Life IVF Center

The clinic has a great lab, which is important in the success of IVF outcome. Dr. Yelain is talented at treating tough case patients and does not give up on his patients easily. The clinic also offers low price packages, which makes it possible for severe DOR ladies to find success, as most will need a few IVF cycles to get enough embryos to transfer. It's a busy clinic and you don't get your own nurse. The service you get corresponds to the price you pay.

Dr. Yelian is personable and he is optimistic by nature and truly wants you to succeed.

Most of the nurses are very nice and organized but sometimes they can be frustrating to work with.

Dr. Yelian is the expert in treating sever DOR ladies (high FSH, low AMH). He is creative in his treatment plans and he seldom gives up (cancels cycle) on his patients. He is optimistic by nature and truly believes that every egg can be the golden one and will go for every egg he can get, which is very important in the case of DOR ladies. He creates individualize treatment plans base on your ultrasound result and hormonal levels but as a patient you need to stay on top of the details and be there to remind him of your histories as it's a busy clinic and they have a lot of patients.

Trust and rely on his expertise but also stay on top of things, voice your concern if the treatment plan does not make sense base on your understanding of your history.

Dr. Yelian is one of the few Drs. who knows how to treat sever DOR ladies. A lot of the patients went to Dr. Yelain as last resort as most Drs do not know how to treat ladies with high FSH and would have told them donor egg is the only hope. Dr. Yelian would test your baseline FSH and E2 and will prescribe stimulation if your FSH is lower than 15. If your FSH is high, he may give you estrace or bcp to lower the FSH so to allow follicle(s) to grow. I was able to successfully bank embryos under his protocols.

Life clinic offers low costs package. A three cycle mini IVF package is around $15K and a three cycle natural IVF package is around $12K.

Dr. Yelain will only transfer up to two embryos at a time. His motto is to help his patient has one healthy baby at a time so he tries his best to avoid high risk pregnancies.

The lab is great according to the women who have worked with Yelian (and who are pregnant/have children with his help). The challenge for me is that I live in SF and he's in Orange County, so that was inconvenient. Because it's a busy clinic, don't expect serenity or a "spa-like" experience I've hear about other places. But it's quality care at an affordable price. Right now, I'm looking at donor eggs, and the expense is unbelievable! I wish I could work with Yelian with their donors, but I can't choose that path because it's anonymous.

Dr. Yelian is a warm, sweet man. I've moved onto needing egg donation, and the only reason I can no longer work with him is that their egg donor program is anonymous, and I don't think that's a wise move on my part. I want the donor to be open to being contacted down the road. Dr. Lee C. Kao is AWFUL! No bedside manner and rude, and he did my consultation. After that experience, I asked Dr. Yelian to make sure I never work with him again.

Yelian has a very large team, and they're on it. They took whatever time I needed to answer my questions.

He's wonderful, and he has a very busy practice. He's limited on time, but I felt taken care of throughout. He's very kind and compassionate, and has had great success. He was realistic about my chances, while remaining encouraging. He's very knowledgeable and I would recommend him.

Avoid Dr. Lee C. Kao, and request you never work with him.

What I liked most about Dr. Yelian was his approach not to do conventional IVF for someone over 40. He does mini IVF and natural IVF. We did natural IVF, where it just follows my natural cycle. We were going to try minimal stim but my cycles became too irregular. To regulate them, I went on birth control, but then that made my FSH through the roof, and he suggested I take a break.

$6,000, which is why I wish I could work with him again. Now, I'm looking at ~$40,000. :(

Life IVF's patients are almost all "hard" cases for other clinics. If you are of advanced age, have DOR and/or high FSH, they are ideal. It's what they are dealing with all day, everyday-- you won't be a problem patient. I sort of feel like no matter how awful my numbers are, I don't scare them. It makes treatment more promising and waiting in the waiting room more pleasant... at 40 I'm never the oldest there. Considering the patients, I think their success rates are amazing. The clinic's emphasis is on the least amount of drugs/procedures/extras to make IVF as minimally invasive and as easy time management-wise as possible. If you are uncomfortable with the sheer amount of medication involved in a cycle elsewhere, Life would be ideal. They just don't do the everything and the kitchen sink style cycle. Retrievals can be done without anesthesia. I had read other patients posting that they did retrieval completely drug free, so I tried my first cycle and I highly recommend Norco and Valium. It wasn't the most awful experience of my life, but some pain killers made it so much more manageable the second time. Anesthesia is an option if you'd prefer. With the exception of one, all my cycles were based solely on my natural cycle and did not include taking injections or birth control to get on a schedule convenient to the clinic. It was important to me to know that I would not be cancelled if I had even a little chance. Other clinics cancel if you don't have lots of follicles, Life advocates "it only takes one". If you only have one or two and want to proceed, they will and if you feel a moment of panic and consider canceling, they will reassure you without pressuring you, either. Almost all information will come through emails with great brevity. I almost always would like more information and sooner... but the information that you need always arrives in time (just not as immediately as my anxiousness would occasionally like). I don't think this clinic would be a good option if you want to feel you are being guided and hand held. In general, I feel that the pain involved in all aspects of a cycle is slightly underestimated by the nurses and doctors. I am tough, but, goodness. Last cycle I learned that an endometrial biopsy is much more painful than a pap smear (which it was presented as being just like). If I started over with them again, I'd very much like to feel confident asking for painkillers and valium before procedures. Once I said I was interested in them, they are happy to advise and proscribe without making you feel weak.

The clinic is very busy and I'm not able to see the doctors often, but when I have talked to them they seem to understand how this is important and emotional. I met with two previous doctors at other clinics who didn't seem to understand that not being able to have a child is upsetting. I don't feel like with Dr. Yelian that his success rates are more important than me.

Almost all of the nursing staff and staff in general is exceptionally nice, kind and thorough. I think with any workplace there will be a couple that are less pleasant or that you encounter on an off day. I had been warned by another patient that the staff wouldn't be friendly, but I found everyone friendly and warm, just also efficient. You won't be seeing the same people each time and they see a lot of patients, so while I felt I was familiar to everyone after my second cycle, I didn't expect them or need them to know much in the way of details about me. When some did I was pleasantly surprised. Of all my visits, and I have been there a lot, I've only had three instances of a not completely pleasant interaction -- and none of them were problems that would affect the results of the cycle.

Dr. Yelian is very excited about the science of IVF and ready to explain every detail. It really seems to be a passion. He's confident, but also practical. I wanted facts, I wanted to know what could be done, how and when. He could give all the answers and answers for what ifs. I like to read studies on Fertstert and I wanted someone who could discuss them with me. His scholarly background makes him a good fit for anyone approaching this as science and research. He also framed the answers in a positive way and recognized the importance of this. Another doctor had said you only have a 5% chance of a live birth as a dismissal of trying. Dr. Yelian estimated a similar percent as a positive -- you still have a 5% chance of a live birth. It's subtle, but important. I liken it to finding out you are diagnosed with a terrible disease-- I want the doctor that says, I can help you fight this, it's hard but we have these options, you have a 5% chance. I don't want the doctor that says you only have a 5% chance of survival, why bother? Dr. Yelian combines both science and compassion. I had hoped to have more appointments where I saw him. At this clinic, you will only see the doctor for your consultation, for your first appointment with the clinic, for retrievals and transfers. Theoretically, you can make additional appointments for a fee, but this is downplayed when you actually try to do it.

You should be prepared to keep track of everything and ask a lot of questions. You won't get many opportunities to talk to the doctor, so you will want to be fully prepared for every chance you get.

I did three mini-IVF cycles in a row, but had started four cycles. I then have started two FET, only one of which progressed to a transfer, which was negative. My FSH is high, my AMH is low and I am old. I was 39 when I started, 40 now. The theory on mini-IVF is that I was not going to produce many eggs regardless of how much medication I used because my FSH was already high, further stimulation wasn't going to do much. However, by doing three cycles each with less eggs collected, I could end up with a similar number of eggs to a standard cycle. My first attempt at a cycle was cancelled the first week as I already had a lead follicle. The thought was, this could be normal for me or it could be an off cycle. If we wait a month and it is the same, we're essentially in the same place, but maybe by waiting a month it would be better. Fortunately, it was a little better the next month. I was sad, but appreciated the practical approach. My first cycle to progress used clomid daily, Menopur every other day and a trigger with Lupron. I did not prime before. I had two eggs from six follicles, which was disappointing that day, but both made it to 5 day and were frozen. At the end of the cycle, I realized two from two is amazing. My second cycle used clomid daily and Follistim every other day with a double trigger. Because the first cycle had resulted in only two, the second was a change just to see if it worked better. I was to take 10 days of BCP, but started my period after 7 days, even on the BCP. I had four eggs from five follicles, but only two made it through the first day. Only one made it to 5 day and freeze. I then skipped one month because my cycle put my retrieval right in the middle of their week closed for the holidays. My third cycle was clomid daily, Gonal F every other day. I did not prime before. I triggered with just the Lupron. I had three eggs, two of which survived the first day and made it to day 5 to freeze. My first FET cycle I used estradiol, lots of it, then threw in tamoxifen for 10 days. There was not priming before, it followed my natural cycle. My lining wouldn't get above 7.6 at cd20 and the doctor decided to transfer because it seemed to be as good as it would get. My pregnancy test was negative, not even a chemical. My second FET cycle I used lots of estradiol, tamoxifen for 9 days and had an endometrial biopsy. I had more follicles growing, all of similar size than I had on any of my retrieval cycles, I regret not being able to switch it to a retrieval. My lining was 7.8 at cd14, and we tried going through the weekend to see if it would thicken. At some point over the weekend I ovulated and the cycle was cancelled. The plan is my next FET cycle would follow the protocol of the second, but transfer at cd14 and not risk going longer.

I'm uncomfortable giving numbers, we're asked not to. My three mini cycle package was a similar price to one full cycle at another local clinic. Monitoring is in addition to the package price, as are medications. At this point, three retreival cycles and two transfer cycles, with medications and monitoring I am over 20,000 and under 30,000. I did not use PGS.

Life IVF is very strongly pro eSET. Because I am older, I felt transferring at least two would be reasonable and they agreed to it while cautioning that it is not their recommendation. (I ended up doing eSET)

I was initially a bit overwhelmed by the high volume of patients that obviously go through the clinic (the waiting room can seem a bit like an airline terminal on busy days!) but it has turned out to benefit me because they have an in-house blood lab because of their high volume so they do monitoring from 7am (I think, I never went that early!) to 2pm, even on Saturdays. For me, afternoons worked best so I would go in at 1:45pm for monitoring and they would have the results one hour later (it's one hour processing no matter what time you go). I think most other clinics have only morning monitoring times and very limited hours on Saturdays. It's a busy place but it really does run smoothly, I have been impressed!

Dr Yelian treats thousands of women each year so it's inevitable that he cannot remember each one individually. That said, I have a bit of an unusual case so he does remember me but no matter what I think he treats his patients well and is a kind and caring doctor who really wants to help people get pregnant. He is super busy because of his success with DOR/POF/high FSH patients but he always took the time to call me when I requested it and if a cycle was cancelled and always asked if I had any questions about my treatment. I don't think he turns anyone away for treatment but I think it's because he wants to give everyone their best chance, not because he wants the money.

The nurses work in team mode (you are not assigned one point of contact) which can lead to disjointed communication when you speak with a different nurse each time you call or go into the office. It all seemed to work out fine in the end, though. There are a lot of nurses and I came in a lot and always seemed to see a different one. :) I did get to know the ultrasound techs and blood drawing technicians as there were only a few of those. Overall, my experience was fine and they were always polite and professional.

Dr. Yelian is super busy, but it's because of his success and because he is so well known for being the best doctor to go see if you have high FSH. People travel from all over the world to see him. I am caucasian and was almost always the only non-asian in the waiting room as many of his patients are chinese. There are usually many patients with their suitcases as well. Despite the high throughput I found the office to be well run and have had a very positive experience there. Because he sees so many patients you have to pay $75 to see him after your initial consultation (except for when you have transfers and retrievals) but having him call you is free and he always called when I asked and did not make me feel rushed. He is very personable and honest and he is really compelling and enthusiastic in his monthly seminars for prospective patients. I was really impressed at the seminar, and my experience with him after many months of treatment with him has lived up to that.

Go see his seminar, you won't be disappointed! If you have DOR or high FSH, no other doctor can compare.

Dr Yelian specializes in natural cycle and minimal stimulation IVF and most of his clients have DOR, POF, high FSH, and/or are in their 40s or beyond. He mostly uses estrogen and birth control pills to treat his patients and the goal is to produce "one good egg" (his mantra) each cycle. So your cycle won't be cancelled if you only have one follicle. :) My FSH was 136 and Dr Yelian tried several different protocols of natural cycle IVF on me, and despite being in premature menopause and age 41 I actually grew follicles after a few tries and he retrieved a mature egg which successfully fertilized. Those of you with POF (premature ovarian failure) will recognize how amazing this is. The cycle that worked, I was just on birth control pills, that's it! After about 34 days on the pill my FSH was suppressed enough that my follicles grew. I had my transfer last week and even if I don't get a positive pregnancy test, I am still grateful for Dr Yelian's help in getting this far, and we can always try again. :)

I paid about $5,000 for one natural cycle IVF cycle. It would have been $12,000 for three cycles but we decided to just pay for one.

I feel as if each staff member was hand picked and each are compassionate, comforting, informative, and patient.

Each staff member from check in to the doctors were all compassionate and knowledgeable and tended to all my needs

The nursing staff was my extended family, you see them so much and they communicate with you daily regarding protocol and checking up on you. They were encouraging, comforting, knowledgeable, compassionate, and eased your stress with humor and gave amazing tips to survive ivf.

From the 1st phone consult I knew Dr Yelian was the one for us, despite ivf being our on,y option to conceive after being told by our primary physician that my husband and I would never conceive with his sperm or my eggs, it was like a breath of fresh air when Dr Yelian assured us that we would be prefect candidates for mini ivf. He explained thoroughly how mini ivf works and the benefits also why we should do icsi and assisted hatching and hope was all we needed. Dr Yelian conducted my transfer and it was fast, detailed and painless, also I took no medicine for transfer.... Dr Yelian showed and explained every step before and during each step of transfer. Dr Yelian was always open for questions or concerns and had prompt responses. I truly appreciate how he made my husband and I feel like the only patients and always up to date on where we were in our cycle without us having to back track to catch him up. We felt special and important and that made our cycle easy and stress free.

Listen and follow his instructions even tho you may feel different. Dr Yelian really knows what he is talking about and doing and there is a reason for whatever instructions you are given by him. I thought for sure I would never produce eggs on my lowest dosages of fertility medicine but I produced more than with my highest dosages from my primary doctors.

I love that I didn't have to take birth control before starting my cycle, went right into stimming and I was on my lowest dosages of clomid 50mg and Gonal F lowest dosages and every other day, I'm not going to lie I didn't think it would work since I was on the max of both when doing iui's at my primary doctors office. But on my first ultrasound after starting swimming it was actually working and normally I stimmed for about 14 days or more I only stimmed for 9 days before triggering for retrieval. I produced 4 follicles and I was a rare and hard patient to retrieve because my ovary is far up and back, my retrieval was done abdominally and 3 out of the 4 follicles had eggs, 2 eggs were mature and fertilized with icsi, they both made it to 5 day blasts and were frozen. Following cycle was on 1 estrace (estrogen pill) daily and progesterone oil injections nightly and to my surprise my transfer was sooner than they expected and it went smoothly.

The mini ivf cycle I chose was affordable, medicine was the lowest around to purchase, monitoring cycles after pregnancy were very affordable as well

Strengths: Accepts all patients regardless of how dire their situations and cases are. Financial portion was well explained at the consult, with all the treatment costs and packages explained in great detail. It was very clear how much things would cost at this clinic. Dr. Yelian seems to show compassion and has a good bedside manner. Weaknesses: This place is way too busy and you feel like a number. The care didnt seem as individualized as it was portrayed to us at the consult. Doctors are not willing to try new or experimental techniques. Everything is pretty standard and they seem to use the "one size fits all" approach to treatment. Retrieval and transfer procedures seemed rushed especially when the "rest area beds" were full with patients. Patients walk from recliner "bed" to the procedure room for retrievals and transfers, have the procedure done with no anesthesia, and then need to walk back to their "bed". I felt like I was not given enough bedrest after procedures, especially the transfer procedures. You never see a doctor during monitoring. Emails are sent to you after each monitoring appointment with continued instructions for treatment plan. I was lucky to see Dr. Yelian on the day of my retrievals and transfers, but I didnt always see him. Sometimes the other doctors would be there in his absence.

At our initial consult, Dr. Yelian gave impression that treatment was tailored to each individual patient (i.e. no one size fits all approach would be used). However I felt like I was given the one size fits all by having birth control and estrogen priming prescribed, which only suppressed my response and I felt like I wasted a good amount of the cycles in my package with this. This clinic is very busy, they have what I think is too many patients for what they can handle. On retrieval and transfer days, I felt like I was rushed into the procedure room to get my procedure done, then I was left in a recliner to rest for a few minutes before I was told I could leave. They obviously had too many patients to accommodate in their clinic. With my negative pregnancy tests, another doctor (Dr. Kao) called and he was sympathetic yet I felt that Dr. Yelian should have had the decency to close out my case at his clinic. I'm not sure if its the norm to have a final "what happened?" appointment after all treatment unsuccessfully concluded, but I was never offered that or felt that this kind of dialog would be welcome at Life IVF.

Nursing staff is primarily Chinese speaking, which is targeted to Life IVFs target patient base. I felt like most of the Chinese nurses did not communicate well with me. Most nurses were nice, but I got the feeling they did not care about the patients (my opinion is they are overrun with patients and this is why they seem this way). I looked to the nurses to help me with insurance pre-authorization, handling my prescriptions, and for any guidance with medication usage. Only one nurse was actually helpful to show me how to use medications and to give me more information so I could make a choice on medications for my transfer. Separate issue, but I felt that the doctor shouldve made the choice on the type of progesterone I should use, not give me the choice. Overall, some nurses were incompetent (seemed to just play around while at work) while some went the extra mile for me.

Dr. Yelian seemed positive and gave me confidence in using my own eggs. But at the same time, I felt there was an air of arrogance and cockiness to him that he was sure he could get me pregnant. He does not seem willing to deviate too far from the box with regard to treatment protocols. It seems like every patient is doing pretty much the same protocol but with tweaking to the dosage of medications. He did humor me once by letting me try a different priming method, which was my best responsive cycle. I also had to push to get additional bloodwork and testing done to rule out other issues that could have had an impact on my success. I learned after starting cycles with him that he would not allow medications when FSH levels were too high. There was one cycle when I started stims and at a subsequent monitoring appointment he had me drop most of my medications because my FSH was higher than he liked. I know of other doctors that would continue the stims, and with this cycle I felt like had I continued stims I would have gotten more mature eggs. Overall, Dr. Yelian seems like a decent doctor if you are looking for a more natural or less medicated form of IVF. If you are someone with Diminished Ovarian Reserve, I would stay away because you just are not getting the number of eggs you should be getting by doing mini IVF.

Be your own advocate, challenge his treatment plans if something doesnt feel right or if you have questions or concerns.

If FSH is higher than 15-20, he will not let you use any stims, specifically Gonal-F (FSH). Sometimes he will allow Clomid only. He seems to use the same standard protocol with everyone: BCP or estrogen priming prior to cycle. Begin Clomid on day 3 every day until right before retrieval (dosage ranges from 25-50 mg). Begin Gonal-F on day 5, every other day for 4 dosages. Each dosage was 150 IU. If FSH levels are too high on day 3, no stims at all. If FSH levels are borderline, he will start you out on Clomid only, 25 mg (half a tablet).

We were offered a Risk Share, Money Back plan of 5 retrievals, 5 transfers for $25,000. This included all monitoring ultrasounds and labs, and the first pregnancy test. Medications were not included.

factory like you need to understand all their processes and protocols so you can maximize your time there and understand how you can get through it quicker. I am not sure if the lab was any good and if they were good at reading ultrasounds and tracking your case

He was very hopeful and like to tell a lot of success stories. ON the other hand the office was run like factory and the financial person was not very understanding although the Dr was more sympathetic.

A lot of different nurses more assembly line

Good if you want natural cycles or are older. Less expensive. Only does one thing and maybe not so flexible. I think he is good at explaining however he acts as if there is a good chance. Also, I am not sure if the lab is that good. He doesn' t try an advanced techniques or new ideas on the cutting edge. Doesn't work with immunological concerns. He will treat older patients and patients with diminshed reserve but he doesn't give an accurate impression of your chances nor does he fully help in terms of getting where you want to go. He is more of a one pony show or whatever the expression is.

Don't expect full service. Guide your own treatment. Only work with him if his one standard protocol is what would work for you in your condition. Be sure to ask for him to come in to do your ultrasounds. Try to get him to level with you fairly on chances. Research the lab to determine if it is up to paar.

He does natural cycles and mini cycles for people who do not respond well to FSH and other fertility drugs. or who are older and would do equally as well with minimum stimulation. He does use clomid regularly however. He also triggers using lupron not just HCh or will double trigger which is good for women who are older and do not respond well to the hormone because their levels are so high already.

He prefers single. which I agreed with. I was mad at drs who insisted on multiple transfer for their own success and numbers

I would say they are in good hands, everyone is knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. They take time with you always and you don't feel rushed. At time it did take longer to get your results based on the number of patients Bing Sen.

I have always been treated with kindness and they take there time to explain the process in details to me and with a friendly smile. I never felt being rushed.

I have had a good experience with all the nurses, they take there time to explain my treatment plan, provide information and education to me. All staff if friendly and have good customer service.

When we have met with Dr. Yelian he has explained our specific treatment in details. Dr. Yelian takes time to answer all of our questions in details, for example one time we had a total of 35 questions and he answered all of them, he took his time with us. He is kind and we felt that he really was aware of our individual treatment plan for each cycle.

Go for it!! You are in good hands!

Since I'm diagnosed with DOR stimmimng was minimal consisting of clomid and menopur, we also had natural cycles in between, all cycles stimulated my follicles.

We purchased a three cycle package includes, egg retrieval, hatching assist, and egg transfer. Fees for monitoring was separate and medications are separate cost.

Our plan is to do a single embryo transfer.

Strength is a nice, professional-looking office. In the beginning, the office staff was nice. After you start the treatment, the staff tends to avoid you or, if that is not possible, the deal with you quickly and move on to the next customer.

Live IVF runs a very busy, factory-like operation, when we were under its care. One had to pay extra $ to "consult" with Dr. Yelian. The nurses and medical assistants were always quite busy. At the front desk one had to try hard to get their attention, in competition with phone calls and other anxious customers.

One had to wait for a long time to see a nurse, and they were sometimes too bust to talk to you.

The doctor was quite busy. Wife and I consulted with him a couple of times in the beginning and then had to work with various assistants unless paying for a follow-up consultation with him, regardless of how long that took. He was eager to sell us frozen eggs, none of which developed into embryos.

Buyer beware. We would not recommend using him.

Treatment started trying to use wife's eggs, but quickly shifted to the recommendation that we purchase eggs from a donor. Eggs were frozen and all failed to developed after fertilization rather quickly. We were quite surprised as we were sold on the idea that we would get embryos.

About $17,000, which included $12,000 for just three frozen eggs. The rest of the money was for blood tests, various examinations, and doctor consultation fees.

Poor communication. You never see Dr. Y unless it is in a procedure room. Whenever you talk with any of the doctors, they dismiss your concerns.

Office very disorganized and I had to manage my own case each cycle

You never communicated with the same staff, and they do not answer about 50% of their emails. Some are not native English speakers, which is fine and of course is common in CA, and are extremely difficult to communicate with over the phone. I had 4 egg retrieval cycles and one transfer, and every cycle had an annoying communication error.

This clinic is a last-ditch stop for women with DOR or POF to use their own eggs. There really aren't many other options out there.

Be your own advocate! This is the most disorganized fertility office I have been to.

Mini-IVF

3 mini cycles are about $13,000, including ICSI, excluding monitoring. Cycle management frustration is included gratis. :)