Christina Lee

My husband and I are incredibly thankful we found Dr Lee and are so lucky we were her patients. She truly was the perfect dr for us. Even though we would have rather not had to experience infertility for two years and a pregnancy loss, we are incredibly thankful we had Dr Lee to help us on this journey to starting our family. My first appointment with Dr Lee was via zoom, as her office is in Bethlehem PA and we are in Pittsburgh PA about five hours away. We had a terrible experience at our first clinic (Reproductive Gynecology and Infertility of Ohio - see my other review of them for more information), so our first appointment with Dr Lee to review the first clinics diagnoses (alleged blocked right Fallopian tube for me, slight male factor for my husband - lower morphology). Our first meeting with Dr. Lee was about an hour, and we knew relatively early in the meeting we were in very good hands. She had thoroughly reviewed our file, and asked us many questions about the testing we previously had done. She was very suspicious about my diagnosis of a blocked right Fallopian tube, and ended up being correct about it not being blocked (more on that later). After that meeting though, we had a thorough understand of her plan - we would schedule an appointment for me to drive out when my period began for a baseline day three ultrasound. During our first IUI cycle, I was given 2 clomid pills for two days, followed by about a week of gonal f injections. At every point, Dr Lee thoroughly explained everything going on, performed all the ultrasounds herself, and always took her time to answer our questions. While our first IUI was successful - we got pregnant - at our first ultrasound the pregnancy wasn’t developing normally. An ultrasound at my local MFM in Pittsburgh confirmed this, and we experienced a miscarriage. Again, while this is an experience we wish we never had, we are so thankful we had not only a Dr but such a kind person like Dr Lee to help us through this. She even went so far as to call me at 7pm on a Sunday evening to see how I was doing. It was such a thoughtful gesture and we appreciated it so much. That was in July of 2022. We always planned to jump back into fertility treatments with Dr Lee once I was cleared. My period arrived in August, but due to having a family trip scheduled for a week in September, we opted to wait until we got back from vacation to start our second IUI. Our second IUI was when Dr Lee confirmed her suspicion that my right Fallopian tube was in fact not blocked, unlike the first clinic we saw said and insisted we had to do IVF to get pregnant. My first IUI all my dominant follicles were on the left, so we proceeded with the IUI unconcerned about the right tube because it did not matter. With the second iui though, I had several dominant follicles on my right but some also on my left side, meaning that if I ovulated several follicles from both sides my risk or multiples increased. So the choice was to do nothing since if my tube was blocked and I had more follicles on my right, we couldn’t get pregnant because sperm couldn’t meet egg. However, Dr lee always suspected my right tube wasn’t blocked, and rather than do nothing and waste the cycle, the multiple trips to the other side of the state, and gonal f injections I had done, she asked if I would be willing to stay at the clinic for an hour and then she could do a saline sonogram to confirm if my tube is blocked or not - if it wasn’t blocked we would see bubbles on the ultrasound traveling through my Fallopian tubes on both sides. I waited an hour in a conference room, Dr lee gave my some Tylenol, and we did the saline sonogram. Immediately we saw bubbles light up my tubes, and it was then confirmed I didn’t have blocked Fallopian tubes at all! Our plan then was to proceed with the iui next appointment. I am so thankful Dr lee did this test, because im about to be 30 weeks pregnant with our son. I don’t think many drs would do what she did - keep me at her office for hours to do a small test that truly made a huge difference in our lives. We just couldn’t be more thankful for Dr Lee and all she did for us.

Trust her. She is an incredible dr and will truly give your family her all.

We did two IUIs, both the same - 5 days of 2 clomid tablets Follow led by several days of gonal f injections. Hcg Trigger 36 hours before an IUI

Overall I thought the costs were incredibly reasonable. Prior to starting treatment, Michelle gave us a sheet with the breakdown of costs for IUI and IVF, since it wasn’t clear at that point which route we would go. She factored in our deductible, how much if our deductible remained, and at what point co-insurance would apply. We did have insurance, thankfully. The most expensive part was the Gonal F. It was more expensive with insurance rather than paying cash. I want to say it was around 2700, but that met our deductible of 3000 rather fast, so we only paid about 800 each iui for the gonal f. Everything else - appointments, bloodwork and ultrasounds, were around 900 per iui.

She is meticulous, attentive to every detail, and brilliant. I believe this is a personal issue for her, because this work is her life. She isn’t he most warm and fuzzy, but she absolutely cares and her patients matter to her.

If you don’t understand something, always ask.

We used agonist protocol. She actually decreased the follistim from 400 to 225, which made me very anxious, but she was right - it made no negative difference. She tried two different triggers for both retrieval’s based on my blood, and even gave me the second trigger from her own supply. Stunned for 9 days the first time and 11 the second.

The first cycle was about $15K. He second time we got a package and that was $27K.

Dr lee is very hands on she does everything at the clinic with minimal staff. I feel like she is rushed sometimes because of this but she is very knowledgeable and in control of every aspect of the process. I feel like I did everything that was asked and went ahead with all options from the beginning and still had undesirable results with two chemical pregnancies with pgs normal embryos.

Check your insurance provider to make sure that family fertility will work with them for testing and other procedures that may be covered.

All three retrieval cycles I was put on 250 follistim and 10 hcg and triggered my first retrieval with Hcg and ? The last time I did not do a double trigger bc of risk of ohss. For both FET I was on estrogen patches for about 7days then pio for 6 days before.

Multi cycle treatment plan was $27k Medications per cycle were about $5k each cycle. Anastesia for egg retrieval’s was $550 per retrieval. A testing cycle for era is $3500 plus Era $600 Genetic testing for embryos plus biopsy totaled over two retrieval’s $15k. Prior bloodwork and ultrasound $5k

She much prefers single as the risk is much greater for multiple pregnancies.

Dr. Lee has a very matter of fact and somehow calming demeanor. Dr. Lee has a sense of humor and made me feel at ease. She gave me confidence in our situation, but also didn’t get my hopes up. She was realistic and also optimistic. Dr. Lee always explained the course of treatment in detail. She spoke in lay terms, but also spoke to me as an educated individual and taught me quite a bit. I have full confidence in her skills as a doctor. I wish I could stay with her for the remainder of my pregnancy! I'm hoping we don't need help for our 2nd pregnancy, but if we do, I'll definitely go back to Dr. Lee.

She will lay down the facts and can sometimes come off as being blunt, but I found it somewhat refreshing to “hear it like it is.” It was surreal to be sitting there in the first place—I never thought I’d need fertility help!!—but she helped to tell me the facts. She immediately had a plan and it felt good to have someone else taking “control of the wheel”—so to speak.

-First we had a consultation and went over both of our medical histories. At that point, my husband had already had a semen analysis and I had been diagnosed with PCOS. I had already done 2 rounds of clomid without success. My progesterone numbers were not showing I was ovulating even with the clomid. That was all done through my OBGYN. -Dr. Lee did an ultrasound after our consultation and confirmed PCOS. She reviewed the semen analysis results. -I had bloodwork done offsite with a glucose test (people with PCOS are predisposed to diabetes). -I had an HSG (I think that was the acronym...) done with Dr. Lee to check my Fallopian tubes. That was more painful than I thought it would be...results came back normal. -I got my period normally (unlike me for having PCOS...) and called them (day 1 of my cycle). They scheduled me for an ultrasound in a few days. -She monitored my cycle and confirmed I shed my lining during my period. I took Letrozole pills on days 5-9 of my cycle. Letrozole is usually meant for women to prevent breast cancer, but it is known in the fertility field to stimulate ovulation better than clomid. -I was told to have intercourse every other day after Letrozole. After that, I had an ultrasound and it confirmed the Letrozole worked—I had 3 follicles ready to be released, but they hadn’t released yet. -They unfortunately didn’t release on their own (due to a lack of Lutenizing hormone), so I needed a trigger shot to make me ovulate. That was the first thing not covered by my insurance—roughly $187 out of pocket. -We were told to have intercourse 36 hrs after the trigger shot. We also did it extra times at about 48 hrs after, 60 hrs, 72 hrs...just to be sure! -2 weeks later, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive!!! -I went in the next day for bloodwork. Then I went every few days for a week or so for bloodwork to ensure my numbers were going up. I went for an ultrasound at 7 weeks, 9 weeks...and then she released me to my OBGYN!!!! I’m 12 weeks tomorrow :) (with one baby!! With the number of follicles, it could have been multiples)

Once my deductible was met, I paid a specialist visit for appointments ($35-40)and ultrasounds and a smaller fee when it was bloodwork only (~$22). Letrozole was covered by my insurance (less than $10), but the trigger shot was not (about $187).

My husband and I had a great experience with Dr. Lee she is very personable and hands on at every single appointment. She is extremely knowledgeable and very passionate about what she does. I saw her at every single office visit and only her. She was very prompt about returning any phone calls and was very informative any time we had a concern. The only con was wait times can be longer than usual at times, but I was never upset about this considering she's the only physician at the practice and involved with every patient visit.

Trust Dr. Lee! She is so intelligent.

We were diagnosed with mild male factor infertility (low morphology). First IUI 50 mg of clomid for 5 days, this did not produce sufficient follicles so I had 2 GnRH injections, and a trigger shot produced only 1 follicle. I developed a cyst after this cycle. Second IUI, 50mg of Clomid for 5 days with trigger shot. Produced 4 follicles. Third IUI, 50mg of Clomid for 5 days with trigger shot. Produced 2-3 follicles. All unfortunately, unsuccessful.

My insurance provider was horrible but luckily I was on my husband's as a secondary and his picked up most of the expenses. For all of the testing to diagnose the infertility it was a little under $500 out of pocket. For each IUI it was unfortunately $2650 out of pocket because both insurance providers did not cover treatment, only testing/diagnosis.

Unfortunately, we had to switch providers due to insurance reasons but when we did briefly meet about IVF she mentioned she would only transfer 1 embryo.

I have been extremely happy so far. She was very thorough during our initial consult. She is my second fertility specialist so she took the time to review all the records from my previous doctor and treatments and discussed all options moving forward. She has a good sense of humor but isn’t super “touchy feely”. She makes things light but I can’t see her giving you a big hug if you’re upset (never happened with me). She is extremely detail oriented. I love her attention to detail on scans, when combing through records, calculating dosages of meds etc. She explains what she is thinking as she goes so that you understand her thought process. She makes you feel very comfortable. I had a bad experience in the past with an endometrial biopsy and when it came time for her to do one on me she took so much time on the US looking at the curve in my cervical canal and “mapping it out” before starting. She used a smaller catheter first as a trial and then used the biopsy catheter once she noticed I was ok with that. I trust her to do the right thing. My abolsute favorite thing about her is that I see her at every visit and she is 100% involved and invested in your care. There have been times she takes my blood pressure and draws my blood herself. She calls me herself with all of the results and any changes in the treatment plan. She cares so much about her patients and the end goal of a baby.

Do not expect a hand holding doctor but know that you are getting a doctor that truly cares about you and your end goal of a baby.

I am currently in an IVF cycle. I am using Follistim, Novarel and Ganirelix and I will be doing my trigger shot tonight for egg retrieval later this week. Before I started IVF she did an endometrial biopsy to look for any underlying inflammation that may make the lining unfavorable. So far, the protocol seems to be working. A few days ago she noted that the “lead group” of follicles was right on track and there were a few smaller ones. She decided to wait an extra day to trigger and let them try to catch up so we could get more eggs hopefully on retrieval day. She has explained that I may not do a fresh transfer after egg retrieval if my estrogen levels are too high and if my lining does not look favorable. If that is the case she will do a frozen transfer.

All consultations and appointments prior to the actual IVF cycle were billed appropriately to insurance. For treatment, you could either do IVF “a la carte” or in a package. Either single cycle-plus or multi cycle-plus. We chose multi cycle-plus which for one price of $27,000 gives you potential for 3 IVF cycles with 4 FETs. If you get pregnant on the first cycle, you get $14,000 back.

Dr. Lee has told me that she and the patient make this decision. We had decided before the cycle started to only transfer one embryo. She did tell us that we could transfer more than one if we wanted but explained the risks associated with that. She provided statistics and data on this.

Dr. Lee is an excellent fertility specialist. She is extremely smart and knowledgeable and had sound advise and explanation to answer all of our questions and concerns. She is a top notch doctor. She was willing to personalize our approach according to insurance and our personal requests as appropriate. she was very quick to respond and calls back the same day with results. she was genuinely caring and motivated to help us achieve our fertility goal.

ask questions, do your research and start the process sooner rather than later, don't wait!!

unexplained infertility--opt for IUI and clomid with gonal-F. Gonal-F used to stimulate more follicles. IUI opt first choice and due to insurance restrictions may opt for IVF.

4,000 IUI out of pocket with meds (gonal-F and trigger)

single embryo for persons less than 35 y/o

She is a amazing doctor she knows her stuff. She asks many questions to know your life style and try to help you fix that and see of anything changes before trying to do ivf. She isn't pushy. She is blunt about your diagnosis but I wouldn't have it any other way. She spends lots of time with patients but weakness makes her fall behind alot

I like her as a doctor and I think she is a great one to choose if you can afford it

I just did regular testing I never got to do ivf at all because our insurance doesn't cover it.

Never made this far

Dr Lee was great. She cut through the bull and let my husband and I know what to expect and what to do. When things didn't work she took another course of action. She was there for me 24/7. She came in on weekends. Her staff was excellent. They always managed to get me in to see her.

Don't wait! Get in to see her right away and be open and honest about everything. Tell her how you feel and what you want.

My husband and I had little time to conceive as he was losing his insurance. I started on the pill. Then did two months of IUI. When it didn't work I went back on BC for another month then we tried IUI once more and it worked!!

Almost all of the expenses were covered by my husbands insurance. What wasn't covered I was able to make payments on.

Dr. Lee took her time to explain things in detail. She left the choice to pursue treatment up to me and my husband. She didn't try to sway our decision or push treatment on us. At every appointment she treatment us with compassion and was always willing to explain things in great detail. She also had a fantastic personality.

Come to each appointment with a list of questions and concerns you want her to answer and address.

I am currently waiting to start an IVF cycle in July. I did not undergo any treatments with Dr. Lee.

My insurance covers appointment and diagnostic procedures. My insurance does not cover treatment, such as IUI or IVF.

She explained all the risks always made sure I understood everything and genuinely appeared to live what she does. I always felt like she cared bout me and I was just not another patient. She even gave me some meds to help increase our chances.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions

Deductible was 2000

She is amazing! She didn't want to accept what the other doctors told me and did what she knew would get me pregnant!

Trust her completely

Unsure of it all. But we did IVF with menopur and bravelle.