Frederick Licciardi

I would recommend Dr Licciardi to someone with a simple case. For someone with a more complex case or poorer prognosis, needing more customized care, I would NOT recommend him at all. I changed doctors after my cancelled retrieval and I am extremely happy I did so.

Be ready to advocate for yourself and do not expect to be guided at all. Ask a thousand questions if you do get the chance to speak with him (different protocols, what could they adjust, what levels are they looking for and on what basis will they adjust doses) - don’t expect any of this information to be volunteered as you may never actually see Dr L in person again after your first visit. He doesn’t always answer calls, but he DOES respond to emails.

IUI cycle - Letrozole (one follicle, no pregnancy) IVF cycle - “mild” dose antagonist protocol with estrogen prime - protocol: estrogen patch + ganirelix prime; 150 iu follistim + clomid, ganirelix (17 days of stims), ovidrel trigger - result: cancelled cycle, recruited one follicle, still intended to retrieve (DOR, poor prognosis) but ovulated after trigger / shortly before retrieval

IUI and IVF were covered by insurance, meds were out of pocket (~$5000), biopsy for PGS was ~$4,600 out of pocket.

Dr. Licciardi is great. I still have his voicemail saved from when our transfer didn't work. He was honest and compassionate about what had happened ("I wish I had better news, and I know how disappointing this must feel.") but was still optimistic about the future ("Give me a call when you are ready and we will go over next steps.")

The doctor and his research is top notch. You have to be prepared mentally to deal with the NYU clinic - which is a whole other story.

Unfortunately I do not have access to the paperwork - but I could supply this later. (First transfer was with Ovidrel, second was a natural cycle)

$4500/IVF

He felt very comfortable going with one each time. I wasn't interested in the risk of multiples given my "Advanced" age.

Dr. Licciardi was my doctor but I saw him only twice during the process. We met at the consult and then he preformed one ultrasound. I was surprised when I learned he wasn't the one conducting my retrieval but he called me and put me at ease about who was doing the retrieval. I really thought Dr. Licciardi's care was excellent during the process. He was always accessible by phone and email, and he called me several times to keep me updated and to check on me. I definitely felt that he cared and I wasn't just another number in the factory. . I think Dr. Licciardi wanted to manage my expectations because he told me to expect 10-14 eggs, but 22 were retrieved and 20 mature eggs were frozen (age 36). What this actually means I really don't know because Dr. Licciardi made it clear that there are no guarantees.

He is not going to hold your hand during the process but you will get excellent results.

We started out with 150 Gonal F in the morning and 75 Menapur at night and then we decreased Gonal F dosage by the end of week one. Total cycle lasted 10 days. Results were 22 eggs retrieved. 20 frozen (but 2 were not fully mature but they froze them anyway).

$6900 for egg freezing and storage for one year. 1,000 for anesthesia. I received a discount because it was medically necessary for me.

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Dr Licciardi has great bedside manner and very personable. He seemed interested in getting to know us as a couple and he explained our test results to us in ways we could understand. He was thorough in all the tests he recommended and always told us his expert opinion, not just what we wanted to hear. He also listened to me and my concerns while going through IUI and I felt that we came up with my fertility plan together, which helped make me feel more involved and in control. Dr Licciardi never pushed IVF on us even though he believes that will be our best route, but knowing we weren’t ready and wanted to give IUI a shot, he was supportive and helped us to try and make that happen. After 4 failed attempts we decided to take a break and I started acupuncture. He was supportive and even encouraged it. We will be starting IVF in May. The only weakness I see is that I only saw dr Licciardi twice. Once during consultation and the next when he performed one of my IUIs. I’m not sure if that’s normal in all clinics but he is responsive and helpful over email which really helps ease my nerves when I have questions or concerns. My two friends have had success with Dr Licciardi so I’m hopeful and excited to see what happens.

Be upfront about your ideas and plans for treatment and email him with any questions or concerns, you’ll get the quickest reply.

All of my tests came back great, however my husband had slightly low motility. We wanted to start slow so our first cycle we tried natural IUI which Dr Licciardi was very supportive of since I have no discovered issues ovulating. After that failed we moved to Chlomid, followed by two more rounds using injectables. After 4 failed rounds I decided to see an acupuncturist and get my body and mind back in shape I order to start IVF. My cycles are on the shorter side which may be causing an issue with implantation. My acupuncturist and I are working together to correct that and it’s working! I’ll be starting IVF in May with a protocol of 150 Gonal F and 150 menopur to start.

Our clinic does not do multiple embryo transfers and they explained the risks very clearly. My husband and I are on board.

I think Dr. Licciardi is a very caring doctor and has a lot of patients and I appreciated his attention during our appointments but wish I had called him more often during actual treatments to see how he would have responded. As I wrote earlier, he does always call back within a reasonable amount of time but doesn't always seem to know why I would be calling and he would answer questions that I think are significant pretty quickly, so that I wondered if he was considering all of my own unique information or just answering generally what he would tell a patient in a similar situation.

He is very honest and up-front. Be in touch with him a lot if you want actual feedback re your protocol. Don't rely only on the nurses. He will not oversee your actual case but if you want him to check something, he will. I think in all of our cycles I only saw him in the ultrasound room once during morning monitoring periods.

For the egg freezing/retrieval I think he went to highest dose on everything because of my age and other health issues. I was at first freezing eggs as a single woman (with my first doctor, not Licciardi) then embryos with partner for future use (with Licciardi) and eventually thawed the eggs I'd frozen with another doctor (now working with Licciardi) to make those into embryos and did 2 cycles of FET using the eggs from my youngest age. He had me on progesterone shots for one FET cycle, with estradiol pills, even though my cycle is very regular; I was never sure why. And I was on progesterone suppositories for the second FET cycle, no estradiol. I don't remember the egg freezing exactly as it was a few years ago but it was some combination of Gonal-F and Follistim and ovidrel. I know I didn't do the medication that you have to mix together at home when i did the cycle for freezing with him. I'm not really sure of his rationale for the egg freezing -- I guess it's the usual protocol he starts with then adjusts if it doesn't work? For the FET I also didn't know why we were using estradiol when estrogen always normal and I ovulate on my own. Second cycle of FET we tried suppositories because of the pain at my injection site. Also would only transfer one embryo at a time because he said was big risk in having multiples and did NOT recommend PGD or any other biopsy pre implantation. I think he said because egg quality was good. I did have an IUI with letrozole days 3-7 (was supposed to be days 5-9 but there was a miscommunication re what day my period actually started). Also used trigger shot in the morning about 27 hours before IUI. I got pregnant but miscarried around 9 weeks (I had been transferred to OB after heartbeat.) Went back for another IUI two months after miscarriage; not successful.

It went relatively smoothly when I was able to be there by 6:45 a.m. Hours don't start till 7 a.m. but like everything in NYC, people get there early and start to line up. When I really needed some sleep and went in a little later, different story. Also, the nurses would ask me for my allergies and what medications I was taking each time even though it was in the computer. I started carrying a list. I think all they cared about was latex but if you have a long list of allergies that you yourself can't remember, it's frustrating to have to recite it every other day. Then sometimes the doctor would make a change of protocol and I wouldn't know why or know that I needed to have my partner there with me for consent forms. It sometimes went flawlessly, other times, not at all so.

First round, years ago, all out of pocket and nearly $20,000 for an egg retrieval and embryo creation (for freezing). Then the clinic went in network and my 2 FET's were covered by insurance but I reached my lifetime maximum fertility benefit with the 2 FET cycles and everything is out of pocket. I haven't gotten the bill for the IUI but looks as if it will cost a couple thousand because of all the morning monitoring. (I never get the home ovulation test kits to work right for me so I chose to have monitoring done at the clinic and I required a lot during the cycle post-miscarriage.)

For me, he definitely was set on single embryo transfer and would not even discuss allowing me to have more than one embryo transferred. He would not budge.

Dr. Licciardi is one of the top in his field, but does not have the arrogance that sometimes comes with that. He is patient, and caring. He takes the time to listen and explain. Though we did not see him at most appointments, we spoke to him often and felt comfortable that he was overseeing our treatment throughout. We were not from NY, and Dr. Licciardi worked with us, to enable us to do part of our cycle with my local Dr. Dr. Licciardi does lecture around the world so he is not always in the office, but even when traveling his staff can usually reach him,

Ask questions. He offers the information the average person wants to hear, but if you are like me and want to understand all the details, ask him to elaborate. He will, and he will explain it clearly until you are satisfied. Also, you can't separate him from the NYU, the clinic that he practices in - NYU is large, and it is important for you to advocate for yourself. However, we were happy with almost all the nurses and staff there and always knew we could go directly to Dr. Licciardi with questions or concerns.

We had MF (low sperm count) and FF (PCOS). We came to Dr. Licciardi after having done a surgery for MF, monitored cycles and IUIs and having had one miscarrigae. We knew we wanted to move on to IVF. Dr. Licciardi recommended a basic IVF protocol - gonal-f, PIO, ganirelix, doxycycline, ovidrel trigger - as our medical presentation made us good candidates for a basic cycle. Thankfully, he was right. We were able to transfer 1 fresh embryo, and froze 5 all of which were BB or above. We failed the fresh cycle - I believe my body was just too traumatized from all the meds of the cycle. We took a month break and came back for a FET, which was successful.

I went about an hour into the monitoring hours, after the morning rush but before the latecomers. I don't think I waited more than 15 minutes any morning. Very efficient.

12,600 for IVF cycle + 3000 for ICSI + 1000(?) for embryo storage

From what I understand, Dr. Licciardi feels strongly that it is safer to transfer one embryo, and rarely recommends transferring multiple. We discussed this at length with him prior to our FET, and ultimately trusted his judgment and transferred one.

We found Dr. Licciardi to be smart, experienced and to the point. I would recommend him without hesitation, but perhaps not to someone who wants a doctor to be extremely warm and compassionate and hold their hand throughout the process. I wouldn't say that Dr. L was NOT warm or compassionate, but I also wouldn't call him a warm & fuzzy doctor. That was not important to us – we only wanted a doctor who was very experienced with a track record of success – so we were very happy with him.

Ask blunt questions and expect him to be straightforward with you.

I don't remember specific medications or dosages. We stared the regular way (I believe I had a gonal F pen), but I reacted strongly to the meds and needed to be seen daily for monitoring and given the antagonist drugs fairly soon in my cycle (I believe it was Ganirelix).

There were a lot of people, but it ran like a well-oiled machine. You could go anytime between 7 and 9am, which was nice for some flexibility, but the later you got there, the longer the wait would be. If you arrived during the first half hour, there was basically no wait.

A round of IVF was $18,500. Since we had a lot of embryos and did PGS testing and an FET, that added on about $10k more in cost.

The NYU practice strongly recommends a single transfer, especially with PGS embryos. You would have to override their recommendation to transfer multiple embryos.

I ended up hospitalized with severe OHSS but was able to maintain a healthy pregnancy.... I saw Dr Liccardi when I first went to the clinic and spoke to him numerous times before my course of treatment. When my husband and I were given all of the information about Tammy specific treatment it was reviewed by a nurse in a room with other couples. I saw dr liccardi infrequently during treatment. He did not do my transfer or retreval. He did however play a more active role in my care once I was full of fluid- and eventually hospitalized. ... this should never have happened.

He is a great doctor but demand more personalized care. Do your homework and ask all the questions you need. Be sure that your comfortable with your course of treatment

I decided to do IVF w dr liccardi after trying clomid pills for many months with my Obgyn. Dr liccardi felt strongly that an IUI or IVF cycle would work very well for me. We went with IVF (insurance covered one round) my treatment included the HCG trigger shot. (Looking back- This should not have been part of my treatment) treatment was fine. I was a "chicken with 18 eggs" as one of the doctors told me. Retreval was a breeze. When it came to transfer I told the current doctor I was feeling incredibly bloated, uncomfortable etc... he told me since I had no weight gain it was normal since 18 eggs were remove. I proceeded with the transfer. Shortly after (a day or two)I found myself short of breathe and when I lied down it felt as if I was drowning..... turns out I was pregnant but I also had OHSS. I was hospitalized for a few nights. I had a lung tap, multiple stomach drains in dr liccardi office, another ER visit w another. Lung tap and yet another stomach drain. I gained a ton of weight due to fluids. Somehow I was able to maintain the pregnancy and today I have a healthy boy

I partially answered this with the "number or person" question. Dr. Licciardi was very upbeat with my initial assessment and FSH levels, and quickly got me started on testing and polyp removal to make my chances as high as possible (I had never tried to get pregnant and was doing this with donor sperm). When my FSH levels subsequently elevated, he was sympathetic but to the point that I might get lucky with IUI and he would support that for 2 or 3 cycles. I think some women might have taken that as uncaring, but I felt like he was only being honest and not judging me nor did he want to mislead me. When I failed at IUI but my FSH and estrogen had improved I met with him regarding IVF. He was not in favor of it, but said we could try and then he had a positive, supportive attitude throughout that process. When it failed and I cried, saying I felt stupid for trying at my age (I was at that point 44 years old), he told me I shouldn't feel bad at all about that and he seemed quite genuine with his supportive comments. I commented that I had a family member interested in donating eggs and he was very positive about it. Overall, I think he is neither mushy-concerned nor cold about his assessments. He seems genuinely interested in his patients and in helping them. And when I pushed a little to do something he did not recommend, he quickly took my side. This was important because I think being very downbeat about the process or feeling like your doctor is annoyed or unsupportive because you don't agree with him can make it all too hard. I never had that kind of negative experience with him. But he also was honest and "to the point" about the process at each stage, which might seem uncaring to some women. I am not the kind of person who pushes hard to get my way, and I think that had a positive effect on my interactions with him. I do not know if that aspect of my personality may have hurt my chances, such as when I only had 2 follicles with my IVF cycle (at a high level of hormone treatments) and he said we needed to convert the cycle to IUI. I now feel pretty confident he made the right call.

The patient should expect honesty, but understand he and the clinic are trying to get good numbers. He will recommend what he thinks gives you the best chance of success at having a baby, especially considering most of us have limited resources and usually can't do more than two IVF cycles with our insurance. As a patient, you want to pull out all the stops. I think that dynamic goes on with all the doctors. But I do believe he really believes in his work and wants to help.

It's been quiet a while and don't remember a lot of details. He recommended IUI cycles with HG injections to time the injections. With IVF he went high on the hormones, which I think was right given my age. He also said with IVF that they won't do retrievals unless there are at least three follicles. I only had two so he recommended I stop the medications and just to HG injection with IUI. With the donor egg cycle, we synchronized our cycles with birth control pills and then went to estrogen pills and progesterone shots daily. I don't know the rest of the protocols for the egg donor.

I don't remember much. I think the first IVF cycle was maybe $10k or $12k before insurance. The frozen embryo cycle was less than $5k. Frozen embryo cost $1,200 plus another $1k annually for storage. IUI was much cheaper

Since I used a younger donor and told him I couldn't handle having twins, he was very supportive of doing just a single embryo transfer. It worked out great for me.

First consult he was kind, encouraging and listened. He explained everything and made a plan that workedfor me. On important appointments, for sonos and pregnancy tests he was present. Always asked how I was doing and made the visit very personal. He was genuinely happy for me when we got the positive results.

I feel he has your personal best interest in mind when working with you

First my issue was not getting pregnant, it was having a healthy baby. I have a chromosome translocation which leads to miscarriage or fetus death. It was a hard pill to swallow when I had to turn to using donor eggs. He never made me feel like I was alone. Once I chose a donor from a private agency they did ALL the work for me. I just showed up for blood testing during cycle. I cant remember what injectable I used to sync our cycles. But Week prior to transfer I injected progesterone oil I think so embryo will have better chance to stick. Day of transfer went so smoothly and contined the oil injections a few more days. This IVF resulted in a positive pregancy. I have a gorgeous baby girl who is now 2 1/2 years old. We are choosing not to tell our child and family about using donor egg. I have a 9 year old daughter using my own eggs.

Including using private donor. This cucle cost us around $30,000

I chose Dr. Licciardi based on the very thorough way he explains everything and his detailed approach. He may be more "scientific" than some patients prefer it I knew I was in good hands. The nurses in the practice are very hands on and knowledgeable.

Trust his approach and go to him if you are comfortable with a top notch Doctor in a very busy practice. You may not get a ton of 1:1 attention but you will get great care.

Clomid and IUI for several years of unexplained infertility prior to seeing him. He prepared me well that it would likely not work and we would need to move to injections but surprise, it worked!

My insurance covered a portion (up to $5k per year I think). I covered the rest.

During the consultation Dr. Licciardi was very personable and thorough in reviewing the IUI and IVf statistics with my husband and I. He was available following my unsuccessful cycles for any questions or concerns I have.

Ask questions because he is available and willing to explain.

1- Gonal F with Ovidrel for 1st IUI cycle. Gonal F was chosen over clomid bc my body had previously grown cysts with Clomid. Chemical Pregnancy. Ended having to take another Ovidrel 3 weeks post IUI to help remove cyst. 2 - Gonal F. I ended up ovulating before actually taking the Ovidrel. IUI was canceled. 3 - Switched to Menopur for follicle growth and began using cetrotide to delay ovulation.Ovidrel. No success with IUI. 4 - Menopur and will start cetrotride soon.

$35 copays and $100 per IUI. Medications averages around $195 per cycle.

He was patient and explained everything in a way that I could understand. I never felt like a number or a statistic. He was knowledgeable and compassionate. He called me during the cycles and afterwards to discuss next steps or to congratulate when cycle took.

Have your questions ready and be open to any course of action proposed.

My first cycle he utilized clomid and other meds in order to help with the stimulation. When that cycle failed (it was my second) he suggested donor eggs. The donor egg cycle worked.

He goes for single embryo transfer initially.

Dr. Licciardi was recommended to us by my OB/GYN. He was very sympathetic to our specific challenges, and at first I felt in great hands. But after many months of poor results, I never felt like he went above and beyond for us, or was willing to try new, different, or outside-of-the-box ideas/treatments.

He's been doing this a long time and has loads of experience, but if I was to do this all again, I'd have pushed for more aggressive treatment -- or recommendation on alternate measures (donor, GC, etc.).

To my knowledge at NYU, they will not transfer multiple embryos. In my case, we never got that far.

First impression was great. My husband and I felt comfortable within a few minutes of meeting dr Licciardi. He clearly explained all of our options and helped us every step along the way. He was always available to speak with and answer questions, concerns etc...

Dr Licciardi is part of a large practice. He will not be with you every step of the way. There are many other doctors and nurses that you will see on a daily basis once your treatment starts. Each dr in the practice has a specific day when they do transfers, retrievals and other procedures. Which dr you get depends on your cycle and the day of the week. Don't be disappointed- dr Licciardi still knows what's happening to his patients.

efficent. Hours are between 6-9 the earlier you arrive the quicker. Those that come closer to 9 have a long wait

Insurance covered it

He is very honest and professional while still being compassionate and sensitive to outside factors. He is accessible and very willing to work as part of an integrated treatment team. He is a good communicator.

Go to him!

We are doing IVF with PGS and hopefully having more than one healthy embryo so we can freeze for later use.

$15000

In my case he was adamant about only one embryo to minimize risk.

He was upfront, friendly, asked questions and listened. He was very pessimistic about my treatment and personally called me to recommend aborting the cycle half way through because of the low number of eggs. He however did not offer any alternative, so I proceeded with the cycle and became pregnant with only two eggs retrieved.

Disorganized, unfriendly.

Dr. Licciardi was great - very personable and put us at ease immediately. We never felt rushed or pressured to do anything and we began treatments even after declining some recommended testing (HSG). Dr. Licciardi returned phone calls personally and when we were getting impatient and wanted to explore adding medication to our IUIs he suggested another round of natural before going that route and that's the cycle I got pregnant. We now have a two year old and are starting the process again with Dr. Licciardi for baby number two.

Great doctor. Felt extremely comfortable with him and felt like I was well taken care of even though I didn't receive the results I wanted from him

Your in good hands and if you have questions ask hell be happy to help

I don't remember much. I remember estrogen patch with menopur and gonal f and ganerelix

Insurance didn't cover any of my treatment so it was about $15,000 each time including ivf icsi and meds

Dr. Licciardi is a great mix of blunt and delicate. He really takes the time to get to know you. He has been very helpful through the process. His nurses are also wonderful. We're not done yet but we plan to continue with him.

Get to know his nurses

Chlomid, IUI and Letrazol

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