Hakan Cakmak

Since I rarely see Dr. Cakmak during my visitations, I can't really say much about his strengths. Based on my initial consultation, he explained the whole IVF process to us and it made a lot of sense. He also tries to make me feel comfortable by trying to engage in conversations while performing the sonogram. He had a positive attitude and believed that I would have a successful pregnancy even after multiple failed attempts. I do have to say that one of his weakness is not being able to do a smooth transfer on transfer day even with a mock transfer. He stated that I have a very curvy cervix but other providers were able to do it without working with me.

I would advise a patient to not expect to meet or see Dr. Cakmak other than the initial consultation. Since I was unsuccessful, I had the option of doing a follow-up with him but other than that, you would have to go through the staff. You would only see him if your appointment happens to land on the day he is on duty because UCSF has multiple providers working in the same clinic.

I don't remember protocols for the retrieval process because it was about two years ago. I do remember that in the beginning, he only gave me 1cc or progesterone and then after being unsuccessful, increased it to 2cc and I got pregnant but had a miscarriage. For the last two transfers, we started at .5cc for two days, 1cc for two days, and then 1.5cc up until I found out the pregnancy results.

Well we live out of town so going in for an appointment would be the whole day. All the appointment was never convenient for us as far as the day goes but they did let us choose the time that is convenient for us.

retrieval=$12,000, anesthesia=$800, sonogram=$600, genetic testing=$300, freezing embryos=$500 initially (increases by $100 every year), FET=$3000, medications/supplies=$500-$1000

My doctor strongly suggested that we only transferred one embryo because I was 26 at the time and he said young people have a high success rate. After the first failed attempt, our doctor allowed the following two attempt to have two embryos. He informed us that a single healthy baby was their goal and that multiple births might be risky.

I like him. He is direct and comes across as honest and caring. He's a little bit awkward when it comes to bedside manner, but I take that as his "scientific" background, not that he doesn't care. Always asked how I was feeling, checked in on my husband, daughter, etc.

Make sure to schedule tie with him. As a research clinic, he typically won't be there at all of your appointments.

As minimal meds as possible. Always open to searching for generics, etc (meds cost savings.) Respectful of what my insurance would cover.

$20,000 for IVF (total, including meds.) Not sure on prices for IUI (my insurance covered.)

Dr. Hakan was the first infertility doctor I see. I only talked to him once. Because my husband has 0 sperm count, we decided to do IUI with donor sperm. I only saw him once when we first decided on the plan. He never followed up with me after that. I'm not even sure if he ever looked at my test results. I did 5 cycles of IUI all negative. The doctor never once proposed any different approaches, never discussed with me on the result at the end of each cycle. I later switched to Kaiser, and was diagnosed that I had a bloated left ovarian tube, which would produce toxic liquid that cut my pregnancy success rate half. I felt I wasted a lot of time and money for doing the 5 cycles of IUI at UCSF without finding out anything.

go to someone else who actually cares.

Dr. Hakan suggested medical assisted IUI with donor sperm. As I was not aware of any infertility issue on my part, I suggested I'll try the first cycle without medicine assist, which didn't work. The following 4 cycles are all medicine assisted, none of them worked either. Dr. Hakan never reviewed the result with me after each failed cycle. I felt like really left in the dark just trying by myself. Later at a different facility, I was diagnosed with one dialect fallopian tube, and also with poor egg quality.

My insurance covered most of the cost, but the billing process was slow,and I received a bill from them a year after the treatment when I already changed insurance.

didn't discuss that