Lauren Johnson

We absolutely loved Dr. Johnson! My husband and I frequently refer to her a "unicorn doctor" because she is not only so incredibly smart, but also extremely personable. All of her decisions were rooted in research and we trusted her decisions and treatments completely. She explained every test and procedure and made sure we understood why we needed the testing and how it would impact our treatment plan. She took time to answer all of our questions and never made me feel rushed or like I was a bother. After two miscarriages, I was a high anxiety patient and she always took time to reassure me and listened to my concerns. I liked that we always felt like we got a straight answer from her. She didn't "sugar coat" bad news and kept expectations realistic; we appreciated this about her.

Trust her! If she suggests a test or treatment plan, know that it is specific to you and your situation. She doesn't have a "one size fits all" protocol and will explain her decisions to you in a way you will understand. If you have questions and concerns, ask her! She will always take time to reassure you and answer questions if you have them.

After two miscarriages with Letrozole, Dr. Johnson decided it was best to "mix up the hormones". She suggested using Menopur with IUI. My menopur dosage was determined based upon my previous response to letrozole and my AMH. Because of a high AMH she suspected I would be a high responder, so she kept me on the lowest dose of Menopur to avoid getting too many eggs and having to cancel a cycle. Her choice to use the lowest dose of Menopur was exactly what my body needed- I produced two eggs, exactly as she predicted. This first treatment with Menopur got us pregnant! We ended up graduating the clinic at 8 weeks, and we are still pregnant with no signs of miscarriage (12 weeks today).

I have the NC State Health Plan and most of the procedures and medications were covered under my insurance. An ultrasound from the doctor was $55, an ultrasound from a nurse was $32, my HSG was $75, and my Menopur and Letrozole was covered under insurance. Note that Menopur will only be covered by the State Health Plan if you're planning to use "Timed Intercourse" and not IUI (this is important for when the clinic submits a prior authorization request for the medication). Once you are approved for Menopur coverage, you can change your protocol to IUI if wanted/needed. The only procedure that wasn't covered under my insurance was IUI. This procedure was $550.

Although the outcome with my fresh transfer was not what I was hoping for, Dr. Johnson was very compassionate and optimistic with discussing options to proceed with the next steps in my continued attempts for pregnancy. She answered all my questions and discussed options to see if there were ways to make a frozen transfer in the future more optimal.

She is honest and thorough when discussing the best options and answering questions.

My infertility diagnosis is due to bilateral tubal blockages but also had lower ASH. I had menopur and Ganirelix injections followed by hcg injection and lupron shot with frequent US and blood tests to evaluate the response to the medication throughout the process. I did not proceed with PGTa but had genetic testing prior which was negative for me and my husband. I 5 eggs retrieved which all fertilized but only 2 mature enough to proceed with transfer. I did a fresh transfer resulting in a biochemical pregnancy and have upcoming frozen transfer planned with the last embryo. Throughout the process based on the US results they would make appropriate adjustments in the dosages if needed of my medications.

Self pay would have been up front cost $11400, but thankfully my insurance did have some coverage and was $5067 up front. The cost for medications was around $4000. The following visits and subsequent costs are still being billed to insurance and being claimed.

They provided me with a chart and explanation prior to transfer explaining the protocol and they only do multiple embryo transfer in few cases based on a variety of factors which can include age and stage of the embryo being transferred. They adhere to the guidelines outlined by SART and are members this organization which adheres to high ethical principles. I am 31 with suspected good egg quality and only transferred one embryo during my fresh transfer.

Strengths: knowledgeable, straightforward, informative, professional, medically trustworthy. Weaknesses: lack of connection, made to feel like just a number or that I should already know what to do/what to expect, rarely communicate or meet face-to-face.

Write down a list of questions to ask. And do not leave a consultation until they are answered and you are 100% comfortable.

Tracking my irregular cycle. Calling on the 1st day of my period. If I didnt have one, then calling to let them know. I was prescribed medications to help me start. Then I'd call once I did. On day 3, i would arrive for an ultrasound of my uterus to count my eggs. Depending on the #, I would be prescribed medication and come back a week a so later for an additional ultrasound and bloodwork. At that time, they would decide when the IUI would take place.

I waited for an exceptionally long time to get any information on my cost of care.

Lauren Johnson is a compassionate, driven, highly educated lady with a lot of experience. She has been through infertility herself. She is very thorough with her appointments and you never feel rushed in/out when seeing her. I would not recommend anyone else!

Don’t hesitate to make an appointment even if it’s just for a consultation with her! You will not be let down! We went in thinking there would be no way we could afford it or even do anything other than meet with her, I was overwhelmed before going and then we got there and she has a calm nature about her. She explained everything, even drew us pictures to make it make sense. She answers all our questions no matter how crazy and redundant.

Originally we went in for unexplained infertility and was also diagnosed with PCOS. She ran a very detailed bloodwork panel analyzing hormones, blood count, egg quality and count, numerous things as well as doing STD screenings on both of us and sperm analysis on my husband. We also had the option to do a test to check for abnormalities that may cause issues with a fetus long term prior to starting. Dr. Johnson goes through a detailed history of your medical history as well as your lifestyle and healthy changes you may need to partake in. After we go through that initial stuff she told us we would try an IUI first since my husband and I didn’t seem to have anything wrong other than me not ovulating on my own, he has a child so we shouldn’t have a problem on his side. We started the cycle by using progesterone to start my period followed up with a ultrasound and bloodwork to check my levels and to make sure I’m ready to start with the medicine to help me ovulate. (I had previously tried Clomid with my OBGYN with no success.) We started with Femara one pill a day for 5 days starting on cycle day 3-7. I did not respond and produce any mature follicles (I did have 25 cyst in one ovary and around 30 in the other) so we piggybacked and tripled up on Femara for the next 5 days with no luck and with one more piggy back we went back to Clomid and we had one mature follicle. After you confirm a mature follicle and bloodwork looked good we had to have do am Ovedril shot to help push the follicle out of the ovary and then have intercourse that night between 6-8. The next day we both had to go to the office for bloodwork (me) to check to make sure levels looked good as far at uterus lining and ovulation has or is currently taking place, my husband had to do a sperm deposit to be cleaned up and ready for use if I cleared with my bloodwork. They called us back in a few hours to report back at 11:45 and we had the IUI procedure. They walked us through it as it was our first one and explained everything in detail. The. You go on the dreaded two week wait to find out if you’re pregnant. In that time you still take your prenatal meds, any vitamins they put you on based on bloodwork and progesterone vaginal suppositories to help prevent first trimester miscarriage. We did become pregnant with a little girl with Dr. Johnson’s help then we were released from REACH at 10 weeks, however after being with my OBGYN We lost our little girl at 17 weeks and have currently been in for more IUI with maturing follicles in the first try with medication but no successful pregnancies yet.

For each IUI cycle we paid around $1800 including oral prescriptions, shots, ultrasounds, bloodwork, the semen deposit and cleaning and the procedure itself.

Not applicable to us

L. Johnson is very is very knowledgeable. She reviewed all of my lab results and why she chose initial plan of treatment. She also brought me back in to talk about next steps after cycle failed. I don't know why L. Johnson has a lower score. As a doctor she was great.

Ask questions if you don't understand

stimulation involved gonal F 450, land low dose HCG, then added cetrotide , then lupron trigger. Had to stimulate an extra day due to follicles on one side not growing as big. Then progesterone in oil prior to transfer. 4 eggs retrieved, 3 mature, 2 fertilized via ISCI. 1 embryo arrested on day one. 2nd embryo slow to develop and arrested on day 6. Transfer cancelled.

1 ivf cycle was $12,295 plus about $5,500 for medications. Had to order an additional gonal F pen because ran out with unforeseen additional stimulation day added

after failed cycle, I was told to try vitamin supplements and testosterone cream to help with egg quality due to being at advanced age I wish this was suggested prior to first cycle to see if it would have made a difference.

I was very upset that she never told me she was pregnant. In December (while planning my 2nd surgery) I finally asked if she was expecting. She said yes and she in January so then I had to ask who would I be under during her leave. She had only removed 1 complete septum before mine. Insisted that I have a SIS to see if scarring had occurred after. I pay $1000 for the test, told no scar tissue so start TTC with just a Ovidrel shot. Pregnant first try! Miscarriage 7 weeks later. Pay $1000 for another test to show scar tissue did come back... have the entire surgery performed by her again 2months later. Declined to pay for another test after. Start femara, Ovidrel, eventually include and IUI back to only meds, no pregnancy. Get 2nd opinion by Dr. Hurst...septum was never fully removed after 2 surgeries and both tubes had been blocked due to last attempt at dr Johnson’s surgery.

I recommend researching her. Does she have a lot of experience with what you need to conceive? Are you ok with your RE possibly randomly becoming pregnant and having to cross that awkward bridge? Are you ok with her not showing a lot of emotion when you see an empty sac on the ultrasound and then go back after natural miscarriage?

After both surgeries she used a balloon catheter and hormone therapy and antibiotic. Dr. Hurst did none of the above. He also guides and directs whereas Johnson seems to go with whatever you say and not lead you.

Not sure maybe around $6000

She is a good balance of candid and compassionate. She maintains good eye contact and she really listens to what you are asking. The only drawback is usually they were running behind schedule.

She is one of the more balanced providers at REACH, meaning not too blunt, but not too soft in her approach.

We tried several IUIs and none of them resulted in pregnancy, but she was open to whatever we wanted to try- IUI or IVF.

IUI is 1,026. Plus meds.

We have not done IVF yet (we will in a few months), but she said we will do a single embryo transfer for the first 2 attempts.

I love doctor Johnson, she is always compassionate, positive, and knowledgeable. She is very careful to move your treatment along in the least invasive but thorough fashion possible. She helped us conceive our son, and is currently working with us to conceive another. My only complaint is that I don't see her often in the course of treatment and scheduling a meeting with her can take awhile.

Schedule ahead of time if you need a consultation! She's very busy!

Our over all strategy for treatment was to be as minimal as possible because my partner and I are not high income. We did several medicated and monitored cycles with letrozole and clomid (during different cycles) we also used an ovidrel shot for each of those. When they didn't work we moved up to IUI with Clomid and Ovidrel. Our first try did not work, nor the second. Our third was cancelled because I only developed an egg on a blocked tube, but I actually got pregnant that cycle! This time around I tried 4 medicated cycles, then we moved up to IUI with letrozole, Gonal F, and Ovidrel. The first was a fail, the second we added progesterone and a higher dose of Gonal F. It resulted in a chemical pregnancy. We took a month off after, and are planning to do one more IUI before moving on to IVF because of my age.

We were completely out of pocket with cost. A medicated cycle cost $675 I think, plus the cost of medication which added another $200 or so. IUI was about $1200 with about $600 in medication. There's also bloodwork that may be covered by insurance and the cost of HSG test which was covered by our insurance.

My experience overall with Dr. Johnson has been good. I wish that she had performed all my IUI’s but only did 1 out of the 6. She was good at explaining the treatments but I really felt like she was not good at maneuvering through every Tilly treatment and that is not going according to textbook. I had polyps growing in my uterus that they were monitoring during the first 3 IUI’s and I think a lot fell through the cracks because it took 3 IUI’s to determine if the polyps were growing or not. I feel like we wasted those 3 IUI’s. She also didn’t mention anything about an injectable IUI till we had done 5 IUI’s and were discussing with her about moving forward with IVF. I feel like some things fell through the cracks because she wasn’t there performing all my IUI’s. I see now how important that was to me. I think things would have been caught and resolved a lot sooner. She is very thorough when it comes to explaining all that the fertility treatments will entail. I would t say that she’s compassionate but more to the point. Very type A personality. During one of our appointments we had to wait for 2 hours because someone misscheduled our appointment with her to discuss IVF. They kept giving us he run around for 2 hours saying that she’s almost ready for us but they were just stalling us. I feel like that was more fault on the clinic and not the Dr. but it would’ve been nice for her to offer to not have us pay for our appointment since we had to wait so long.

Do your research before going to see any RE because I feel once you know what the fertility treatments are all about then you can ask the right questions. I feel like I went in not knowing much and wish I did so that I could ask more targeted questions.

For the first 5 IUI’s we did the following protocol: clomid (only for the 1st IUI because both my husband and I had horrible dry eyes from it — they switched me to letrozole and my husband to anastrozole. I haven’t noticed any severe symptoms on these medications.) We both came into the clinic for bloodwork and I did an internal ultrasound. I came back into the clinic 2 more times for bloodwork and internal ultrasound before the actual IUI procedure. I would take the letrozole for 5 days and then do an ovidrel injection (trigger shot) 2 days before the IUI. They would call and tell me based on my bloodwork and ultrasound when I would need to come in for the IUI. For our last fertility treatment we did an injectable IUI. It’s like a regular IUI but with more injections. We had very similar monitoring but I had to keep coming back every other day for them to monitor my follicles because they were growing a little slower. They originally said that I would have 4 injections total but did 7 total because my follicles were growing slowly. I did 6 gonal-f infections at 50mg each and one ovidrel injection. All my IUI’s were unsuccessful.

IUI — $1000 Ovidrel — $100 Letrozole — $10 or under Gonal-f — $300-400

We have male factor infertility and she was the most caring and compassionate towards that. My husband has a rare genetic disorder and she educated herself about the disorder. I ended up having fibroids and had to have a hysteroscopy and she was very patient and kind in explaining everything to me. When we learned that I was having a miscarriage, she sat with me and went through all the options and wouldn't let me leave the office without knowing she was incredibly and profoundly sorry for what I was going through.

Be open and real with Dr. Johnson. She is an extremely thoughtful and caring doctor. Trust her process and ask all the questions you can think of.

We used gonal-f and menopur. It was a slow and steady growth. The rationale was that I was healthy and ovulating well on my own, so she didn't feel the need for me to have large doses. I started low on gonal-f, and gradually increased the dosage. I had 14 eggs retrieved, 11 mature and 8 fertilized.

Monitoring was held from 7-9:30 a.m. I would show up around 7:30, sign in and would be seen quickly (about 10 minutes) for ultrasound. Then would go to have blood drawn. I was quick and efficient. Completed in under 30 minutes most days.

Around $13,000 with ICIS.

My Dr. saw that I was a healthy, young woman and did not want a high-risk pregnancy (twins) with me, so transferred one 5-day embryo. The rationale was the likelihood of twins from multiple embryo transfer was too great.

Lauren had a plan in place every step of the way. From start to finish, she made clear expectations and results expected. Although our IVF did not succeed, we knew where to go next. We ironically had a spontaneous pregnancy 4 months after our failed cycle. We were planning on tying again the following year with her recommendation for the updated protocol.

let her handle it, and trust her knowledge on getting you on the right path to your fertility needs.

I do not recall at the moment but would be happy to provide this information after contacting my clinic for the information

$10,000 through work compensation for IVF, and another 5-10K on top of that out of our pocket for IVF (this excludes any other treatments we saw under other doctors)

We chose two embryos for the likelihood of pregnancy after transfer as well as our ability to financially support multiples of that should happen.

I always felt informed and understood what my next step would be. Dr. Johnson was very kind and was able to give me hope and explain what my challenges were and how we were going to go about it. Although I wish I was able to see her more at the appointments, the portal was a great way I was able to check message and ask questions.

Take notes and come with questions ahead of time

She started with iui. The first one worked and I had my son in 2016. 6 months after his birth we did an IUI again and had a chemical pregnancy. Then 5 more iui’s that failed. I went on to get pregnant natural and it was ectopic. Dr. Johnson performed the surgery to remove the tube. I tried ivf with another doctor due to cost. Then after that fail went back to reach for embryo adoption.

$6,000 for embryo adoption, $2,500 for 2nd transfer. $4,000 for iui

She said due to my age and health, I would only have one transfer at a time.

Dr. Johnson is exactly the type of doctor I needed. She is warm, empathetic and answered all my questions and worries thoroughly and never acted like she was in a rush. She is extremely smart and up to date on the latest studies etc. I felt like my care was tailored to my situation.

Even if you forget to ask a question during the visit, her nurses are very responsive and helpful over the patient portal.

Used gonal f and low dose hcg prior to egg retrieval. Triggered with lupron. Then post transfer was PIO and 3x/daily estradiol pills.

Monitoring was usually very quick and efficient. I appreciated the 3 hour window they offered which gave me flexibility.

$6,000 in medication, $5,000-6,000 for care through the clinic. Partially covered by insurance.

Great care and excellent experience. Explained treatment options and course of action. Very patient and I never felt rushed. Dr. Johnson took her time and was always aware of my feelings and needs. I would recommend Dr. Lauren Johnson to others. She is a respectable doctor.

Dr. Lauren Johnson is going to take her time and not rush into anything. As a patient, be ready for the process to take time.

5 IUIs 5 embryo transfers 1 laparoscopy 3 hysteroscopies Outcome- currently 27 weeks pregnant with a baby boy

Insurance covered part and out of pocket was around $50,000.

We decided together the best choice.

Dr Johnson has always taken the time to sit with us and go through each part of our diagnosis process. she takes the time to answer each question we have to the best of her ability and never rushes us though our appointments. she has always been very honest about outcomes and treatment options, even if it’s not what we want to hear

If it is important to you to have a Dr that treats you like more then just another patient, Dr Johnson is your Dr

Dr Johnson is very professional and caring. She helped me feel at ease with the plan we decided on. I felt very confident with her clinical decision-making, and in fact we did not have any issues until other providers in the practice were involved in the most critical stages of the process.

Discuss the need for potential contingency plans in the event unexpected situations arise.

I felt Dr Johnson sufficiently discussed the pros and cons of both options.

She is excellent at communicating and making sure you understand exactly what you can expect. We felt very comfortable with the knowledge we walked away with. She wanted to make sure we start with the best choice for us given our unexplained diagnosis.

Utilize the patient portal.

Clomid 50mg for the first 2 IUIs. The first one I responded well with 2 follicles but only produced one good follicle with the second one. For the third IUI she upped my Clomid to 100mg days 3-7.

$750 per session of iui

Na

She is an amazing doctor. She has done research specifically for my case, and changed treatment courses when things weren't working. I have no bad things to say about her. She even remembers things I tell her unrelated to treatment, and will chat with me during procedures! I can tell she truly cares about me

Be prepared to ask lots of questions!

I have done one egg retrieval and 5 transfer cycles. Two were cancelled. On both the cancelled cycles, Dr. Johnson adjusted the protocol and found a new thing to try. We are still getting it right, but we are getting closer and closer. She has also performed numerous testing on me, including a hysteroscopy.

Expensive. I think total cost so far is in the 40k area. Insurance covered a fair portion.

Dr. Johnson only wanted to transfer one for my first two transfers. Especially as I'm very small framed. After two failures, she let us elect to choose to transfer more if we wished.

I can only describe our experience as just feeling really disconnected from our doctor. We didn’t have many interactions so I can only really assess our experience from other angles of our time with the clinic as a whole.

Advocate for your own care. Come with a list of questions to every appointment and don’t be afraid to send follow up questions or you may feel left in the dark.

Im not totally comfortable sharing this information.

We’re at around $18k

We have not completed our IVF cycle yet.