Maya Barsky

My husband and I are both less than 30, healthy, and active. No smokers, never during, healthy eaters. We could not get pregnant naturally. It was unexplained; the only low result we got was a borderline AMH. We started our IVF with Dr. Barsky to ensure we would have a chance for 3 kids. All the ultrasounds are performed by nurse practitioners, never by the doctor. You cannot ask any questions from the doctor; there is no direct communication at all. She chooses an average protocol for me, not for borderline AMH. I had 2 leading follicles during the first ultrasound; nevertheless, Dr. Barsky decided to start the IVF. It got us only 6 eggs, 2 mature, and 0 embryos. Dr. Barsky had no idea why we failed this cycle. I paid 200$ to get a consultation with her after I got the news about 2 mature eggs. When I learned we got No embryos, Dr. Barsky didn't even care to reach me. I was leaving messages through reception, and finally, she contacted me 3 days later. We asked many questions, including why she didn't cancel the cycle. I got a short answer that it is not possible. Later on, I got a second opinion from a different doctor, and he showed me that there was no chance of getting enough eggs that cycle because of the 2 leading follicles. And it was visible during the first ultrasound. What is funny, I asked the nurse during the first ultrasound if everything was good enough or if we should cancel the cycle. She only has a few patients, so I can think of one explanation, she is not experienced with different cases. She never showed me any similar cases or told me anything specific. D. Barsky sounds like a textbook without understanding what the reasoning is.

So, my lesson cost me 20K. And being 29 years old at the beginning of this IVF journey, it is tough to get such a failed cycle because of one mistake of the doctor. I hope that someone can avoid my mistakes and choose a different doctor.

I was on Gonal-F 225 UI, Menopur 150 UI daily And on day 8 of my cycle, she increased Gonal-F to 300 UI Added Fyremadel to avoid ovulation starting on day 7 And for the triggers Leuprodile + Ovidrel on Day 11 of the cycle

I spent 15K for the IVF and 5K for the medication. This clinic is more expensive than the average price

She is doing only single embryo transfers

We first met with Dr Barsky after over a year of trying naturally. I really wanted to try to have a baby naturally and was doing a lot of acupuncture etc. It became pretty clear during the process that I had PCOS and might not be ovulating naturally. My OBGYN was encouraging Femara or Clomid but I was being stubborn. She also said I could talk to a fertility doctor if I preferred to go that route and referred a couple clinics. I read through them and noticed Dr Barsky specialized in PCOS. After one video call with Dr Barsky my husband and I felt confident that she was the person to proceed with. I really liked the way she explained things and felt like she provided a lot of knowledge in a way that was clear and firm when it needed to be but was not fear mongering. Dr. Barsky did an ultrasound and confirmed the poly cystic ovaries and recommended Femara for assisted ovulation and also asked if we wanted to do timed intercourse or IUI. We opted to try timed intercourse first. The way the ovulation dates timed out I actually had to go in on the weekend to get checked out so had to go to the other office but the nurses there were lovely and took a look and said everything looked good for trigger shot/ proceeding with intercourse....so that's what we did and I got pregnant with our precious baby boy on that first assisted try. So grateful to Dr. Barksy and her team!

Go ahead and start the conversation ASAP and get things going! Don't hesitate because you are nervous about the unknown. They will help you along the way. Also you might not see the doctor every visit. We were ok with that/ didn't really need to see her every time (her team took great care of us) and if we were doing more intense treatment that might have been different. So I encourage people to just ask what their typical level of interaction with the doctor will be if that's something that is important to them.

I touched on this already in previous paragraph, and it has been a little while now, but this is what I remember....I have PCOS and irregular periods and when I was finally ready to get started was still waiting for a period, so they prescribed something (I think progesterone?) to make me have a period, and then Femara (a breast cancer drug that is used off-label for fertility apparently) to suppress estrogen to help prepare my eggs for ovulation. Then at a certain time point they did an ultrasound to look at eggs to see if they were ready for ovulation and I had two that had grown large enough to be released so they gave me a trigger shot (if I remember correctly this came to me in the mail and I had to take to the clinic to be injected?) and told me when to have intercourse. My husband was actually out of town at the time so I flew out to be with him. Then we just had to wait to take a pregnancy test. Dr. Barsky's office told me what day to take the test and it turned out to be fathers day and that's when we found out I was pregnant!

I believe it was like $200 for the initial consultation and $150 or so for follow up visits and there were probably 3 of those? This was in 2021

As her patient, Dr. Barsky made me feel comfortable and was wonderful to work with. She has a warm bedside manner and is great with communication. She is also very friendly and makes it feel like she is your friend in addition to your healthcare provider. She explained every test and procedure to me in detail, as requested. From our first meeting with her, she answered every question I had before I even got a chance to ask them! My partner and I feel that we have found the best doctor to give us our greatest chance of success with. We truly believe that if it weren't for Dr. Barsky and her team, we would not be where we are today (pregnant with our first baby).

If you want to know why something is being recommended, alternatives to the treatment/procedure, and the data behind the science, do not be afraid to ask her. Dr. Barsky will gladly answer all of your questions and give you additional information, to help you make an informed decision.

We did (3) rounds of IVF ICSI with PGT testing and froze all day 5 embryos. We then had (1) successful day 5 frozen embryo transfer and are keeping the remaining embryos frozen. For my first (2) egg retrieval cycles I was on FSH 150 IU daily (Gonal-F), Menopur 75 IU daily, Cetrotide 0.25 daily, and Lupron trigger shot. The last round of IVF we decreased my Gonal to 75 IU daily and I had a very similar response. We were doing IVF for male factor infertility, so Dr. Barsky was able to lower my medication dosage without any negative repercussions. For our embryo transfer i was on (3) estrogen patches and nightly progesterone in oil injections. I continued the PIO injections and estrogen patches up until 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Our insurance did not cover fertility treatments, so we paid out of pocket for all expenses. For a MicroTESE procedure, (3) rounds of IVF ICSI with PGT testing, (1) ERA, and (1) successful FET we spent an estimated $50,000. We are paying $500/year for additional storage of our remaining embryos.

We chose to transfer a single embryo because of my age (31) and low number of PGT normal embryos.

Dr. Barsky has an excellent bedside manner and was very thorough in our treatment plan. She gave us hope and calmed our fears through every step of our journey. She listened to all my questions and provided answers that didn’t feel rushed. I am grateful to have been a patient of Dr. Barsky.

You may not visit with her every visit but she is still responsive to questions through her Physicians Assistant. Write all your questions down so you don’t forget to ask, but know that you can call or email the clinic if you forget something or need more support.

For retrieval we used gonal-f, menupur, and eventually ganirelix. I was monitored every few days with stims and medications were adjusted accordingly. I was given cabergoline to prevent OHSS and did not get it. I planned to do an ERA but that was cancelled because my estrogen was still too high post retrieval and my lining was too thin. For my FET we did a natural cycle. I naturally ovulate late but they still monitored me early so I had to go in every other day for a week until my lining and hormones were finally ready. We did a trigger shot and then started on PIO shots and did our transfer about a week later. So far it has resulted in a successful pregnancy.

17,000 for egg retrieval and 6,000 for transfer plus 250 per visit.

She would only transfer one embryo. We understood her decision.

Dr Barsky was kind, considerate, direct and informative on my results, and regarding the process for my egg fertilization and retrieval. She would make sure to keep me informed on my results, and frequently check in to make sure I was handling the process okay. She is extremely smart, and knowledgeable which was so helpful in clarifying things I had questions on and made difficult concepts very easy to understand. She was present at every visit, and never made me feel rushed, rather would treat me like she would a family member. She has really great bedside manner. 10/10 Would recommend her to family and friends.

This process can be very complicated with many moving parts and not always have the desired outcome; but having good communication regarding the process, expectations and results with someone trustworthy and on your side, like Dr Barsky, it makes the process much easier to go through.

Meds I used: - Cetrotide 0.25 mg #5 - Gonal-f 300 pen #2 - Gonal-f 900 pen #1 - Menopur #10 - Lupron 4mg #1 We had about 4 ultrasounds in a cycle; I did about 2 weeks of injections as I was not responding as intensely to the medications, for which we were able to adjust accordingly. I was successful in egg retrieval at the end of the cycles.

The medications were the most costly portion of this process; I did need to extend my treatment out as. I was not responding to the first set of medications as expected which did add to the costs

Dr. Barsky was AMAZING! She was wonderful to work with - kind, compassionate, funny. She set me at ease during each appointment. With egg retrieval, one never knows what the outcome will be. She made me feel optimistic while remaining grounded about probabilities. She is highly competent and I would recommend her to everyone!

She is great to work with!

Dr. Barsky is first and foremost very knowledgeable about PCOS / fertility treatments. She was able to diagnose me with PCOS right away and begin treatments immediately. Throughout every step of the way Dr. Barsky explained what the process was, what the risks were, and what her advice was. I felt very informed and comfortable with the steps we took. In addition to being very knowledgeable, she is very personable. Dr. Barsky showed up for all of my visits, always making me feel comfortable and taken care of. I felt like I was in very good hands. Lastly, I had an amazing outcome working with Dr. Barsky. I felt my treatment was totally catered to me, and was tweaked during the process to make sure we retrieved the maximum number of eggs possible. After successfully creating 8 healthy embryos, it only took 1 transfer to have a healthy pregnancy. I have complete trust in Dr. Barsky's abilities and would recommend her to anyone!

Since I was a patient with a high chance of success, Dr. Barsky did not recommend multiple embryo transfers. She explained multiple embryo transfers is higher risk, and recommended a single embryo transfer.

Dr. Barsky always called when she said she'd call. Our appointments never felt rushed. She always gave me space to ask questions during my appointments. I would definitely recommend her care to any of my friends trying to conceive.

You're in good hands.

I don't remember.

$16,000