Zouves Fertility Center

Communication has been great and timely. They will communicate with you both by phone and by email which I appreciate. They are warm, kind, and caring, not to mention accommodating with scheduling. I do not have any weaknesses to report as all the staff and processes we have encountered thus far have been very positive. I told my husband that they have made me feel comfortable, in an otherwise uncomfortable/uncertain situation. You don't feel alone, or like the odd man out.

Dr. Zouves took great interest in getting to know myself and my husband- what we do for work, how old our daughter is, etc. He was very kind, warm, and approachable during our phone and in person consultations. I left feeling heard, hopeful, and confident that we were in the right place.

Desiree was so incredibly kind and patient. She was very easy to speak with, and provided good communication. She had to do a blood draw at my first appointment and she was very thorough about what it was for, and what to expect. She even made sure to give me juice and a granola bar (compliant with my diet!) to make sure I was feeling ok for the draw. Just so kind.

Dr. Zouves was very thorough in the information he provided to us, and was helpful in identifying time-frames and next steps. He has never been pushy, just informative and very clear that it is our choice in how and when to proceed. I particularly appreciate when doctors explain what they are doing and what that means, which is what we have experienced with Dr. Zouves thus far. IVF is overwhelming when you look at the big picture, but he has been so kind and patient in answering all of our questions and helping us to understand the process.

Do a consultation as soon as you are interested in pursuing IVF to allow yourself time to think about your timeline and figure out funding. He is very patient, and not once have they been pushy about our timeline.

Nothing I would change about my experience. They were thorough with the information, sensitive to my financial needs, gave me cryobanks and pharmacies that had great prices (I was able to get 50% off certain meds), and I had a successful retrieval. What more could I ask for.

Love love love Dr. Z and his entire staff. They were responsive, checked in on me, patient, caring and made me feel at ease. The nurses and I were on a first name basis and I am so thankful for my experience with Dr. Z and team.

I am such a baby when it comes to needles and drawing blood. They were so nice and comforting- held my hand and gave me juice and snacks. I even brought my shots to my appointments so they could administer for me. I never felt rushed EVER. Never felt like a number in a factory.

Dr. Zouves saw me every visit and the last few times had my mom join the ultrasound. I actually live in LA and would travel to the Bay Area- so timing of my visits was crucial. Once I happened to be up there for work and he squeezed me in for a visit- very accommodating.

Ask the financial coordinator for financial relief!! They were so phenomenal to me and eased some of the financial burden.

Day 1-2: Menopur (1 vial) and Gonal F (225) twice a day Day 3-10: Menopur (1vial) and Gonal F (150) twice a day for next 8.5 days Day 7-10: Add 1 Cetrotide in evenings Day 11: Menopur (1vial) and Gonal F (150) AM, HCG trigger in PM

operation (25% off), genetic counseling, FDA, Antagon deposit (25% off). Then 2% off total for paying with check in full= $7550

N/A

The clinic itself is welcoming! They have all the bells and whistles to make each visit less stressful. You can tell this staff works as a team and they respect each other as partners all with the same goal. The actual physical location is close to the freeways and hotels and the airport if you're traveling in. There are also several acupuncturists with great ratings within 20 minutes of this clinic that have a relationship with Dr. Zouves and speak highly of him. Billing is easy to understand and is straightforward. Injection training was also easy to understand and straightforward. They are very good about not inundating you with information that isn't pertinent at the moment. This place is a well oiled machine.

Everyone from the front desk associates to Dr. Zouves were sincere and genuine with us. They called us by name, took interest in our lives. Dr. Zouves was always very kind and remembered unique stories from our past visits together. We travelled about 2 hours to get to his center and he always made us feel very welcome and answered all of our questions. I felt like a human here because he listened.

While I wasn't assigned a specific nurse, we dealt with the nurse team as a whole and I've had better care with this team than I have when I've had individual nurses assigned to me at another clinic. They are knowledgeable, caring, kind, compassionate and prompt. They recognize us when they see us and call us by name. I look forward to our visits with them every time.

Dr. Zouves' strengths: - Extremely personable- he was very easy to talk to, which made asking questions and having a dialogue about what problems and what the plan going forward was easier to navigate. Knowledgeable- his knowledge is so vast and his ability to explain it in a way that we can understand it is also a strength. Passionate- you can tell he loves what he does, it's hard to explain but you can feel it the moment you meet him. Once we met, you could tell he was an expert in his field. Lastly: Dr. Zouves is hardworking. I've been seeing him for over a year and I never worry about someone else doing a procedure or a monitoring appointment. I actually will miss him and his staff if our current cycle fails with our last embryo as we'll no longer have a reason to visit with Dr. Zouves after this. It feels like a visit (with a really really smart, friend that happens to be a reproductive endocrinologist ) not a "doctor's apppointment" until the stirrups and the wand come out, then it feels pretty clinical. I truly have nothing but praise to sing of this doctor and we haven't had a successful pregnancy yet. His only weakness may be that he works too hard, I hope he takes some time for himself! (Just not during my cycle ;)

As a patient of Dr. Zouves, I would advise you to ask him anything and everything that's on your mind, no question is too small or too off limits or too off base.

We were diagnosed with Male factor infertility (y chromosome micro deletion) and it was advised to go directly to IVF with ICSI. (Prior to Dr Zouves). Further testing was done with Dr. Zouves it was discovered I have the MTHFR gene and that I tested with a slightly elevated level of natural killer cells. I don't remember the protocol name I was on but for egg retrieval I started with lupron and stimmed with Menopur and Follistim for about 9/10 days and had 22 eggs retrieved. 17 were mature and 11 were fertilized via ICSI. By day 5, 6 had made it to blastocyst and frozen to be CCS tested. (Our first IVF cycle with a different clinic yielded 2 morulas on day 5 and the rest of the embryos arrested, we transferred those 2 and got a negative test). Of the 6 embryos that were CCS tested 5 of them were normal (4 girls 1 boy). We were ecstatic. In January of 2016 we did our first frozen embryo transfer of 1 embryo. We did a natural frozen embryo transfer. My beta was 67 at 11dp5dt. My second beta did not double and we had our first chemical pregnancy. Dr. Zouves did our follow up call and we talked about the factors that played into this cycle and how everything seemed to all line up. "'Normal" embryo, great uterine environment, and he chalked it up to bad luck. Our second frozen embryo transfer took place in august of 2016. Another natural frozen transfer of a normal embryo. Another chemical pregnancy. We did another frozen transfer in December of 2016. This time we changed things up and did a medicated cycle with birth control, patches, PIO shots, baby aspirin and lovenox. Prior to this transfer, we were informed that the original embryo they thawed for this transfer didn't survive so they had to thaw another, leaving 1 embryo left if this did not work. We got pregnant, but it resulted in another chemical pregnancy. So that's 4 normal embryos down (3 transfers) if you're keeping score. We triedo lovenox this last time around even though it's not confirmed I have a clotting issue, just MTHFR. We are left with our last frozen embryo to transfer.

I don't remember (or I might have blocked out) but in 2015 when we did our stim cycle plus CCS testing and all of our work ups I think we clocked in at just over $30,000 out the door with all meds monitoring procedures etc.

Dr. Zouves strongly suggested I transfer 1 embryo since they were tested and because of my frame. I was completely on board with his suggestion.

Positives: very individualized care, compassionate and knowledgable staff, open to alternative treatments (like acupuncture) and they are open 365 days a year. Negatives: More expensive than some other options in the area. (But I did get a 25% "low-income" discount), the nurses seemed very busy and rushed-but i suppose that is to be expected.

I really liked that Dr. Zouves was the only doctor in the practice so he did my consult, ultrasounds, retrieval, and transfer. It was pretty amazing how accessible he is given that he is the only doctor. The nurses were also very accessible and I got one on one demonstrations for taking my meds and to discuss my cycle. That said, I did feel like things were a bit rushed at times

It was obvious the nurses were super busy and working hard so it felt slightly like a cattle call when I was getting my blood drawn or other treatments. That said, they were super sweet, compassionate and seemed truly happy for me when I got pregnant.

He was very ernest, empathetic, and understanding. I'm a single mom by choice and I never felt judged or stigmatized. He has a very calm and reassuring way about him and I always felt like he was listening to me and considering my concerns and questions. He truly seemed to care about my success. It's really obvious that he is passionate about his work.

To listen to all of his advice. I was told to go gluten and dairy free which seemed extreme but I never felt better after adjusting my lifestyle.

Dr. Zouves discovered a large uterine fibroid and really advocated for my HMO (what was not covering the treatments) to remove it. He wrote a letter to them and they quickly agreed to remove it. He had a clear plan for me which involved: an egg retrieval (well monitored due to my pcos) where I would freeze all embryos. Due to the number of embryos i was likely to get he was pretty insistent I do PGS testing and I'm very glad I did because only 1 of the 8 blastocysts created was viable and I could have gone through numerous transfers with no success. He also recommended ICSI and i decided to do it (although I was using donor sperm) to improve my chances but i'm not sure how necessary it was. After the retrieval, I had my fibroid removed and let my uterus heal based on the surgeon's instructions. We did the transfer 4 months later. I transferred my one "good" embryo and it resulted in a viable pregnancy.

In and around $26,000

He was very insistent that single was the way to go unless there was a medical reason to transfer more than one. I was concerned about multiples so even if I had more than one good embryo I would have only transferred one.

I know they are very into personal touch and therefore, they have the RNs to call you for lab results and scheduling. But I do hope that they could take advantage of apps / texts so that it will free up more time for the RNs. As patients, I could have instant digital records without asking and waiting for scanned copies.

Because of Zouves's care team (all RNs) and their professional care, I felt like they treated me a human more than a number. All nurses show compassion to me and my spouse, as this is our 1st IVF. They are always very patient and have never rushed our consultation / injection training, given we have never administered med before. They called our cell for most of the lab results which added a lot of 'human touch' to it.

They are a world class nursing team. All of them are great to details and have never missed any of my emails / calls. They're the IVF clinic warriors!

I chose Zouves out of all the bay area IVF clinics was because his years of experience in IVF and his success rate (if you look up CDC, he does have the highest score comparing to his peers). I was very impressed at my first visit (actual follicles count) by his prediction of the no. of eggs and possible embryos resulted from our 1st cycle, which pretty much matches to the actual outcome! He is very gentle to his patients and even though I hated transvaginal ultrasound, he did a far better job than my OBGYN (who happened to be a woman). My egg retrieval procedure was good and I had a speedy recovery, thanks to his decision on my stims dosage, excellent techniques and discharge planning. Despite all the great outcome, I do concern about his work hours as he doesn't take time off (he works 7days/365). I am a strong believer than one does need time to rest and refresh, even s/he is a superman. At times, Dr.Zouves does seem to be stretched pretty thin, in which some patients might have to wait a bit longer to receive their reports.

Ask tons of Qs at your 1st consultation with Zouves. It can be anything from his protocols, success rate, lab, reporting schedule, etc. The consultation last approx 30 mins, which is a perfect opportunity for you to examine whether you would agree with his overall approach for your cycle(s). I found that people are much more relax and adaptable if you and Zouves share the same IVF strategies.

Mine is the 'Antagonist Freeze Embryo'. They started me on birth control for about a month then had me to stim for about 9 days. First few days was on menopur 75 and follistim 225, then they lowered the dose to 150 (follistim) while menopur stays the same. Lupron was used for trigger. During the stim, I had 2 ultrasounds and 3 bloodwork done.

He has been very upfront to us about eSET at our first meeting. But before meeting him, I already have done plenty of research on eSET and I agree with his approach. So there is no debate at all.

It's a great clinic. Dr. Zouves is the only doctor, but he works 365 days a year and doesn't bunch patients into standard cycles. He's been very flexible in working with my calendar over the years and adjusting cycles to be most convenient to me. It was really important to me that he's a believer in reproductive immunology and treats those issues.

He's the only doctor, so he's familiar with all the details. I got to really know the nurses well.

Nursing staff is great, and many have been at the clinic for a long time. Particularly loved Jennifer and the procedure room staff.

I was very happy with my treatment by Dr. Zouves. I was able to have productive discussions with him about potential approaches, and he worked with us through a lot of ups and downs. He believes in reproductive immunology, which was a key factor in choosing his clinic initially. He's adjusted his approach over the years we've worked with him - incorporating new science, and responding to patients' feedback (including mind).

He'll listen to what you want, and wait until you're ready for a next step if you in fact need a next step.

2 cycles used Lupron flare agonist protocol, with Humor + Intralipids to treat my immunological issues. (One cycle resulted in a miscarriage due to chromosomal abnormalities, one cycle resulted in no embryos to transfer.) Then two antagonist protocols. One resulted in a miscarriage due to chromosomal abnormalities, one cycle resulted in no pregnancy.

My insurance had largely run out by the time I saw Dr. Zouves. 50% of our first cycle was covered, but none of the medication cost. We did 4 IVF cycles trying to use my eggs, then 3 donor retrieval cycles, 7 transfers of donor eggs, and then 3 transfers of donor eggs to a gestational surrogate. We've paid over $200k to Dr. Zouves over the years.

He's now a firm believer in eSET as he strongly encourages PGS. (This was not the case when I first started working with him.)

Nothing was weak, everything was superior. The front desk staff is so nice, greet you by name, are sweet on the phone. A HUGE strength of ZFC is that they are open 7 days a week, 365. No joke. If your transfer falls on Sunday, it will be on Sunday. If it lands on thanksgiving, then that's the big day! They are open weekends, which is a gift when you work full time.

Dr. Zouves is a very kind doctor. He always remembers your name, he is friendly, warm and fuzzy, and has a good sense of humor. He has an incredible bedside manner. He reviews your history very varefully and makes a plan just for you and your husband.

Amazing! Never skip a beat! They are sweet, kind, compassionate, super organized. I worked with many of them over the four/five months it took, but my favorite was Angela.

He is an incredibly talented, gifted doctor. He knows his stuff well. Just with the initial phone consultation, he spent close to 45 minutes with us going over our health/infertility history, our failed IUIs at Kaiser, and so much more. He has a very soothing and kind voice. As soon as I heard him on the phone, I got goosebumps and I felt at ease knowing that I had a true, true expert looking at my medical file and that we were getting our best shot cycling with him. After two REs at Kaiser Santa Clara told us that we had unexplained infertility and after 11 failed IUIs, Dr. Zouves identified our problem over the phone in 45 minutes. We finally, finally got an answer. That, in itself, sold us to cycle with him. Once we met him, he was everything we expected. He explained everything so throughly and he only focuses on you when you see him. His nurses keep notes for him in each appointment so he's not the kind of doctor that is typing while meeting with you. His attention is only on you. Overall, we felt so confident under his care. He leaves no stone unturned and tests for anything and everything to make sure you get that wonderful positive pregnancy test. The tests and his orders seem like a lot, but just be a good patient, listen well, follow all his diirections and you will be happy!

Run, don't walk to his clinic. Just get an appointment for a phone consultation with him and see what he says. It's worth it. He's an amazing, one many show! Cycling with hi is a bit more money, but it's so worth it. The care is wonderful and you get results....real results.

I have polycycstic ovaries so I produced 18 eggs at the retrieval. I used Follitism, Gonirelix, and Menopur to stimulate. He said I responded very well to a light stimulation, my plan was not aggressive because I have a high reserve and I was under 40.

ZFC monitors only during certain parts of the day (I think in the a.m.), but they are open 7 days a week, so that made life easier. I was lucky and many of my monitoring days ended up in Saturdays which was very helpful.

Our cycle was $16,000 without medications. $4,000 for medication/shots. I had to do some immunology treatments due to my lab results and that was a few thousand extra. But you have a 70% chance of a live birth with every normal embryo they identify. That's worth the big bucks!! I also paid for weekly acupuncture, which Dr. Zouves requires you to invest in, to get the body primed and ready.

The atmosphere of the clinic and procedure rooms is very calming and welcoming, not sterile feeling. Because everything is co-located (lab, clinic, procedure room, finance) you can do everything in one place which reduces stress and likelihood of complications with embryos and records.

Dr Zouves and his staff are focused solely on treating inferility. Because they don't have to share their time with pregnant women, delivering babies and dealing with anything other than infertility, they can be more empathetic to an infertile couple's situation. I saw a doctor previous to Zouves who was an OB-GYN, but specialized in infertility. That doctor actually cancelled one of my in-cycle appointments because he had a baby to deliver. I was devastated at the time when I realized this cancellation meant that I would have to wait yet another month to hit my cycle at the right time before proceeding with IUI or IVF. Dr Zouves has his clinic, front desk, laboratory and procedure rooms all co-located. His hours of operation are very flexible, making it conducive to your schedule rather than a standard business. This made the coordination very simple with regard to my schedule and reduced the stress. I also was not having to run all over the Bay Area, where traffic is miserable, trying to make appointments and risk records not being consolidated between offices. With all of his services in one place, Dr Zpuves and team can be 100% aligned with your case and treatment plan. Results also come in sooner when they have it all in one place. So far we have no explanation for why we haven't had a successful pregnancy. We completed egg retrieval and have done our first embryo transfer. We are now in the 10 day wait period to know results. The nurses who we have been working with the last 5 months all came in to check on me before we went in for our embryo transfer. They hugged, showed excitement and offered warm words for us to be hopeful.

They always called, emailed and followed up immediately if I reached out.

I saw Dr Zouves during every visit unless it was just for a blood draw. My fist visit with him he gave me an orientation of my uterus and explained things that made me better understand my anatomy and how everything works together. I thought I was intimately familiar with my body before that, but apparently not. No doctor had ever done that for me before. He is compassionate and really got to know my husband and I.

Follow all the guidelines they set. Follow the diet, the stress control advice, etc. Dr Zouves provides lots of material for education and it's important to follow his holistic approach.

Every appointment I had was according to my schedule. No cattle call, no wait. I had multiple weekend appointments so that I didn't need to miss any work.

Hormone medications were around $9000 for one cycle of egg retrieval My company insurance covers 100%

It is conveniently located, but even if it's a long ways away for you, worth the trip. The environment is a bit swanky but calming. They don't take insurance but will provide you with a bill to submit to your insurance. They are pretty transparent about the costs in advance and have you meet with a financial coordinator before starting treatment. All in all, a great experience!

They always had time to answer my questions, were always friendly, always remembered my name and husband's name, were happy for us when we had success and sympathetic when not. We were more than just a number.

They were all really nice people and great clinicians. I miss them now that I'm no longer under their care.

He was very well informed and readily shared all information relevant to our situation/case. He has a nice sense of humor and good beside manner. Somehow we felt we could trust him from the beginning and that trust was not misplaced at any time.

When he states that IVF and other fertility treatments are like a marathon - he's right. You need to be able to give your body and your heart to the whole process and trust that he is making the right medical decisions. Don't give up!

I had relatively aggressive stimulation of my ovaries because of low ovarian reserve, and we got 8 eggs in two retrieval cycles. They all fertilized through ICSI, and only 1 made it to day 5 (and I'm now 24 weeks pregnant with a single baby). He has all his patients go on a gluten and dairy free diet, and while I can't say conclusively that it was the reason for our success, there is no way it will hurt and if nothing else, made me conscious of what I ate, which I needed anyways. I was also taking a bunch of supplements, mostly various antioxidants, to help our chances of success. Honestly, if he recommends something, he will explain it in detail and give you a very good reason why he thinks something is important. But in the end, of course, the decision is up to you.

I think our 2 cycles of retrieval, various infusions and treatments, lab costs, procedure costs, genetic testing and all were around $50,000

I only met with one doctor and person. Everyone was available when I had a question or concern. I was able to reach anyone anytime I needed. Rather than being in a group, everything was individual, from lessons on how to inject to share the entire process. I could email or call the doctor and he would respond immediately. I felt like they heard me and my concerns and questions. They were gentle and kind.

They were always there when I needed them whether it was scheduled or I called with a one-off question. They were clear and kind. They sat with me as long as I needed to teach me about how to inject. Every time I called with a question, they asked the doctor and immediately got back to me.

He is knowledgable, soothing and kind. He is educational and during the check-ups, he shared everything that was happening on the monitor and told me what everything we were looking at meant and what the likely results were going to be. I never silly or dumb asking any questions and when I had concerns about the treatment or a work conflict, he was always there to help and try to adjust. He is candid in a gentle manner.

I investigated treatments at other places and this one felt right because it was always going to be one-on-one and it was. My advice would be go for it, it's not as stressful, scary or time-consuming as you think.

The first one was micro dose lupron with bravelle and menopur. The second was bravely and menopur with a shot of something else the last three times. I might do one more retrieval and he said we would go with the second protocol. It was shorter and stronger and I got more eggs in the final count as they all matured immediately after the retrieval. The first round I got 7 and 5 matured.

$9,000 + $4,000-something for medication

The only thing I did NOT like about the clinic was the location. It's sort of in the middle of a weird feeling suburban street, off a busy road, and in an office park. It was a sterile feeling location to consider creating your next human. And my husband said that his experience of doing the sperm donation was not great - he was in a sort of sterile room with nothing else around and just sort of expected to get it done... (given the needles and surgery and childbirth part of my job, I didn't feel too sorry for him). Everything else was great. The art was good. The tea in reception was a nice touch.

I was pretty amazed that Dr. Zouves handled all the care pretty much on his own. He had a large and great nursing staff, but every major thing that happened - from ultrasounds to consults to the egg retrieval, he did himself. He was direct and specific, but also warm and caring.

Everyone was wonderful. From the beginning to the aftermath (when we had to get a refund of the money we had paid toward implantation), everyone was kind and thorough and expert.

This is a strange review, I'm sure, because we had a horrific failure in our IVF experience. But I would recommend Dr. Zouves any time. I was 41 and had 1 child, but had had 4 miscarriages at that point. I felt that Dr. Z's approach was thorough and kind and expert. We retrieved 26 eggs - 20 were mature. This should have been a home run, just based on the law of averages. Of those, 15 were embryos by Day 3. We elected to do the testing, so waited until Day 5. On Day 5, only 5 embryos were left. We tested them and immediately froze them. (Dr. Z himself updated us on every single step of this.) Unfortunately, when the testing came back, EVERY single embryo was a mess - multiple chromosomal problems. When we followed up with him - instead of just selling us to do donor eggs or try again with a different protocol, he was honest. He said that he felt there was an 80+% chance of the same outcome if we did it again with my own eggs, no matter what the protocol. He ALSO answered my question: "is it possible these eggs were all so bad because they were artificially ripened?" with "Of course - we fully expect that Mother Nature does it better - we just have never been able to test an egg that is 100% managed by Mother Nature." I REALLY trusted his honesty, and we elected not to do another round. (In a happy ending, I got pregnant naturally within 6 months, did NOT have a miscarriage, and we now have the 2nd child we wanted.) So even though I didn't walk away from Zouves with a baby in my arms, I really do feel like he did all the right things by us - including telling us not to continue slamming our heads into the wall.

Get as many of the pre-tests done under your own health insurance, and in advance as you can. There is a several month process just of checking all the boxes they want to have checked before you start the IVF with them. It can be stressful - the many labs, the mammogram, the waiting, the getting the calendar all correct... the more you have done before you even start, the better you will feel.

We did an antagonist protocol (I had a lot of follicles). I took birth control pills for a few weeks, and then 4 days later we did an ultrasound and an estradiol check. When that looked good, we started FSH/HMG injections the next day. We used Menopur (75iu) and Follistim (900 iu#3). The Menopur was a vial that we had to fill ourselves. The Follistim was easy - it was a clickable pen. The nurses at Zouves walked us through how to do that very specifically. I had to inject these twice a day for 4 days, then an ultrasound, then 5-6 more days (with some additional ultrasounds in there to see where I was). I used one dose of Ganirelix acetate (250ug) and a Lupron (2mg) trigger that I took the day (or maybe 2 days?) before retrieval. I also had to take doxycycline for a bit in the lead up to retrieval. My husband had to take Cipro for some reason before his sperm donation. 26 eggs retrieved. 20 were mature. 16 turned into embryos. 15 were still embryos on day 3. 5 were embryos on Day 5, and they were tested and frozen. ALL were shown to be very chromosomally abnormal when the test results came back.

$23,945 all-in, including implantation, but not including all the testing you should have done beforehand.

I had a problem with recurrent miscarriage and was 41 years old. We assumed I had an egg problem. It made very little sense to me to just toss a bunch of potentially problematic embryos into my uterus and hope for the best (that was pretty much what we'd already been doing naturally - getting pregnant with bad embryos that miscarried). We specifically did the IVF so that we COULD do the testing and put only 1 embryo that was known to be healthy into me.

The clinic did everything in house so you didn't have to travel to multiple locations to have procedures done.

Dr. Zouves and his staff were warm, friendly and easy to reach with any questions or concerns. Dr. Zouves was super informative and walked us through every step. In the beginning, I was scared about doing the injections and Dr. Zouves told me exactly what I needed to hear to get me through this hurdle.

The nurses were always available an easy to reach by phone or email. They were kind and smart, I loved them all!

I basically said all what need to be said during the question about being treated like a human. He has a gentle spirit and can be straight forward that I felt was helpful to ease my concerns. He is so dedicated to his work, he takes virtually no time off. He came highly recommended to my by two individual sources, one my OB and the other an LGBT family that had great success with him after having bad experiences with other clinics and doctors.

Do everything he recommends, even if it seems unusual. Do the acupuncture and herbs, it really improved my results.

I did the treatment for "natural killer cells" which was unusually and expensive but felt it was necessary and worked. My treatment was over 10 years ago and I really don't remember anything else about my protocol.

He offered a plan for two cycles for a reduced cost if you were under 38 or 39, don't remember exactly. It helped cut down our costs significantly as we ended up doing 3 rounds to get our twins.

None...he gives you all the options and it is your choice.

I felt like they handled my situation very well. Dr Z did one cycle with my eggs and it was not at all successful. Based on that and my medical history, he was straightforward with me and recommended we go to donor eggs. He was willing to do more cycles with my eggs and gave me that option, but knowing how expensive this process is, he didn't want to set me up for failure again. I really appreciated his honesty. The office handled the coordination with my egg donor and me flawlessly and I took comfort knowing we were in very good hands. I feel like mine is a success story and I am one of the lucky ones. I credit Dr Z and his staff for that.

Him and his staff were very caring. They took time to inform me and educate me each step of the way. Dr Z was candid, but not harsh. He really wanted me to be successful and did not just want my money.

The nursing staff was great! They were very kind and not judgmental. They kept me informed each step of the way and were great at explaining things like how to give myself injections. When I was awaiting beta results, they called me in a timely manner knowing that I was anxious to get the results. Likewise if I had questions I could call and they would get back to me quickly. They treated me like they would want to be treated if they were going through the same process.

I can't praise Dr Z enough. He was kind, compassionate, very knowledgeable. He was just as eager to help us have a baby as we were to have one and he knew how to make it happen. He took time with us and never made us feel rushed. He answered all our questions and concerns. I would definitely recommend Dr Zouves!

Be prepared for straight talk (he doesn't sugarcoat it) but he is kind in his delivery.

It's been a little too long. I don't remember and I imagine it's changed quite a bit since that time anyway.

I don't recall specifically, but I think my own egg cycle was $10000 and my donor cycle was $20000 (not including the cost of the egg donor.)

Dr. Zouves is extremely personal in his caregiving. He took the time to listen to our history / story, and developed a thoughtful plan in short order. He was always quick to return emails and calls. He has gone out of his way to help us, even after our twins were born.

Generally, excellent. we did have one incident during which one of his nurses called and gave me my husband's genetic test results, which would have meant I was positive for a deadly Jewish genetic disease (I am not Jewish). I was carrying our twins already, and driving, during our phone call! She seemed totally unphased by the conversation. This was an exception vs. the general care we received from his team, which was awesome.

Dr. Zouves is a genius. He figured out more about us in his initial 45 minute consultation than our previous doctor had in the year she had been treating us. He marries cutting edge technology with Asian influenced, holistic treatments. Our first shot (pun intended!) with him resulted in full term, boy/girl, twins - now seven. We say "thank you Christo Zouves" regularly, when one of our children does or says something clever, funny etc. In short, of all the people we have ever met or known, Dr. Zouves may very well be the person who has had the most positive impact on our family. Without him, our family would not exist....

Run, don't walk, toward this doctor and his practice.

We used a slightly more aggressive IVF protocol (as this was not our first cycle or doctor). IGG. ICSI. PGS (which at the time was less comprehensive than it is today).

He is obsessed with his patients. He emails back quickly, does every ultrasound, and is incredibly generous with his time and thoughts.

They were well-coordinated and responded to email quickly. And, many had been there a long-time, which I saw as a good sign too.

He was the best doctor that I saw as he cared about overall health, was very scientific and balanced eastern ideas too. I didn't get any chromosomally normal embryos with him, but I'd still suggest him to anyone.

He will comment on what you're eating and overall health, so think about that too. And, he has a particular perspective on immunology, which didn't end up being true for me (I am now pregnant and didn't do immuno-treatment, even though he would have had me do it).

I did 3 egg retrievals and receive 3-5 eggs each time. I was on 420/day of FSH (high dose) and menopur. At the end, I used gonarelix. I think it's called antagonist. In between the 1st and 2nd between the 2nd and 3rd retrieval, I went on the pill and estrace. That was a bit risky b/c I have a blood-clotting genetic marker, and I didn't get more eggs, but the eggs grew a little more together, so he preferred it. I received 9 mature eggs, 8 fertilized via ICSI, 8 blasts grew out to day 3, but only 1 grew to day 5 and that 1 was not chromosomally normal

I think it was about $40k, not including medications

The personal attention you feel from Dr. Zouves along with his staff is the added touch along with the top notch expertise you need through the emotional roller coaster of IVF.

Dr. Zouves was the only doctor I always saw at the clinic and he always knew me and my husband personally. The nurses and staff were the same and you felt individual care and concern in every aspect of treatment and contact you had with them.

The entire staff was welcoming, caring and full of compassion, not only when we received a positive result, but also during the negative results.

Dr. Zouves was the best RE I worked with because of his care, compassion, and individual attention. Going through the donor egg process, I needed the extra level of hand holding and he provided that and more. The one area that I am not 100% sure of is his approach to a gluten-free/dairy-free diet which not all doctors agree with. But I was willing to do anything recommended if it gave me positive results. It did work on 1 out of the 3 cycles I did through his clinic so not sure how much that is tied to the diet vs. statistics.

Be aware of his philosophy of the gluten-free, dairy-free diet and the intralipid infusions. It is not mandatory to do treatment there but strongly recommended.

I can't remember.

He had a nice manner - a very clear way of speaking, never seemed rushed, had clear talking points he wanted to make and always made them (after 10 cycles I could parrot along with him). The one "thing" about him is that it's kind of his way or the highway. There are some things he'll let you have input on, but if he doesn't think you should do something you are free to go elsewhere to get it done. I respected that because he gets great results & also his results are a big part of his selling point, so if he thinks a decision is going to lower your chance of conceiving it's his right to not go there... but there were a few occasions where I thought he could have been a bit more flexible.

I unfortunately don't remember their names, but the vast majority were lovely.

I thought he was great. He kept going with us even through lots of failures, and he was very supportive through our hiring a gestational carrier, helping with many of the functions an agency might otherwise have done.

I'm not 100% sure I buy the whole immunological infertility thing, but that's what you get there, so read up about it and see if you're OK with it. It adds a fair amount of cost since he'll have you taking infusions of intralipid and a variety of other treatments that have some basis in science but are not really a full consensus.

I have not been to his new clinic, but I am sure it is even better than the first. The first clinic was well organized and run. The entire team was professional and caring. The surgical center was in the same building, and the Anesthesiologists (Dr. Zouves' own employees separate from the surgical center) were great! The embriologists were top notch!

Dr. Zouves is a compassionate, thorough physician with whom we put all our trust. He was open, honest and caring.

The nursing staff was excellent, well qualified and trained as well as kind and compassionate.

We had the utmost respect and confidence for and with Dr. Zouves. He is intelligent, progressive and compassionate. We travelled all the way across the country to be treated by him and his staff four times. We have two children and each child took two tries.

Listen to his advice and treatment plan. As far as we are concerned, he is the best in his field! Put your trust in him.

As my children are 12 and 15 now, I honestly do not remember the exact protocols. I had immunological issues, specifically, elevated Natural Killer Cells and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Along with the typical protocols and usual stimulant drugs, I was treated with Enbrel injections, LIT (Lymphocyte Immune Therapy with my husband as donor) and IVIG (Intravenous Immunoglobulin) and Heparin/ASA - (for initial part of first pregnancy.)

They offered several plan options with varying costs. Do not remember specifics.

Personal involvement of Dr. Zouves. Facilities are comfortable but not over the top nice (i.e., feels professional but not like a profit-making center). Injection description was very rushed and confusing. I was lucky to have gone through a cycle before with another clinic, or else I would have been confused. More difficult to schedule appointments.

Dr Zouves really cares about his patients and is personally involved in all decisions. He personally reviews all results and does all the in-person visits. He also called me back at a very late hour the night of my first injections.

They seemed a bit overwhelmed and as though they were looking after too many patients. It also wasn't clear to me at the beginning that there were separate nurses at the beginning of the process versus the more advanced stages.

Dr. Zouves is extremely involved and very thorough. He does not always fully communicate what he is thinking and seems to go with his gut, which is understandable given the years he has been doing IVF. He seems to care about the results and is very responsive at all hours.

Go see him if you have a special case or particular concerns / challenges.

N/A

Like a spa

The nurses were lovely but Zouves clearly lacks humanity and empathy. Always felt more like a robot than a human

Excellent bedside manner but again when things went wrong, there was next to no follow up or accountability.

He's clearly an intelligent guy who is adored by many but for us, we were led very astray. He insisted I would not need to consider donor eggs at my initial afc u/s. After our first retrieval went poorly, it was like pulling teeth getting him on the phone, once we finally did, he back tracked and insisted on donor eggs if we were to move forward. Overall, Zouves is nice enough when things go well but when they don't, there's a decent amount of victim blaming and ego to the communications. I would seriously think twice about giving this man and this clinic the amount of money and time they demand.

Ask About protocol for failed cycles and the opportunity to pivot mid cycle when it's clear the results aren't going as planned.

Incredibly over stimulated. Every other re we've met with since was shocked and dismayed at the amount of drugs I was on and how wrong it was. Very frustrating

Extremely high. Bankrupting high

I definitely felt he knew me as an individual, even though he cares for so many patients! When going back for my second child, he made reference to my first by name.. I sent birth announcements to his clinic for both.. I felt like they knew me well.

Availability, clarity.

I had a phenomenal experience with Dr. Zouves. His bedside manner is very calming, and even though we are a difficult patient population, he never seems to get irritated or hurried. Everything is very well explained. The nurses are excellent and it's amazing how "on top" of things they are.. They call when they're supposed to call, the calendars are correct, all the paperwork is clear, and you can get a hold of someone pretty quickly. His results are excellent.. I have a few friends who failed at other clinics before deciding to get treatment with him, and they were successful with Dr. Zouves. I went to him for both children and I'm very satisfied.

Trust the process. Nobody can guarantee that you will have a biological child, but you're giving yourself a great shot by putting your care in his hands.

I was always greeted by name. The nursing staff was always extremely friendly and professional. They all seemed genuinely happy for my positive pregnancy result.

They were very personable and easy to get a hold of. They made me feel comfortable at each visit.

Zouves is extremely trustworthy, professional and available to answer any questions. He must work 24/7. He truly wants the best outcome for you. That being said, he has been doing this a long time, and you definitely have to surrender to the idea that he knows best. There wasn't much of a chance as a patient to change his proscribed plan. He goes beyond the typical fertility doctors in terms of prescribing gluten and dairy free diet restrictions and immunological treatments in addition to the regular injections, etc. This added to the overall timeline, and felt like overkill, at times, but in the end with a positive result it's hard to complain.

Prepare to relinquish some control over your fertility treatment. If you know this ahead of time, it can be somewhat of a relief to let Zouves and his staff take over the process.

Dr. Zouves sees all his patients himself. He's a one man show, and you always get the feeling that he cares about you. You don't get a revolving door of Drs, whoever is there when you have your appointment like at other larger clinics.

Next steps were always made very clear. They always called in a timely fashion to give me test results, etc. Very organized. Always responded to emails as well.

Dr. Zouves was caring and kind and showed lots of empathy always. He didn't candy coat our situation, or give us false hopes. He told us what we needed to hear at the time in order to achieve success, which was using an egg donor. He tested me far more thoroughly than any other previous doctor, and had me on a protocol for a genetic mutation (MTHFR) which other doctors don't even test for. He did all my procedures, and was there always, unlike previous doctors at other clinics.

Dr. Zouves may not necessarily have the stats of some of the larger clinics, as he takes on more challenging cases. What you are getting at ZFC is a personal touch from a very seasoned doctor with a fantastic staff, support, and a state of the art facility.

We used an egg donor, so I wasn't stimulated, but was on lovenox and heparin due to MTHFR genetic mutation. Whatever he did worked. I have two eight year old twins to show for it.

$18,000

The clinic has pretty good standards. Most staff are very experienced. Nurses are caring and they know what they are doing. The clinic expanding very quickly and we've seen new faces over time. Some new hires may be not experienced as senior staff.

Christo Zouves tries same treatment over and over. He doesn't tweak the treatment plan or search for additional details. It seems like he is playing numbers game. More cycles more chance of success. His clinic and staff is spotless and very organized. He treats each patient by himself. Hense he is too busy.

If you are starting with IVF and Egg freezing first time. Christo Zouves is your doctor. If you had multiple failures in the past or your age is close to 40, you may need a second opinion.

Pretty standart every cycle.

Our insurance covered all of care.

N/A

Staff is professional and responsive. I had asked for an accounting and medical records, and it came back promptly. When I as in cycle, the nurses were very available and returned calls quickly. Their explanations were adequate on how to do injections, etc.

While I do feel Dr. Z cares about patients, he will push egg retrievals whether it may be the best course of action. After receiving a low amount the first time, I would have appreciated him taking a different approach on the second round. I will never know if I could have gotten more.

In this practice, it is relatively easy to get seen. You don't have to wait on an endless waiting list so that is definitely positive. I do feel that Dr. Z pushes egg retrievals too much to the point that you start to feel like a number, but that is where they make their money.

If egg retrievals do not yield the results, it might be important to tweak the next following retrieval.

12-15K with everything

The nurses and Dr. Zouves were very warm and patient with all of our questions. They remembered our names from visit to visit, and even some details of our treatment progress.

I interacted with between 5-10 nurses regularly, and they were all up to date and knowledgeable about my history, all very friendly and warm. If I sent a panicked email, they would follow up with a phone call shortly. Also, for important messages, they would follow up with another call or email to make sure I got the message, and that I didn't have further questions. Definitely the best nursing team I've ever worked with.

I feel that Dr. Zouves was very detailed in reviewing our history and pointing out factors that may have impacted us. He was also very complete in his treatment, carefully explaining why each recommended supplement or treatment was recommended.

Try to relax and trust in his judgement. It's hard to not question everything at first, but he really does get results.

Dr Zouves and his staff were always very responsive with email or a phone call back!

Super nice and responsive.

It's been almost 2 years since I did egg freezing, and I had extremely good results (45 retrieved, and 38 mature and frozen)! I actually consulted with a Stanford doctor too before I decided to use Zouves Clinic, because Zouves is not only a great doctor with a nice lab/facility, he manages his clinic well with high efficiency and top-notch service and care!

Take advantage of their free phone consultation, and free first ultrasound if it's your first time trying. You will have a good feel of the doctor and his facility's service before finally committing.

I talked with a few patients at Zouves and seems like he used higher dose for younger clients like me (early to mid 30's).

about $10k for one egg freezing cycle, not including medication.