Southern California Reproductive Center

From our first meeting with Dr. Surrey, I really like him and his thoughts on what would be good initial treatment steps for us. However, I felt there would be much less hand holding, which worried me. But I quickly realized that while I wouldn’t see Dr. Surrey at each visit (for convenience you often just see the nurse and ultrasound tech for quick check-ins) he would call me every time with my results from that day. Anything important was always communicated directly from him, not another member of the team. I really appreciated that. Dr. Surrey has a supportive but not emotional method to his treatment. I felt like we really built a strong doctor patient relationship throughout my time. And when something didn’t go according to plan, he was sensitive to it. He had a very calm and friendly demeanor.

Ask him questions as they arise, he is very open and easy to talk with.

We did IVF cycles with him. He utilized injections and oral or vaginal medication for harvesting/retrieval prep and transfer plans. Our first retrieval prep was cancelled prior to the actual retrieval because of the poor egg numbers he saw. This was hard but I was so glad that he made this decision based on my numbers, it felt personalized, rather than just having me move forward with what would have been a poor retrieval. After that he adjusted my medications and got a better response for our next cycle. His transfer plans also felt specific to me, he adjusted as often as he felt necessary to allow for optimal results.

I had the most wonderful Ultrasound Tech, Neha! I had other techs as well who were fantastic, but I saw Neha at 90% of my visits. She was so knowledgeable and kind no matter the circumstance. We had good and bad ultrasounds and she was always a strong support. She was incredibly professional but also personal to my care. It meant the world to me.

The costs were in line with what we had experienced elsewhere. However, SCRC provided all costs upfront and at the start of each treatment. There were no hidden costs. It removed anxiety to know there wouldn’t be any unforeseen costs.

He recommended single transfer but was open to discussing this with me. Ultimately we did both single and multiple transfers. He listened to me and we agreed together that a double embryo transfer was best for my last transfer that resulted in the live birth of our son.

Overall, Dr. Surrey was very great and very pleasant. He always remembered us and our situation. He would always contact us with lab results, new information or just to check in. He was very informative and always presented us with options in moving forward with procedures or testings. Financial stresses and work related challenges have been very present throughout our process. This is probably just a personal/emotional experience, but I felt as though Dr. Surrey was not mindful of our financial struggles. I understand he has an accounting department for that, but sometimes it almost seemed like we were encouraged to take the most expensive procedures/actions to move forward. However, if finances were not an issue, I probably would not feel that way.

Educate yourself as much as possible, talk to others who have gone through IVF treatments successfully and unsuccessful. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

We began with an egg retrieval, followed by a FET cycle a couple weeks later. My fiancé experienced hyper stimulation, severe bloating and swelling. Resulting in 2 taps to remove the excess fluids. The hormone injections may have been too strong for her body. We retrieved 33 eggs, made 5 embryos, 2 were mosaic. Of the 3 viable embryos, two were Day 7 and one was Day 5, which we transferred. Unfortunately our transfer was not a successful pregnancy. A couple months later we decided to do another egg retrieval and freeze. This time Dr. Surrey lowered the hormonal dosage, which prevented hyper stimulation happening again. This time we got 20 eggs and just froze them due to finances at this time.

Dr. Surrey was very neutral and didn't really encourage one way or the other. He educated us on the tradeoffs.

I am still in the middle of treatment with Dr. Chang. My husband was diagnosed with Chronic Leukemia and we were desperately trying to determine if his sperm could be used for IVF. She is connected with some of the top cancer doctors in the world and we were able to receive recommendations from a male fertility urologist and oncologist if it was safe to proceed with IVF given my husband's poor sperm quality. Dr. Chang is very candid and respectful with her patients. She clearly provided us with our options for IVF and her recommendations with the risks of each procedure (ICSI, genetic test, frozen embryo transfers etc). I am grateful for Dr. Changs attention to detail and "taking care of business". We were getting ready for the frozen embryo transfer and we did some pre-testing to make sure I didn't have any infections --- turns out I did and she immediately put me on antibiotics and probiotics. She never rushes in to something and takes all the necessary precautions, even though I am anxious to get pregnant! All in due time. I can't recommend Dr. Chang more. I drive 3 hours each way just to go to this clinic.

Dr. Chang will conduct lots of necessary pre-testing to ensure you are set up for success. Critical, but can take some patience if you're antsy to get pregnant.

We used stimulation hormones leading up to the egg retrieval. I was able to use smaller dosage since my eggs were in good shape and my PCOS actually helped create 30 eggs. I was hoping we could do a fresh embryo transfer but our sperm were of poor quality and we needed lots of testing done to the embryo. We have not done our Frozen Embryo Transfer yet, but the plan is to try with no medications at first and just monitor my growth after I stop birth control. We will intervene with Letrozole as needed.

IVF Embryology with Cryopreservation (no transfer) - $3950. ICSI- $1650 Embryo storage $750 Embryoscope $2500 Embryo Biopsy $1800 PGT-A/PGT-SR $2000

My doctor recommended single embryo transfer since it is safest for mom and embryo. We agree with this approach.

Dr. Alexander is very knowledgeable and empathetic. She truly knows hers patients' stories. For me I came to her for secondary fertility. We lost our first baby half way through the pregnancy but then was able conceive 1.5 years after that loss but at the cost of exhausting cycle tracking. We saw her for IUI's for our next pregnancies but sadly they all failed and we fell pregnant when we stopped treatments and went back to relentless cycle tracking. After suffering a miscarriage in 2018 I decided I wanted to try IVF and knew they only doctor I would trust my time and money with to do this would be Dr. A. Because of her we were able to conceive another healthy boy . I owe that to her competent and compassionate care. She knows the science but she also knows there is an emotional side to this field of fertility medicine that needs to equaly be supported. Without her constant and positive care I really don't think we would have had success.

Open up to her. She will listen to all your concerns and do her best to set your mind at ease and support you through this process. Also track your meds and dosages in your own organizer. We used an excel spreadsheet. That way I knew exactly when and how much medication I needed to take as well as how much I had left so I had plenty of time to get refills. I live 3 hours away from the clinic and specialty pharmacies. It wasn't always easy to get meds so I had to be prepared.

I had some symptoms of PCOS but always ovulated regularly with or with out meds. So there was this unknown cause for my infertility as well. We did a medicated egg retrieval cycle. Followed by ICSI fertilization for half my eggs (I had so many she decided to fertilize the other half just by mixing sprem and eggs in the petri dish). Then at day 5 we got 9 embryos, which I wasn't expecting that many! We did PGS testing on 8 of them and left one untested. 1 embryo came back euploidy (normal), 1 came back mosiac for chromosome 12 (60% normal cells and 40% missing chromosome 12) and 7 completely aneaploidy (abnormal). We decided to transfer the normal embryo in a medicated, single FET (frozen embryo transfer). To prep for that transfer we did an ERA (Endometrial Receptivity Array) it tells you exactly how long you need the progesterone injections before the transfer to be successful. And it worked we had successful transfer and a healthy baby boy. Also after the egg retrieval Dr. Alexander looked around my uterus via ultra sound and saw I had an ithmocele (a c-searan scar defect) this needed major surgery to correct it before a tranfer could be attempted. Although sad for the set back I was so grateful for her attention to detail to make everythng as perfect as could be so we could have a successful transfer and healthy baby. I look forward to working with her again for another embryo transfer.

The IVF and gentic testing and embrology fees was just under 20k, including meds. The FET with the ERA was about 6k

Because I had one golden embryo that we knew was normal we decided on just the single embryo transfer to give that embryo the best chance of implanting and growing in to a healthy baby.

I’m grateful to have found Dr. Ghadir, even though I am still without a baby. He is honest and compassionate. We had a running joke that I was his favorite patient because I had been going to him for so long. You will not see Dr. Ghadir for routine lab work or ultrasounds. They have techs who handle that. So no, you won’t see him EVERY appointment. But he handled all of my cycles and major procedures. He was always there during my ultrasounds when I was pregnant. So happy for me. And when I miscarried, he wrapped his arms around me and just let me cry. I trust him completely and I feel safe, which is why I will continue my journey with him as my doctor.

Take notes and ask all the questions.

My AMH was low. Extremely low. So we decided to dive straight into IVF. I began stim meds to prep for an egg retrieval. I had purchased a package for 2 cycles. My body was not responding to the meds as Dr. Ghadir had hoped. He didn’t want me to hyper stimulate so I stopped. Failed cycle #1. I waited a few months and tried again, same outcome. I had no eggs. Premature Ovarian Failure. This is when we discussed using donor eggs. I chose my first donor and was genuinely excited. She ended up not responding to the stim meds, so I moved on to another donor. We got 17 eggs, and I ended up with 5 healthy embryos. We did an ERA before the first transfer of my only female embryo. We had a positive reception and moved on to the transfer. The transfer did not take. Neither did #2 or #3. We did another ERA and proceeded with transfer #4. And I got pregnant! It was the happiest 8 weeks of my life. I went in for an ultrasound during week 5 and 6 and everything seemed fine. My ultrasound in week 8 confirmed there was no heartbeat. Transfer #5 had the same outcome. Got pregnant and during the ultrasound in week 7, there was no heartbeat. I went for blood and ultrasounds every 3 days to check hormone levels and lining leading up to each embryo transfer.

In total, I’ve spent around $80k.

No comments, but my doctor did encourage me to do single embryo transfers.

Wendy Chang is a very knowledgable, meticulous and thorough doctor and always careful in her approach and communication delivery, process, explanations and expectations. She was always answering my questions, she was always very calm and careful not to set high expectations. I appreciate the fact she always focused on the task at hand each time rather than encouraging the what ifs later on. I would recommend her undoubtedly to anyone. I respect her knowledge and communication.

Listen to her, trust her knowledge and take her careful and meticulous approach as a good thing. She will not sugarcoat or give false expectations and that is what I liked about her during the whole process.

My treatment was during Covid, for that she was very cautious with all safety measures in place for absolutely not exposing herself or her patients to added risk. Her strategies were to focus at each step each time and not look far ahead as, depending on the treatment process, there are multiple steps involved over a lengthy period of time.

Around or slightly under $40K

She will not make any decisions for you, decision making is all you. But once you’ve made your decision she can agree with it and be encouraging.

Dr. Ghadir is by far the most caring, professional, knowledgeable doctor we have meet. The clinic is extremely clean and is beautifully decorated. It does not feel like a clinic at all. They gave us the best gift during our last visit there, a framed onesie with our baby ultrasound picture. Thanks to the treatment recommended we are now 8 months pregnant. We will forever be thankful to him and his wonderful staff for all they've done for us. May he be blessed with many more years of health and success so that he can continue to help others as he has helped us.

You can fully trust this doctor, his recommendations, and procedures. He is really knowledable and always tries to do the best for you.

We tried first cycle on myself. Unfortunately it had to get cancelled due to my eggs not reacting to the meds as expected. My 3ggs where not multiplying enough nor were they growing to the required size for retrieval. The doctor was very straight forward and explained we could keep trying as much as we wanted, but he recommended using donor eggs, as my issue was low egg reserve and next cycle could yield the same results. We highly appreciated the honesty and the options. Hence we tried tried fresh donor egg cycle, to which we were fortunate enough to get 8 healthy eggs for use, transferred 2, and ended up with a pregnancy with 1 baby boy. We are now 8 months pregnant thanks to his recommendations and treatments.

We expressed we wanted more than one baby, and the doctor agreed to transfer two embryos at once. He always tried to comply with our needs and wants as long as it was medically and positively possible.

Dr. Chang was thorough at our initial consultation, and provided us with a list of vitamins to start with. After that initial consultation, it is almost impossible to get a hold of her if you have any major or minor issues. Our second call was before the start of the initial cycle and it felt rushed (although we were billed for it), our last call described an upcoming treatment protocol which did not match up with what was prescribed less than a day later.

I wouldn't recommend it. Dr. Chang was nice and friendly, however, she did not adjust any treatment protocol when it did not work.

IUI costs are paid ala carte, but since I had fertility coverage, some of the services were paid through insurance. However, despite updating my insurance information with them multiple times, they failed to submit the bills to insurance for payment. Instead, I was sent a bill as if I did not have insurance coverage. Twice I was told I had cleared the amount owed, but to return 2 days later (for a scheduled appointment) to be told a balance is still owed.

She is a brilliant physician, who is well informed and up-to-date on all things relating to fertility. She doesn’t treat you as a number, but as patient and as a friend. Her warm demeanor/bedside manner instantly lessens your anxiety, and her expertise (she teaches at UCLA at cedar sinai!) immediately puts your mind at ease, reassuring you that you are in good hands. I’d recommend her in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a fertility doctor, because she’s seriously amazing.

Ask questions, don’t be afraid to give your input/suggestions because she will take them into consideration while attempting to tailor a customized approach to your case.

The kitchen sink was thrown at me, bc everything on paper was “normal”. I loved that she did a huge work up on me, starting from generic tests they order at all fertility clinics to ordering specialized genetic testing, full hematology work up, bcl6 testing, as well as DNA fragmentation test of my husbands sperm. I did 4 IUI, with no success. I ultimately did 1 round of IVF with Menpur/gonalF/cetrotide/lupron trigger, retrieving 31 eggs. We did ICSI, genetic testing, and frozen embryo transfer.

For IVF: medication—$4000. IVF egg retrieval + ICSI genetic testing+ embryoscope, + frozen embryo transfer approx $25,000.

She recommended single embryo transfer to avoid any potential complications with pregnancy.

Honestly, out of all the doctors I've seen this year, she was the worst. Came off a bit arrogant, lectures on the basic of fertility 101 which most women going through IVF already know, and does not seem able to think outside the box. She was the only one to suggest donor eggs and does not seem confident or knowledgeable in working with older women 40+. She agreed to do my cycles but who wants a doctor that doesn't believe in their journey and wants to try innovative ways so they can maximize their potential?

Don't see Dr. Akopians if you have a complex fertility issue because she can't think outside the box and won't try different protocols that aren't standard textbook approaches. I can't really recommend her for older women because she'll probably try to sell you donor eggs when you still have a couple years to try.

She recommended donor eggs when I still have regular periods and mature MII oocytes/eggs that all fertilized. I was able to find another doctor (Dr. Amin at Reproductive Partners in Beverly Hills/Redondo/Westminster) who put me on estrogen/estradiol for 5 days before my cycle start, and I was able to grow 9 eggs instead of 3!

She is pessimistic regarding older women trying IVF and suggests donor eggs too early. Does not seem to have alternative approaches to try and does not think outside the box.

Dr Akopians is intelligent, thorough and above all kind. She truly cares about her patients and their success. After two unsuccessful egg retrievals with a previous doctor I had a successful egg retrieval with Dr Akopians that resulted in 6 genetically normal embryos. During our next steps we found that I had polyps and needed surgery, which she preformed. We started again and then found the polyps returned. Although I was skeptical to do the surgery again and anxious to just go ahead with the transfer we did the surgery again as she suggested. After that we transferred two embryos (though Dr Akopians suggested only transferring one to be conservative and see how my body responded to a transfer) She honored our request and transferred two. After a positive pregnancy test, I miscarried at 6 weeks. Devastated, Dr Akopians walked me through our next steps which included a D&C. I remember being so emotional and as the anesthesia kicked in as I laid on the operating table I remember her holding my hand and tears welling in her eyes right along mine... She is a one of a kind doctor, who truly cares! After healing we discussed our next steps which this time we took her advice and transferred one embryo. At our first ultrasound after a positive pregnancy test we found there were two yolk sacs....twins! Although we were all excited she was quick to let us know the risks, including "vanishing twin syndrome". We left the appointment hopeful. Fast forward, we graduated our 12 weeks of care with Dr Akopians and now have healthy identical twin girls. Miracles! Let me conclude by just saying that I drove 4 hours one way to see Dr Akopians in Beverly Hills for every appointment (8 hours total for each appointment) and I did it a second time when we looked to expand our family. We now have a healthy 3 week old baby boy, again because of Dr Akopians. We have since moved out of state, but if we were still in CA I would continue to drive that 8 hours for every appointment for Dr Akopians; that is how phenomenal she is and how much she is worth the investment (time, money, emotion, etc) if you are looking to grow your family, and get the best out of an already stressful experience. I cannot recommend or complement Dr Akopians enough. We are truly grateful to her for making our dreams come true.

When she recommends something, she has a reason. Although time and money may lead you to disagree with her, listen, there is a reason she is recommending it and it is not to make things take longer or cost more. She truly cares and wants to get you the best results as quickly as possible with the least amount of heart-ache.

I cant remember the specific medication, but we started with some of the standard dosages, and found that polyps kept returning. She decided to lower my dosage and it ended up helping the polyps not return as quickly after we had just done a surgery to remove them. She really looks at your specifics and she will alter her strategies to get you the best results.

She preferred to transfer one, but she did transfer two for us as we requested. however it resulted in a miscarriage. For our next transfer we listened to her and only transferred one. God still has a hand in all of this and we ended up with identical twin girls after transferring just one.

Dr Akopians was everything I could ask for as a patient. She was straightforward about the process, risks, and recommendations. She was very confident and intelligent and immediately upon meeting her, I had faith in her ability to help us to our dream baby. The road was longer than we expected but she was always available to talk and plan our best course of action. She really wanted us to be successful — you could feel that from the care she took with our case. Whenever we needed her, she was fully present. For example, we met to discuss the Frozen Embryo Transfer process and she didn’t rush us, didn’t look at her watch, made us feel like her top priority. I loved that she was so vested in our success, and she led us down the right path.

She’s wonderful, warm and considerate. She is also very straightforward. She will explain all of your treatment options and recommendations. Trust in her because she wants your success as much as you do.

All four of our retrievals were antagonist treatment. We had success in retrieving exactly the amount of eggs forecasted in ultrasounds and almost all fertilized. We did 2 cycles with HGH and 2 without, to see how it impacted results. We did PGS/PGD testing due to a genetic condition we are both carriers for. In the end we wound up with 41 eggs retrieved, 17 embryos, 7 of which tested normal. We were thrilled with the outcome.

I was lucky enough to have insurance cover a large portion of my IVF costs. She made sure to discuss overall costs of each treatment plan. She managed them as well as possible so we never felt like we were overpaying.

I originally came in wanting multiple embryos transferred. I was convinced I wanted twins! But Dr Akopians patiently explained the benefits and drawbacks of single vs multiple, especially with PGS testing. In the end we went with a single embryo and it was absolutely the right decision for us.

I have no doubt Dr. Chang is one of the most knowledgeable RE’s in LA. That being said, I found getting information from her was very difficult. I am someone who likes to know all of the details of the medical procedure I’m going through and I felt like I was in the dark the entire time. I didn’t know how many eggs she was expecting to retrieve until the day of surgery, I didn’t know how my follicles and hormone levels were progressing during STIMS, I didn’t know what the STIMS I took were supposed to do to my body. If I ever had a question I had to ask the clinical team in a message and wait for a response. This process is incredibly stressful and the last thing I had energy to do was seek out information. I would have expected with the amount of money I was paying that I would have been given all of this info without having to ask about it. When I chose her as my doctor I was impressed by how knowledgeable she seemed and assumed that meant I would have access to that information while going through this. When in reality I hardly spoke with her or had any contact, as it was just too difficult.

Go into the process knowing you will have zero direct contact with Dr. Chang. If you choose her for your procedure you have to be ok with not knowing details and just trusting the process.

My treatment plan and the thinking behind it was not explained to me. I was prescribed Omnitrope which is considered somewhat controversial but helps grow follicles. No idea if it worked as expected or not.

Embryo retrieval and fertilization was about $13k. Storage is $700/year. ICSI is $1500, Pre testing $2200, PGTA $3900

N/A

Dr Ghadir was nice. I appreciated his time to give evening phone calls to go over my test results. I did feel like he pushed for IVF and I was just not ready yet. We had been trying for 1 year and I wanted to start off with maybe IUI. I didn't have many interactions with him as I only went to SCRC for consult and testing.

Ask alot of questions and do research yourself. He seems to be too positive....he said we had a 20% chance of success with IUI and 80% chance of success with IVF. Other doctors I consulted with after gave a lower percentage of success. Also, I looked up SCRC's SART report and their IVF success rates are not nearly as high as 80%!

we didn't talk specifics because I only went through with consult and testing.

It's expensive. They billed my insurance wrong initially, which took forever to correct. But once corrected, my insurance paid for all consults, and testing. I have a $25 copay for all office visits. SCRC charged me $25 for every visit even though it was just labwork. I called my insurance and was told that this is fradulent! Since they are in network with my insurance, and my insurance pays 100% for all labwork, I am not suppose to pay the $25 each visit. I have emailed SCRC about this and am waiting for a refund/answers back.

none

He answered every question I had in detail and made me feel special. I did not feel like just another person walking through his door. I also had a different experience as I was a patient during the Covid Pandemic. His office made me a priority as I had a very low AMH test score. My consultation was over the phone, but at my 1st appointment for blood draws and an ultrasound before starting the egg freezing process he came and met with me to give me more detailed information and congratulate me on taking a leap for my future.

I would say to trust him and the process. Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions and get your money's worth with every question and piece of advice.

I went in to freeze my eggs for future use. I had an AMH level of 1.05 which is very low at my phone consult he suggested I do it now and that I not overthink. He said many people with low fertility numbers think about it so long that they sometimes miss their opportunity. At 1st I thought this might be a bit pushy, but it wasn't he was right! I started the process the following week. I tlaked to a number of woman who debated freezing their eggs and unfortunately missed their window. I have done 1 round of egg freezing. At the start of the process he hoped I would get 10-15 eggs, but unfortunately my body only dropped 5 eggs. He adjusted my expectations as we moved through the process. During my surgery he was able to collect all 5 eggs I produced and 4 of the eggswere large enough to be frozen.

I spent $8,000 on the egg retrieval process which included all appointments in the cycle for my fertility treatment, my surgery and 2 post operation appointments. I paid $3,800 for my medications. My insurance didn't cover anything so this was all out of pocket.

We love that Dr. Akopians did not try to put us through a "general IVF" plan like prior doctors wanted to do. She was thorough and came up with a plan for our diagnosis. When I looked up the specific course of action, a lot of women only find out about this on their second or third try after failed attempts. So I feel like she is doing everything she can for this to work on the first try.

Since we don't know our final results yet, all I can say is trust her and know that she isn't a "one size fits all" RE.

We are in cycle now so I have no results to provide at this time. But she is doing luteal phase estrogen priming for us in order to optimize our changes of quality eggs due to diminished ovarian reserve. I have not started stims. I will say, my first start up was cancelled due to Covid-19. However, the doctors office stayed in contact with us about next steps, restarting and completing any necessary tests and other issues in the interim in order to "hit the ground running" once the restrictions were lifted. I didn't feel like I really even missed a beat.

We are not complete with the process yet. But at the consult we were given a cost/fee sheet with breakdowns of SCRC's fees, the lab's fees, the anesthesiologist fees, testing fees and an estimate of prescription costs. So far it has been very accurate and helpful. I estimate we will have paid around $28k when complete with one cycle (including ICSI, PGS testing, etc).

Dr Ghadir is a brilliant doctor, yet at times felt more like a friend which was exactly what I needed during this process. He was easy to speak to and I never hesitated to ask him to explain things to me over and over again if I needed. Upon each visit, he let me know what to expect going forward, specifically how I would be feeling mentally and physically.

Be honest with him about what you're trying to achieve, and do not be too shy or embarrassed to ask him anything!

I was prescribed medications for an egg freezing cycle, and Dr Ghadir was attentive and detail orientated when it came to adjusting my doses depending on how I was feeling and my blood/ultrasound results.

Dr. Ghadir has been an amazing doctor and guide through a very emotional experience. He’s very thorough, cares deeply about my understanding the risks and outcomes but also positive and supportive to make me feel like I am being cared for with the best In medicine and technology. He spent a lot of time helping me understand the process and has been available for any questions and concerns. I cannot recommend him more highly. After working with other doctors in the area, it is clear how important it is to have an ally when going through this experience.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you have that come up along the way. Dr. Ghadir and his team and nurses are amazing at responding and supporting you. Also communicate what your goals are for the shorter and longer term. You can’t find a better doctor to help you on your fertility journey.

I went through the egg freezing process. I am on my second round now. Dr. Ghadir has been very careful about adjusting my shots and medication as the cycle has progressed.

Dr. Ghadir set clear expectations, answered all my questions, and helped me achieve a fantastic result from a medical standpoint. My experience with him was nothing but pleasant. He also recommended a few additional holistic techniques and supplements which I believe helped me achieve optimal results.

Was supposed to cost $8K but cost more like $10K due to repeated issues with billing and insurance department.

I had a previous experience with other ferility doctors and the experience with Dr. Shahin Ghadir is absolutely amazing. Now I feel I’m in good hands. I wish I would’ve seen him a lot early. I cannot say enough great things about Dr. Ghadir and his team! Dr. Shahin Ghadir is very competent, extremely knowledgeable and has great bedside manner, which has been such a comfort to me during this difficult, complicated and emotionally draining process. He is humble and a good listener; he cares and understands my concerns and explains diagnosis. I never felt like he was rushed to get done with my appointment. I felt important and that I mattered to him. He is honest, but also he is optimistic and offers hope. He helps me feel empowered to battle with my infertility issues. I have got unexpected good result with him while other doctors had made me hopeless. He is truly professional, smart, always kind, and compassionate doctor. He is best fit and I feel so lucky to have found him. He really took me from vulnerable place and made the experience very positive. His integrity and caring for me and others is above and beyond.

If you have a choice of clinic, save yourself some heartache and start here.

Gonal- F: 225 IU’s Menopur: 150 IU’s Omnitrope: 25 units Last days: Cetrotide & z pack I didn’t take birth control. I am diagnosed with very low ovarian reserve. I used same protocol for two egg retrievals. First time retrieved 4 eggs and formed 1 embryo and 1 passed PGS. Second time 4 eggs retrieved and Nothing passed the PGS.

Dr. Danzer is a wonderful mix between compassionate doctor and knowledgeable & experienced professional. I appreciate his delicate position as a fertility doctor, where there are no absolutes. He walks the line well between enthusiasm & sober reality of percentages. I have been recommending him to friends. I don’t see an egotistical motivation in Dr. Danzer & I appreciate that he’s rather humble & conserves his words.

Read their website info, educate yourself before & during your time in his care. He won’t have time in appointments to explain every detail of all of the ART possibilities, he’ll tell you what he recommends. If there’s something you don’t know, he does a good job of answering questions.

Taking Levothyroxine for my Thryroid to get labs in the right place months in advance. Taking Vitamin D supplement & DHEA 75mg daily. IVF recommended, but so far I can’t afford it as a student. Will keep trying to get a loan later after I’ve started a new job. Took Clomid for 5 days & 1 trigger shot, 2-3 transvaginal ultrasounds before IUI. My fiancé had a sperm wash morning of IUI. Only the 1st IUI, I understand many couples do 3-6 generally. So I’m not deterred that we had a negative result. Will keep trying & be receptive to new life.

Cost for ultrasounds, IUI & injection drug we’re reasonable for the LA area. Less than what my gynecologist quoted me.

Brilliant, clever, and truly cares about each of her patients. Her energy is contagious but she never creates a false sense of guarantee (which I appreciate). She’s direct and professional but kind. When you are sitting with her, you know she is focused on tailoring your treatment. She always called right away with results, even from her personal cell while she was on vacation. She even texted us a few times with real time updates when she knew we were really anxious. My husband and I are so thankful for Dr. Alexander. She goes above and beyond for each of her patients.

I think this goes for any doctor, but make sure you ask questions. You can see her mind is running a mile a minute to figure out the best plan for you so she doesn’t always explain every detail upfront and occasionally it was unclear what the next step was. Just ask and she’ll go through everything until you are comfortable and at ease.

For my 2 IUI’s, I took Metformin, Letrozole, Gonal F, and Estrace. I was having a poor reaction to vaginal progesterone and she was going to switch me to injections and had me come in for an early pregnancy test before making the switch. Unfortunately it was negative so we didn’t proceed and I at least got to end the failed round a few days early. I appreciate that she’s aggressive when she needs to be. For my first IVF, I took Metformin, Gonal F, Menopur, Omnitrope, Cabergoline, Doxycycline, Ganirelex, Novarel, and Lupron. She also had me on a bunch of vitamins. We then switched to Follistim for my second round.

IVF retrieval was between $20,000-$25,000, which included ICSI and PGS testing.

Dr. Alexander knew my personality well and knew I wanted to maximize the opportunity for a transfer to work. For this reason, we did an ERA before doing FET. We transferred 1 embryo.

Dr. Akopians quickly assessed my anxiety and need for control at the beginning of my IVF process. She took time to explain each detail. She wrote steps down for me so I could focus on listening but also having note to reference later. I pride myself in being organized and detail oriented so her notes were wonderful for me. She was patient with all my questions that constantly diverted the conversation. She provided me with data and additional process facts that helped educate and reassure me. She gave me a sense of comfort due to her communication, reassurance, empathy and her confidence. Her ability to make me feel at ease and confident in her abilities has been essential.

She is accessible in person if you like that type constant interaction. If you’re like me I didn’t see her in person very often but I spoke with her over phone calls which worked well with my lifestyle.

Due to the know low sperm count and motility my husband had she had him take medication to increase his quantity and motility. Due to all our infectious disease labs being expired we had to re do them. We had sperm frozen in another facility. Dr. Akopians asked us to transfer it to her facility as backup for our process. Due to our sperm ICSI was recommended and used. Due to our sperm it was recommended to use an embryo scope to reduce the amount of times the embryos are manipulated to give them a higher chance to do well. We used the embryo scope.

Consultation $275. Transvaginal US $230. Labs:Assay of Estradiol $85, FSH $85, Lh $85, assay thyroid stim hormone $85, venipuncture $30. Embryo freeze all: Cycle management fee $715, monitoring $3140, retrieval $2440. Frozen Embryo transfer: cycle management fee $715, monitoring $1590, embryo transfer $1065. Had to pay other fees for the surgery center and for the cryobank facility.

Due to our specific scenario and factors only one embryo will be transferred. Dr. Akopians made it sound like all other scenarios also only one embryo is encouraged to increase the transplant success rate. Ever couples scenario is unique.

I came from working with Dr. Surrey who had the worse bed side manner. I wanted a doctor who was going to coddle me enough but also treat me with respect during this hard time. Dr. Akopains was a lot of that and more. She is incredible, hands on, explained everything/broke everything down, incredibly kind, patient, caring, gentle but stern when necessary...I love everything about her. I was so sad to graduate.

Ask questions...she will answer it all!

IVF egg retrieval: Birth control. Followed by: Gonal F 200 units Menopur 75 units Omintrope 25 cc - for egg quality Cetrotide Trigger shot (don't recall the name) Mock ERA cycle - to up my odds for an embryo to stick during transfer. Saline ultrasound Transfer cycle: Birth control. Lupron injections. Estrace orally Endometrin Medrol Progesterone in oil 1ML

Insurance did not cover anything. I do not know the exact number but it was somewhere between $20-25k including freezing, genetic testing, procedures, medications, etc.

We did the mock ERA cycle for this reason. I did not have many embryos and we did not want to take the risk of losing any.

Carolyn Alexander really does care about her patients, about that I have no doubt. I do think though that since the clinic overall is overloaded, it reduces her ability to spend quality time with patients. Communication with her is short, to the point, and over within a matter of minutes.

Expect her to be blunt, but kind. Don't expect to get a lot of her time and expect to need to call and follow up over and over. She is supposedly one of the best in the LA area, but it's very hard to get time with her so for some, that's not ideal. She did call me one time on a Sunday which was very nice of her, so she will contact you outside of business hours, but the call with be to the point and not a second wasted before she's saying bye.

I did two medicated IUI's back to back. I was put on letrozole with a trigger shot to induce ovulation, then progesterone suppositories during my luteal phase. I'm happy with the treatment used in the IUI, my only point of upset is my progesterone was never tested, neither before the IUI's nor during or after, and months later we found out my body wasn't responding to that progesterone dose. Had they tested my progesterone we could've found that out way earlier. I did not get pregnant with either IUI.

The IUI's were roughly $800 and ultrasounds were $250. Bloodwork was in the few hundreds as well and each ultrasound and bloodwork were done multiple times a month each month. A consultation appointment with Dr. Alexander was $200 just to say "yes" we are doing IVF even though we were already decided and told the clinic we were decided. We have spent roughly $3,000 for two IUI's and no pregnancies.

We had our consultation for IVF this week so this is the only experience and insight I have on her approach. She shared that after retrieving the eggs, after doing genetic testing, after seeing how many make it to the 5-day stage etc. then we would need to decide if we want to implant one or two embryos. There were no further comments, but it did seem like it was an option she would openly discuss when that time comes.