF. Negative results on clomid.

Used insurance however if I didnt have would have been at least $10,000 paid so far and have not had iui or ivf yet...

Straight forward, reassuring, confident -- so many questions addressed & answered during the initial visit -- we felt very good after leaving his office. History/exam, new diagnosis, and IVF cycle scheduled and planned all in the same afternoon!

started OCPs, waiting for meds, haven't started IVF cycle yet -- but he told us that minimal doses will be used due to diagnosis of diminished ovarian reserve

initial visit including ultrasound was about $400

strong preference for SET

I saw Dr. Caperton in 2010. I had to go through the IVF treatment twice as the first did not result in a live birth. The second round went perfectly and I ended up with beautiful fraternal twin boys that are now almost 10 and just amazing little boys. During every procedure Dr. Caperton explained in detail what was going on and showed me everything that was happening. Dr. Caperton truly cared about me as a patient and the truly cares about the creation of life. Dr. Caperton gave me the option of donating my remaining embryos so that others could have a shot at creating life as well. I’m so glad I did that. The whole experience left such an impression on me and my life. I can never thank him and his staff enough for the two (now not so little) boys that are my world.

Ask questions. Always ask questions. Dr. Caperton is very informative.

I remember that I had to go on birth control for a specific amount of time. Then I had to give myself shots every day in different places at different times for hormone treatment. Once my eggs were ready for retrieval, I went into the office and they removed them. I used the 5-day cycle as was best for my situation. Then after the fertilization process, he implanted the embryo(s). I had to wait I believe 2 weeks and then had to go for a blood test to check for pregnancy. The first time did not take, the second time both embryos took and I ended up with twins. I was young at the time (25!) and very healthy. The rationale being used for the different treatments were based a lot on my health.

I had an amazing insurance at the time that covered 90% of my treatments. I know, completely unheard of now. So my costs I think for both rounds were a little above $10,000 out of pocket. Insurance for everything associated with my pregnancy and the birth, the insurance company paid a lot of money. My kids were million dollar babies leaving the hospital after birth.

I did both. The first round I implanted 1 embryo, the second round I implanted 2 embryos. Dr Caperton would no implant more than 2 because of my age and health. My embryos were high level/grade so I did not need to implant more than that.