Southern California Reproductive Center

Dr. Akopians was everything I needed in a doctor. Ever since my initial consult with her, she was direct and straightforward but compassionate and kind. I wanted someone to give it to me straight since so much of infertility is up in the air. It was important to me that she be the one doing my procedures and she was. Every egg retrieval and then every prenatal ultrasound was done with her as well as her nurse present.

I had done so much research on everything there is to know about IVF and like most people, had tried to micromanage every last detail of my infertility experience. With Dr. Akopians I immediately knew that I could pass the torch because I was in good hands. Trust her because she knows what she’s doing, however she was also open to debating studies and cases I had read about. It was the perfect mix.

The first cycle I had a slightly elevated FSH so we waiting a cycle till it dropped down. Then we primed for 4 days with bcp before stimming for 14 days (slow responder) before the egg retrieval. Dr. Akopians saw my low AFC and lower AMH and did not was to over suppress. The second cycle my FSH was too high so we did estrogen priming for a month or so prior to the stims. This was my best cycle with the most PGS normal embryos.

My package was $28k for monitoring, retrieval, genetic testing of 8 embryos, transfer, and after transfer monitoring. I banked embryos in two cycles. Second cycle was a la carte without a package for $14k including genetic testing. Meds were not included for any of this.

Dr. Akopians does not believe, or at least in my case did not believe in the need to transfer multiple normal tested PGS embryos as science has shown better outcomes for mother and child when only one is transferred. This was in line with what all I had read.

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.

Dr Ghadir is the kindest doctor we have ever encountered in our IVF journey. After our embryos were created I was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer (not hormone driven). He was so kind and encouraging and once our first transfer began he held our hand every step of the way. It made the journey so relaxing and calm and we are forever grateful for him as our baby boy was born November of 2022.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and please listen to him as his guidance is amazing. Also, understand everyone’s body is different and journeys will be different but he will be honest kind and thorough throughout the journey.

It’s all a blur with the cancer diagnosis but the Mock ERA was so important and we are so glad he recommended this as it helped with our first transfer being a success!

Our costs were partially covered by our health plan which helped! The finance/billing department will look into this for you. Out of pocket costs were high but we managed with my husbands career as a firefighter/paramedic.

Dr. Ghadir makes the recommendation of single versus multiple based off the mothers health. He is honest and that should be appreciated!

I was recommended this clinic and Dr. Alexander by my OB-GYN and a couple friends had also been recommended to go here. She was nice but the clinic, her, and her staff are a disorganized mess. Outside of acting nice, they just treat you like cattle. They would forget to call with critical instructions, there was no communication between departments, I would get billed for things that didn't happen. She didn't give me any information going into procedures, she would say here's my cell, call me anytime, but if you dared ask a few questions she would either say "that's a great question" and not answer it or make you feel rushed and like it's not her job to answer. She didn't give me tests that every fertility doctor I consulted with after (4 total) were shocked to hear. She didn't tell me what options there were, what to expect. The whole time I felt crazy because everyone is nice, but it was to date likely the most frustrating experience of my life. I finally dug in properly after this experience and consulted with 4 others... ALL were better and more informative in one convo than she was my whole experience with her. I ultimately switched to pacific fertility and it is NIGHT AND DAY. I realized quickly that I am not alone in how I feel. Many women that leave for a different doctor say the same things. I will spare details but I have stories for days on how many balls were dropped, and issues they have. I would implore anyone considering this journey to speak to at least 3 other doctors. Some names I found after loads of research - Dr. Ellie Goldstein (Beverly Hills fertility), Dr. Sahakian (pacific fertility clinic), John Kuo (IVF fertility center). SCRC was not at the top of anyones lists, haha, but If for any reason you do go here still, connect with Primo in customer service. He's the only person who actually seems capable, and at the very least try for a different dr. (Maybe dr. ghadir). A good source I found is fertilityiq.com. I really really wish I did proper research and conferred with multiple doctors, but I am glad I switched. It's already been so much more of an amazing process

Do NOT see her. You will regret it. And at the least do your due diligence and consult with as many doctors as you can.

Over 30k for one procedure (without transfer) and there were missed tests we didn’t discover she didn’t order until the end of the procedure. I was also billed by the lab for things not done

My experience with Dr. Akopians is incomparable to any other doctor. I have never met a doctor with so much knowledge and compassion. As a patient with a professional medical background, she never made me feel like I was expected to know all of the medical terminology or how this process worked. She was thorough and thoughtful with her delivery of information. Her bedside manner made it so comfortable to discuss even the most intimate of issues. I was always informed of every step of the IVF process and never felt that my needs were overlooked. I can't thank her enough for the kindness and care that she has provided for me.

Dr. Danzer completely mislead me to convince me to do IVF with him and then he failed to deliver on his promises. From the beginning, I did not have infertility issues. I did IVF to eliminate a dominant gene from being passed down. Dr. Danzer kept telling I will have plenty of embryos after one round and not to worry. I had 34 follicles when we began treatment, I was 28 years old, and I had absolutely 0 signs of any health issues or infertility whatsoever. I am an IVF clinic dream patient. Mr partner completed a semen analysis and Dr. Danzer said his semen was "in the top 10% of semen [he has] ever seen." Dr. Danzer started my treatment by loading me up on 300 units of Gonal F and 75 units of menopur to begin treatment, failing to consider my age, health, lack of infertility issues, etc. I was on stimulants for I think 13 days!!!! At retrieval, Dr. Danzer removed 20 eggs. Of those eggs, 15 fertilized and only 5 became blastocycts! After genetic testing, we had 1 fair quality embryo left. This is the result of Dr. Danzer's promises of "plenty of embryos." Not to mention, Dr. Danzer convinced me to pay thousands of dollars additional for the embryoscopy because "we would have so many options and it would be good to know which ones are the best quality to transfer." We had ONE embryo and every other clinic has since told me that they do not even offer embryoscopy because they are almost useless these days. We had a fatal gene that we were trying to avoid passing down. We had so many people chip in to help us pay for Dr. Danzer and his result for a fertile, very healthy 28 year old woman was one fair quality embryo. I am SO upset. 20 follicles retrieved, 19 mature, 15 fertilized, 5 blastocysts, 1 fair quality embryo all while promising "plenty of embryos." Again, I had 0 fertility issues and was a 28 year old extremely healthy person. After recovery from the devastation from SCRC and Dr. Danzer, months later I decided to go to Dr. Marrs at California Fertility Partners. Dr. Marrs comforted me to let me know it is still very likely that I will be able to have plenty of embryos. Despite being scarred by Dr. Danzer, I trusted Dr. Marrs and gave it a shot. Dr. Marrs was ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIC. He retrieved 35 follicles, 30 of which fertilized, 16 became blastocysts and they are now off to genetic testing. Can you please recognize the difference in quality between these two doctors? 5 embryos to testing from SRCR and Dr. Danzer vs. 16 at a later round with California Fertility Partners and Dr. Marrs is a completely different result. I actually have a real shot at having healthy babies now. It is also important to note that SCRC has two floors: One floor for blood work and one level for doctors and retrieval. I barely saw Dr. Danzer. I went in every other day for blood work and ultrasounds and only saw nurses and ultrasound technicians. At California Fertility Partners, I saw a doctor every time I came to the office and everything is handled on the same floor as to not make you feel like the doctors are (literally) above you and unreachable. Choosing an IVF clinic is so difficult. Please don't make my mistake a waste over $30,000 with SCRC and Dr. Danzer.

Leave and go to California Fertility Partners with Dr. Marrs where you are treated with a plan customized to your body and needs.

Dr. Danzer loaded me up with Gonal F at 300 units and Menopur at 75 units. I was 28, 34 follicles, and no infertility issues. He completed diminished the quality of my follicles. He later dropped my Gonal F, but it was too late. He ruined my cycle.

I don't remember, but Dr. Danzer and SCRC were more expensive than Dr. Marrs and California Fertility Partners.

I loved my IVF experience with Dr. Akopians. I had two rounds of ivf and one frozen embryo transfer from Feb 2022 until November 2022. Dr. Akopians is a machine! She studies your outcomes and makes appropriate plans and changes. I always felt she gave 100 percent to my care and family planning goals. My personal preference for doctors is that they are compassionate, direct, and well- researched in the latest research and practices. With Dr. Akopians, I found that perfect match.

A piece of advice I would give patients for Dr. Akopians is that she is really focused on your labs and ultrasounds, so she is not prescribing a one size fits all approach. She is incredible with the amount of time she spends studying your case. When I first met her, I knew this woman meant business! And I loved that about her. As I got to know her throughout the IVF cycles, I felt that we developed a relationship that was honest yet compassionate. It is pretty impressive the amount of families they are trying to get pregnant and I know that a busy clinic may be off putting, but you want a well oiled machine! Finally, I felt with Dr. Akopians that her medication doses and appointments reflected my age and medical history that was necessary. Of course, you want to compare your treatments and medications with friends going through IVF- DON'T DO THAT haha. I felt Akopians was right there with me in our goal to get me pregnant. And she was right there celebrating with me when we got there.

IVF round 1: regular protocol IVF round 2: estrace priming protocol for low responding ovaries

46K total cost: 2 rounds of IVF medications, 2 rounds of IVF, 1 frozen embryo transfer, tons of labs for bloodwork, and visits for ultrasounds.

We selected a frozen embryo transfer with ONE embryo since the embryo was PGT tested and graded good.

My husband and I appreciated how much Dr. Ghadir candidly expressed his perspective about the best steps to take for our fertility journey. When testing after our consultation determined that we were most likely struggling due to MFI, he directed us to move towards IVF, and with his leadership, we were able to move through the whole process to our current pregnancy (our first successful pregnancy after 4 years of ttc) within 6 months! From Day 1 in our Zoom consult to the last day at my "graduation", he was direct and honest, and I am so grateful that his direction changed our life for the better; we simply cannot imagine doing any future transfers to grow our family again without him.

I would advise a prospective patient to be sure to speak up and ask clarifying questions if needed! He is incredibly patient, and while he may speak quickly at times, he is always willing to answer any questions you may have with complete openness and honesty.

Dr. Akopians is clearly intelligent and I felt a compassionate doctor. However she seemed too overworked to pay specific and individualized attention to each patient. If you don't mind that and are just looking for a straight shooter who will assign the protocol and oversee your treatment, she may work for you. If you are seeking more hand holding and attentiveness, this might not be the right doctor for you. I chalk this up to being more an overall issue with the clinic itself than the doctor. I didn't receive any treatment from her, I only had a consult and the initial diagnostic workup with her.

Consider your individual needs when choosing a doctor. I recommend having multiple consults with other doctors/clinics before making a decision, if feasible. Advocate for yourself, do your own research, and ask lots of questions. If she suggests a certain protocol ask her why she would recommend that for you specifically.

I have diminished ovarian reserve and Dr. Akopians initially recommended we do the birth control start. I have come to learn by consulting with multiple doctors that the birth control can actually suppress the ovaries too much which would result a lower egg number at the retrieval. The doctor I am with now has put me on an estrogen priming protocol which apparently may be more beneficial if you have DOR. I reached out to the Akopians team and asked them about the estrogen protocol and all I got was a response saying that Dr. Akopians won't order the meds or assign the official protocol until I come in for day 1 or 2 testing and ultrasound. The issue with that is that the estrogen priming protocol is supposed to start in the previous month's luteal phase in order to prevent one egg from maturing too quickly before the others. This was one of the main reasons why we chose to go with another doctor over Dr. Akopians in the end. We didn't love the protocol she suggested and didn't feel like we could get in contact with Dr. Akopians to really talk this through - she seemed very inaccessible.

My consultation was free because I had a coupon from my OB/GYN. The bloodwork and ultrasound was run through my insurance.

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.

Danzer is an extremely caring doctor who is great at explaining things, parsing our information so as not to overwhelm, and keeping in touch and making his team available to answer questions. I didn’t want to leave after my pregnancy was deemed viable, because he treated me with so much more care, education and attention than my OB

Danzer had a strong preference to transfer just one embryo which was aligned with my research and my husband and my expectations. I had 2 embryos so was happy to only transfer one so we have the second in case we want to use it down the line.

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

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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).