Abbaa Sarhan

Dr. Sarhan was wonderful. She knew the science/medicine and knew my case intimately well, plus she had wonderful bedside manner. I felt I could trust her. The proof is in the pudding - thanks to her, I had a successful pregnancy.

Find out the days she will be at your clinic (in my case it was Tuesdays and Thursdays in Arlington) and arrange your work schedule to be available those days for all monitoring. You will get a ton of face time with her.

We used the antagonist protocol for each freeze-all retrieval. I had endometriosis so Dr. Sarhan had me suppress with birth control pills for 6-8 weeks before each frozen embryo transfer. She recommended against fresh transfer due to the endometriosis. It took me three retrievals and three transfers to achieve a successful pregnancy/live birth.

The ‘monitoring hours’ system made t super efficient - I was in and out quickly.

Insurance covered everything, so I don’t know.

We only transferred single embryos until the third FET, when she recommended increasing to two embryos.

Dr. Sarhan has been kept me hopeful that I can have a child. When another fertility doctor would not treat me due to my weight, Dr. Sarhan was agreeable to treatment as long as I knew the risks. She has not stopped when we have come across issues and has made sure I was comfortable with every step. I do wish I could spend a bit more time with her, but I know she is a busy doctor with many patients. That would be my only criticism.

The doctor tries to do all the monitoring appointments herself. Prepare a list of questions when you go in each time so you can get your answers. It's a quick visit and she will try to head out with out spending too much time with you. However, if you know what you want to ask, she is very helpful and does answer thoroughly.

I started out doing 100mg of clomid. When I did not produce follicles we upped my clomid to 150. Still nothing. We then moved on to Gonal-f 150 injections. I was still producing slowly, so we upped it to 225. I then took 250 ovidrel injection to trigger with iui roughly 36 hours later.

All of my medications were out of pocket. I paid a co-pay for each monitoring appointment. My iui was 100% covered by insurance.

Dr. Sarhan seemed very knowledgeable and up-to-date on all the scientific debates relative to the field of infertility. Therefore, I completely trusted her to recommend the right things and to know all the potentials for success and failure. I saw her during every visit that required more than just taking blood, so she got to know me pretty well. We always talked about me during the visits which made me feel that she cared about me as a person, not just as a patient. She also listened to me and reassured me at every step. I think she might have wanted to perform more aggressive treatments, but she knew that I was hesitant, and never pressured me. She never sugar-coated anything, but she handled all bad news with respect and compassion. She handled good news in a way that let me know she actually cared about me as a person. She was clearly skilled in her performance of all medical procedures, so again, I trusted her completely.

Don't be afraid to ask for what you need. If you have any questions at all, just email her or call her office. It can take up to a day or two to receive an answer, but she will answer, and she will not be (or at least seem) annoyed that you asked.

It has been a couple of years, so I don't remember all the details, but I can say that we started out conservatively, using Letrozole for stimulation. I had had adverse reactions to Clomid with a former provider, so we started with Letrozole. On my third cycle, I had a chemical pregancy. We tried for another 3 cycles and I achieved pregnancy, but I miscarried at about 6 weeks. After that, Dr. Sarhan thought we should become more proactive, so we did a few rounds of IUI, still with Letrozole since that was providing enough eggs. After three rounds of that with no success, she again recommended we become more aggressive. We did the first round of IVF with Bravelle and Menopur. That was a long (12 days maybe) and not very successful cycle. We did a trigger shot and then the retrieval. On that cycle, we only got 7 embryos, and only 2 made it to become day 5 blastocysts. Dr. Sarhan said neither looked great, but she transferred them anyway. The cycle did not result in pregnancy. For the next cycle, she changed the drugs to Follistim and Menopur. This was more of a "textbook" cycle, resulting in 12 embryos, 7 of which made it to day 5. Two were transferred, resulting in my mono-di pregnancy which resulted in 2 live births. The other 5 were frozen.

The monitoring hours were always in the morning, which worked out fine for me. I was lucky because I was a full time student with a flexible schedule. There were sometimes a lot of people in the waiting room, but I almost never waited more than about 15 minutes. There were probably a handful of times over three years where I had to wait more like 45-60 minutes.

My health insurance covered fertility medications and monitoring until I started doing IUI. The IUI procedures cost $1500 each. The IVF procedures cost around $20,000 each plus the cost of medications. I can't remember exactly how much those cost, but it was several thousand more dollars.

She didn't really give me the choice for single or multiple embryo transfer because of the quality of the embryos, my age, and my previous lack of success. For both IVF cycles, she transferred two embryos.

We had two IUI's and the nurse said she would facilitate the insemination and both times, it was another doctor who I've never met. Since we were new in our fertility journey, we were in a vulnerable state. Our second IUI was triggered late with low estrogen for the existing follicles, had hcg in my system from a previous cycle, follicle on right was overcooked and left were not ready. We didn't receive calls when promised to receive pregnancy results and had to wait another 24 hours to receive results. We didn't have the information to get the HCG shot when we needed it for the trigger. We didn't feel we had enough information to make informed decisions.

She does mean well, however, the practices of this clinic are not acceptable. I would recommend to go to another clinic.

IUI's were around $1500 with no help from insurance.

I am so thankful that Dr. Sarhan was my doctor through this process. She was a highlight during all of the ups and downs. She is so knowledgeable, thorough, compassionate, empathetic, and professional. She was great at communicating. Her explanations were clear and she answered all of my questions. I felt that she was truly vested in my treatment and outcomes. I always felt she was fully present during my appointments and when calling with results. I never felt uncomfortable. I only wish that I could see Dr. Sarhan for all of my other medical needs.

I think this advice is for anyone going through the fertility process: be prepared with your questions and really listen to what the doctor says (instead of what the internet says).

I have an extremely diminished ovarian reserve (among other complicating factors) so Dr. Sarhan recommended I not wait and take an aggressive approach - specifically IVF. And I am so glad that I took that advice.

Great provider. She is knowledgeable, and empathetic. I felt she really related to me as a person, and didn't appear to offer any biases. Given my age, she was also up-front that, while diminished fertility might not affect me, it could. She also offered a modest course of treatment, instead of jumping to the most invasive/expensive immediately.

Listen to what she has to say, weigh the options she provides you, and make an assessment of the direction you want to go in after that. She can help, but the decision to move forward is ultimately up to the patient.

I did not ultimately use Dr. Sarhan to complete my fertility journey, but she was great for the baseline testing and assessments.

All fertility testing was covered under my employer-provided health insurance.

N/A

She was great throughout the whole process. She was thorough in recording my medical history, and we talked about what had brought me and my husband to the point of seeking fertility help. My experience with her was very positive. I can't remember a time when I felt uncomfortable around her or the different treatments we discussed. She was patient, understanding, and answered all of my questions.

Be open to different treatments, especially those you may not have considered.

I don't remember the specifics, because it has been several years since I had treatment. I took Clomid and had IUI, and I believe I did this for two cycles. If I remember correctly, I became pregnant the second cycle.

Dr. Sarhan guided my husband and I through this journey. She made us feel heard and understood, she made sure that we were given all the facts and options, and she made us feel at ease every step of the way. She is a knowledgeable, kind, compassionate, wonderful doctor with the best bedside manner. She even communicated with me after work hours to answer my questions, ease my fears, and make sure that I was OK. When I got a positive pregnancy test, she checked and double checked my numbers and made sure I was on the road to a safe and healthy pregnancy. She walked me through a rough period in my life and I will always be more grateful than she will ever know.

Trust her, she knows what she’s talking about and has your best interest in mind.

I completed 3 rounds of IUI with Dr. Sarhan. She also had me on fertility drugs because she said that would increase the chance of pregnancy. She consulted with us more than once before getting started, explained everything as she did it, and walked us through every procedure, and told us what would happen in the aftermath. She even took the time to explain how the insurance protocols. She did everything. She is an amazing doctor and anyone would be lucky to be treated by her.

I wish she had been more honest with me about how fertility works. She said. These are your test results right now, I can't guarantee you'll have the same numbers again in 6 months. I interpreted that to mean that my numbers might be the same in 6 months. But of course, quality and quantity go down with age, always. I wish she had expressed to me the urgency of going ahead with eggs freezing, because I ended up waiting a year and a half.

Nothing I can think of.

I didn't go ahead with treatment with her because I found another clinic with cheaper prices.

My insurance covered the consultation and diagnostics. I then switched clinics for a better price.

NA

Dr. Sarhan was compassionate, knowledgeable, and encouraging but realistic. She took the time to clarify my many questions and concerns throughout the process. She has the right mix of being experienced but also early enough in her career to be aware of the latest methods.

She steered me toward single transfer, which I am glad about now that I have a baby to care for, but was supportive of it being my decision.

She’s intelligent, knowledgeable ,friendly ,compassionate and determined. I truly felt cared for under her care. She always answered my questions in a positive but truthful way, I respected that. From the consultation appointments to my transfer everything was so smooth and I couldn’t be any happier and thankful

Birth control Stims for 2 weeks Egg retrieval Progesterone in oil Estrogen pills Transfer

I had really good insurance through the government and I’m thankful for that so I didn’t pay as much as other people may have paid but it was still a significant amount. I prefer not to say

She had a strong preference that we only transfer one embryo at a time because of my age. At first I was hesitant and upset but I know she had the best intension for us

We had a very good experience with Dr. Sarhan, GIVF, and the Fairfax Egg Bank. My husband and I were experienced with IVF and knew that we were ready to move on to frozen donor eggs; Dr. Sarhan provided knowledgeable and compassionate treatment, and the fact that the clinic and egg bank are under one roof made for a streamlined and convenient process.

-Estrace (6mg/day) and progesterone (injectable in oil, 2ml/day) in preparation for transfer and until week 10 of pregnancy -Recommended prenatal vitamins and low-dose aspirin -IVF with donor eggs -Embryo transfer (5-day blastocyst)

The total cost for our treatment (IVF with frozen donor eggs) came to about $8,000. The cost of the eggs themselves (through the in-house egg bank) was $13,000.

Dr. Sarhan (and the clinic) will not transfer more than one embryo at a time — at least in my case — and that is exactly as we wanted it; we wouldn’t have wanted to face the additional risks associated with multiple pregnancy.

Dr. Sarhan was very warm and compassionate and laid out a plan for treatment. She was clear in her communication and I was confident I could reach out to her with any other questions. After the initial consult, however, all communication was via my nurse and I didn't have a direct line to Dr. Sarhan.

Dr. Sarhan advised to do three rounds of timed intercourse with Letrozole followed by three rounds of IUI. We agreed to discuss IVF later if needed. The first IUI was successful and resulted in a singleton pregnancy.

Dr. Sarhan is detailed oriented, pays attention to all the data available to her, and makes recommendations that sound very reasonable and grounded. I ended up as a patient of hers when I ran out of insurance benefits through my husband's employer and had to use mine at a different practice. That's when I was blessed to meet Dr. Sarhan. Although the treatment she outlined for me was a bit longer than what I had initially anticipated, it made sense when she explained to me and I realized that she had taken the time to understand all my infertility history. She leveraged all the information that was unearthed during my prior treatments and was able to help me get pregnant. I also was very grateful that Dr. Sarhan listened to my concerns and requests and allowed me to get 2 embryos transferred instead of one. She explained all the risks associated but it the end, it worked out. As a side note, I was a bit nervous about Dr. Sarhan performing my embryo transfer (I had only had embryo transfers at a previous practice and had read that skill was key on this piece), but she did a wonderful, careful and meticulous job and today I am happy to report that I am finally pregnant!!

Try to communicate directly with her and not through the nurses.

I just came to review Dr. Sarhan and this has turned into the longest survey ever.