Fertility Center of the Carolinas

I have a significant trauma history and my partner and I are a queer couple, and she made me feel comfortable in opening up to her about some sensitive issues. She was compassionate and understanding and covered all the information making sure that she answered all our questions, and she encouraged us to reach out through MyChart if we came up with questions later as it was a lot of information to process at once. I was also sent a MyChart message from her following my appointment with all the information we covered so I could go back over it at any point.

We were unable to afford the treatment we were hoping to pursue, so the one piece of advice would be to be prepared financially if able to do so.

The only thing we have tried so far is doing AI on our own, and when that was unsuccessful for a number of tries, she started me on Letrozole 2.5 mg tablets. I took 2 tablets daily on cycle days 3-7, this way my body would be forced to ovulate, possibly releasing multiple eggs, and this would help increase my chances of conceiving. I have tried this twice, but both times we had issues with the sperm donor we had found, so no success.

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Dr. Likes takes the time to listen to my concerns, answer all my questions, and provide me with a comprehensive understanding of my condition and the available treatment options. What sets Dr. Likes apart is his genuine compassion and empathy. Infertility can be an emotionally challenging journey, but Dr. Likes has made me feel understood and validated throughout the entire process.

Make sure you prioritize open and honest communication. Dr. Likes possess the necessary medical expertise but also makes you feel comfortable and understood.

I was seeing another reproductive endocrinologist, and while she's on medical leave I was referred to Dr. Likes. I've had 3 medicated cycles prior to seeing Dr. Likes. On our first visit he asked me where I was with fertility treatment, how many children I would like to have, and how aggressive I was willing to go with treatment. Seeing that all my labs were fine, and also my partners we should look to see if there is something structural that is causing infertility. We decided to do another medicated cycle with timed intercourse, and we made an appointment for an HSG. Currently in my two week wait.

The HSG was partially covered by my insurance $500 out of pocket.

From our visit video conference, I felt Dr. Green had a pleasant voice and demeanor. She asked a ton of questions to get a background on me and also my partner. My first virtual appointment lasted close to a hour. She recommended different testing that I hadn't done in a while to get an update for my records. My first in person appointment i felt comfortable as she performed the test because she kept the room light and talked me through what she saw. She came up with a plan that included different medications that my other doctor hadn't prescribed. I saw her for my IUI a month later. My IUI was unsuccessful so I wanted to move on to IVF. It took a while to get an appointment and I ended up with a virtual appointment. Dr. Green listened to me talk about not wanting another IUI and the success I could have with IVF. She explained the success rate with IVF and even told me about a grant through her clinic I could apply for. After our conversation, I felt like she had explained IVF to me in a way that she was also supporting my decision to move on. The next day I had appointment to update my labwork.

Be patient if you're not able to get an appointment right away.

One of Dr. Greens treatment strategies were using a higher dosage of medicine for my IUI cycle. After she looked over my old chart, she realized my previous doctor hadn't tried a certain medicine to take during my cycle nor a certain shot for ovulation. Her rationale was she wanted to overestimate my ovaries in order to have sperm meet an egg. The IUI was unsuccessful

I fortunately have infertility insurance so my co-pays haven't been that much. I did have to pay close to $600 upfront for a procedure that I was not told about when I made the appointment. I am currently waiting to see if my insurance will approve IVF.

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We used Cryos International. We simply gave Cryos our doctors information and address and the sample was sent and arrived on time.

There are not enough good things to say about Dr. Likes. He is truly everything you want in a fertility specialist. To begin with, he makes you feel heard and seen. He never rushed us through any of our appointments. Every question we had was answered and with great clarity. Next, he is on your side! I left feeling like he was just as hopeful as we were that our treatment would be a success. Last, he made sure we always knew our options and that WE were the ones in control of what steps would be taken next in our fertility journey. A wonderful, caring doctor!

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! He is happy to answer them all for you!

We began on a Femara 7.5 daily dose for days 3-5 of my cycle. After one cycle on that, and getting the results from my husband’s semen analysis, Dr. Likes suggested we try IUI. We began our first round with an Ovidrel 250 mcg trigger shot, and after several rounds, Dr.Likes suggested adding Gonal-F injections as well to help with follicle stimulation. We started with 75 units on days 7, 8 and 9 of my cycle. I also had an HSG test done to make sure that there were no bloackages in my Fallopian tubes. Everything came back clear. After this, we had 3 more IUIS. Dr. Likes recommended maxing out around this number as the chances tend to decrease after 3-4 rounds, but we were told we were welcome to keep pursuing this treatment if we wanted to. After 5 failed IUI cycles, we were told that our best chances of conception would be through IVF, due to low sperm count. We are currently saving money to pursue this option.

Insurance covered most costs. The most we paid out of pocket was around $250 for a consultation when our deductible had not yet been met.

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I had an excellent experience. I started seeing him prior to ever trying for kids because of PCOS. Little did I know I’d need to see him again for infertility. He remembered my history and was very good at explaining each aspect of our infertility journey.

Be open and upfront about your current struggles and your expectations. Go in with a list of questions you want to ask. It’s so easy to forget once you get there.

Initially started with femara and progesterone due to PCOS. Very quickly along the way, we discovered both my husband and I are CF carriers. He immediately recommended moving to IVF so that we could test the embryos for cystic fibrosis

Approx $16,000 total. Most was covered by my insurance.

They strongly recommended only one embryo be transferred. They explain to us that IVF already has an increased possibility of multiples and that a miscarriage of one embryo could harm the other embryo.

Dr. Von Hofe was everything I could have dreamed of in a fertility specialist. She was kind, caring, compassionate, and treated me like a human. It felt like Dr. Von Hofe became family. I would go to every appointment with a list of questions. She never rushed through appointments and took as long as needed to answer every question. She never once spoke down to me or in a condescending fashion. She was happy to provide as much detail or explanation that I requested. I felt comfortable suggesting things to add to my treatment plan and she would discuss the pros and cons or adding or not adding my suggestion. I always felt extremely cared for. She comforted me through tears and surgeries. I never felt like the emotional toll of treatment was diminished or that she was not empathetic.

I would take a notebook of questions with spaces for answers to every appointment. I found that extremely helpful to navigating the large amount of information I was given. Dr. Von Hofe is knowledgeable that I would forget things she said but could look back at notes.

I used an antagonist protocol. We were especially concerned with hyper stimulation so we started on lower doses of Menopur. I ended up under responding so we ended up tripling the total Menopur over the course of stims treatment for my egg retrieval. We added quite a few supplements to egg retrieval prep. We also added a low dose of levothyroxine to possibly reduce miscarriage rates.

Our clinic was great about billing ultrasounds and any bloodwork possible as GYN first to try and lower costs. I believe we spent around $15,000 for our egg retrieval and IVF cycle without medication. IUI costs without medication were approximately $600 per cycle.

My doctor presented eSET as an option but we did not utilize it. She never passed judgement or pushed us towards one decision or the other.

Dr. Likes was very down to earth and friendly. He is easy to talk to. With fertility issues, I feel like that's a really important quality to have. I didn't feel embarrassed to communicate any problems or questions to him. He didn't seem to talk down to me or above my head. I could talk to him like I would talk to a friend. I felt as if he truly cared about me and my outcome. He was open to anything I suggested or any questions I had. Sometimes I think I asked the same questions multiple times but he never seemed frustrated or like I was wasting his time.

Be 100% honest and don't be afraid to ask whatever you're thinking. There are questions/fears you may have along the way that you feel are irrational and you don't want to verbalize to him, but if you do you'll be glad you did.

I don't remember everything, but we started with oral femara and then a trigger shot of Ovidrel for 3 cycles, moved to IUI, and then did 2 egg retrievals and 2 IVF transfers, which both failed. I had a surgery done and after that we started back at step one with femara and the Ovidrel.

I really don't remember. IVF was expensive. The medications for IVF and IUI were expensive. I feel like the one IUI was around $1800. Fertility is an exclusion for my insurance so ultrasounds were about $250 per ultrasound for me.

He did express that he felt like a single embryo transfer was best, but seemed open to doing two if we preferred.

Dr. Miller is: -Precise -Attentive -Asks questions -Is open to lots of questions being asked by us -Is treating both my husband AND myself, so he truly knows the full picture -Honest -Suggestive in treatment options -Warm and empathetic -Sympathetic -Gives us hope -FUNNY! Man, Dr. Miller is funny!

Dr. Miller acts like he is your friend from the moment you meet him. There was never any kind of awkwardness during our consult or during any subsequent visits. He looks at both my husband and I when talking, not just to one of us. This helps because it makes us both feel included. I love his transparency on everything - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

We have only done IUIs so far, so I can't speak to IVF protocols. What I can say is this: Our first IUI was with just Femara pills for me and Clomid pills for my husband. The follicles weren't as abundant or mature as we would have liked. Next IUI round, Dr. Miller adjusted my Femara dose AND added an hCG trigger shot, which yielded much better numbers of follicles in each ovary!

I have insurance that does not cover ANYTHING! So everything is out of pocket. IUIs: $300 for follicle Ultrasound and ~$500 for the IUI itself. The trigger shot was $103

We did talk about the number if IVF was the road we needed to go down (which it's now confirmed through failed IUIs that we need IVF), he did say a max of 2 embryos. We are totally okay with that!

Dr. Likes has been great so far. He found my uterine septum and performed my septum resection surgery while making me feel hope that I would get through the secondary infertility battle. He has been kind and answered all of the questions I’ve had so far in a way that helps me to understand what’s going on.

Go in to the appointment with as much honesty as you can. That can steer the conversation and appointment. Dr. Likes made me feel comfortable answering any questions that he had.

I was on metformin and letrozole before Dr. Likes suspected I had a septate uterus. After the septum was found, I was put on birth control and the septum was respected via a hysteroscopy. I was then put on Estrogen and Progesterone. I now have a normal uterus, and I am again attempting conception with letrozole.

Expensive! My insurance doesn’t cover infertility and I had to have more than one ultrasound/bloodwork, etc. and it got pricey. Luckily my surgery was covered by insurance but still cost over $1000 out of pocket.

Dr. Green was very peppy and upbeat, she maintained a positive and encouraging -yet realistic attitude throughout my treatment. She explained things on a level my non-medical husband could understand, and was very thorough in laying out our options and odds of success for each pathway.

Write down questions before your visits. I always ended up sending another message to her full of questions I forgot to ask (which she patiently answered), but it would have been easier to ask in person during our visits.

Sperm motility was our main issue, after one failed IUI, we were able to move straight to IVF without having to go through a certain number of failed IUIs as I have heard others requiring...I am so thankful for that - from a money and emotional stand point. We chose to only implant one embryo at a time, for higher and safer odds, and though my baby was born prematurely - he was healthy and did not require a NICU stay. Our original plan was to do a fresh transfer, but I showed signs/developed ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome so we deferred to a frozen transfer to be safe.

For 1 round of IUI, and 1 round of IVF plus all medications my total cost out of pocket was probably $6-8k. Very lucky with my insurance.

Dr. Green recommended that we only transfer one embryo at a time, due to age and chance of splitting after implantation. She laid out all of the odds and risks associated with twin pregnancies (I also work in a NICU and was hyper-aware of these and did not want to take any chances). Ultimately she told us it was our decision but we agreed that we wanted to only implant one embryo at a time.

Dr. Likes is very knowledgeable and receptive to discuss issues with us in depth. But I do feel like you need to be your own advocate and make sure you are heard. Schedule appointments to discuss things with him (rather than the nurse). If you don’t have a positive test, schedule and appointment to discuss things. Make your own list of items to discuss and be your own patient advocate. Take notes of your appointment. They have a lot of patients but no one knows your case better than you do. Be your own advocate.

Be your own advocate.

First IVF - lupron, gonal-f, and menopour. We tried to do metformin beforehand so as to not have OHSS but it made me too sick. Second IVF - same protocol. Good results with both cycles in so far as eggs retrieved.

We had insurance coverage that after meeting your deductible, it was an 80/20 split with a $20,000 lifetime max. We are very fortunate.

First cycle we did a fresh transfer and transferred two. Second cycle we decided to transfer only one embryo.

Every time we see Dr. Likes, he sits beside us and talks to us like we are real people. He answers any questions with great detail. He understands I like to know every detail of the process and is very honest with me. He is good at giving us different sides to each treatment that way we can make an informed decision.

Bring any questions you have and write them down. Sometimes you can get off the track and forget. Also, he talks fast but just tell him to slow down!

I first started out on Femara and Ovidrel (trigger shot). We kept increasing the dose and checking my blood levels. We have done Gonal F injections, increasing those medications based on my follicle count. We starting doing a second HCG shot 1 week after the trigger shot to support my HCG levels and also adding progesterone suppositories.

My husband works at GHS, so I am on his insurance. Before we meet our deductible, ultrasounds are usually around $250, blood work is around $50, medications vary from $5-$100.

Dr. Greene was very outgoing and friendly but when it came to the medical terminology and explanations we felt that she took it all a little too quick. We wish that she would have slowed down to explain everything better for us.

Make sure that you are aware of all outcomes from your procedure and don't be afraid to ask questions... no matter how silly or repetitive.

The IVF nurses were the ones explaining protocol and treatment rounds to us.

I know that for our egg retrieval and FET, including medications we have spent about $17.500 out of pocket. We are waiting on an endometrial biopsy to figure out the next steps of our process. We have one frozen egg left to transfer and we will do that once all of our prior concerns and questions have been met.

Dr. Miller takes his time with us. That is important to me. I feel like he sees me as an individual and not just another patient bringing in money. He is sincere and supportive. I would highly recommend him to anyone seeking treatment for infertility.

Ask all of your questions. He will take the time to answer them. He cares, and he is supportive.

Dr. Miller first ran blood work where he found a low AMH. We were doing timed intercourse and Femara at the time. Once he saw the low number, he changed the course of treatment to a hormone therapy, which brought the AMH number up. We tried Femara and injections, but I had a modest response. He then took the time to meet with us and discuss our options. He gave us a couple of options, and we chose IVF. He then arranged for us to meet with their finance person in order to get an idea of cost. Based on a suspicion of endometriosis, we opted to do a laparoscopy to give Dr. Miller a chance to look around as well as to treat me for severe cramping during menstruation. He found two areas that were causing my pain. While I was in recovery, he took the time to speak with my family and answer all of their questions.

My insurance covers a majority of my costs. They have set up a meeting for my husband and I to talk to a financial person who took the time to explain how my insurance works and what it would cover. I really appreciated the information!!

No comment. We haven’t gotten to that point yet.

He is a very good and caring doctor! He is direct and forward with things! He makes sure to cover all areas, even other health concerns. Other doctors haven’t cared about that side of things. I have heart problems and he keeps up on the cardiology side of things. We are trying to plan for IVF and he has informed us of the steps and process thoroughly.

Be direct and be prepared that he will be direct and not sugar coat things. But we want a doctor, which means we want the straight forward answers.

Progesterone to force periods, Flemora, Gonal F, and HCG.... he tried using birth control before as well.

My insurance has covered a lot. We are about to do IVF and sadly our insurance will not cover any of that procedure and as anyone knows it is very expensive. We are having to put all of our saving into it and working hard at saving more to make this happen. Sad part is it makes it tight financially if we do get pregnant from this.

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I feel like she has been very proactive about my treatment plan despite being her patient for a shorter time frame. She has contacted me directly to discuss various matters without me having to always go through a nurse to communicate.

Fully explain to her how you are feeling and that she will listen to your concerns.

So far I have only done timed intercourse with oral and injectable medication. On day 11 of my cycle I come into the office for a follicle ultrasound to determine progress.

Office visits, medication costs, procedure costs like uterine biopsy, bloodwork, regular ultrasounds.

He seemed very caring and passionate about what he does. He made us feel at home and comfortable while going through treatments. He was always there to speak to when we needed to come in and catch up. He explained everything great.

That they can fully trust him!

His protocol for us after reviewing everything was fine was not to over do it. We did one IUI with Femara, Ovidrel and Gonal F shots, we tried just Femara, we done timed intercourse with the Femara and Ovidrel, then we would add Gonal F shots to those.

Ovidrel-$109 x2 per cycle Gonal F-$150 x2 per cycle Mid cycle follicle US-$290 Femara-$10 IUI-$323 Sperm analysis-$80 x2 One IUI, three just Femara, 4 includes shots.

Dr Likes was pretty straightforward. While I appreciate that, I would have appreciated some empathy as well. Also this office in general, the doctor included, wasn't exactly forthcoming with explaining each step, each phase, why things were happening, other options, etc. He was just sort of ok.

Don't expect any feeling/ empathy and don't expect to really understand what's happening.... just expect to roll with the steps they give you in your packet. And expect to do a lot of the legwork yourself.

I don't remember everything. I'm of advanced maternal age, and only have one functioning tube. In addition, years ago I had a huge fibroid cyst that broke through the wall of my uterus causing me to have an emergency myomectomy. I believe we just went thru a routine egg retrieval with normal medications, and two frozen transfers. Finally I decided to have my remaining 3 embryos PGS tested, and only 1 came out viable so we are in the process of getting ready to transfer the remaining one very soon.

Our experience with Dr Likes was great. I would recommend him to anyone. We didn’t get the results we wanted, of course, but we felt confident that Dr Likes did everything he could and even tried some unconventional measures. Our case was pretty rare.

Advocate for yourself, do you own research, and remember that doctors are just people. They don’t know everything, and you are the expert on your body.

We had 2 unexplained early miscarriages when we were referred to Dr Likes (8.5 weeks and 7 weeks). I was 24 and my husband was 23. He began by running a series of blood work for recurrent pregnancy loss. Checked AMH, thyroid levels, clotting issues, Karyotype, etc. and all blood work came back normal. He conducted an ultrasound to check for uterine abnormalities and found none. We tried medicated cycles (Femara) first because i always had irregular cycles. The theory was that if we could induce ovulation earlier, the egg quality may be better. We got pregnant and miscarried. This happened twice. We tried upping the medications (femara, gonal-f, and ovidrel) to time ovulation and timed intercourse. We had a few negative pregnancy tests, and then got pregnant again. This time the pregnancy was ectopic (left tube) and ended in emergency surgery where I lost my tube. We took a break and Dr likes recommended IVF with PGS. We always got pregnant easily, but the miscarriages were so early and spontaneous we didn’t know anything about the embryos. His theory was that our embryos weren’t good quality and expected to see that in PGS results. He wanted to try to get as many eggs as possible so we could hopefully find at least one PGS normal embryo. We did a freeze all cycle in January 2017 where we retrieved 20 eggs. 17 we’re mature and 16 fertilized. 10 embryos made it to day 5/6 blastocyst stage and 8 came back PGS normal after testing. We were all surprised by these results. We had an embryo transfer a couple months later and it was a chemical pregnancy. We tried another transfer 8 months later after I went on a gluten/dairy free diet (for possible inflammation). We did depot Lupron for 3 months prior to transfer to treat any endometriosis and “reset” my system. We did natural stimulation instead of synthetic (I actually ovulated, produced my own estrogen and progesterone, etc). The pregnancy was negative. At this point, dr Likes doesn’t have any ideas. We have considered treatment with a reproductive immunologist who specializes in recurrent pregnancy loss due to undiagnosed immunological issues.

I am not sure how my insurance factored in, but I know they billed things generically (not specifically fertility related) whenever they could to maximize my insurance coverage. I usually paid around $30-$100 for bloodwork (before meeting deductible), $100 for an ultrasound, $150 for consultation. For our IVF cycle, we paid around $5,000 out of pocket to schedule everything and insurance covered the rest. Our second FET was $1000 out of pocket.

Dr Likes preferred one, since it was known they were genetically normal before hand. He was open to two, though, if we had preferred.

Dr Miller goes out of his way to make sure he explains all treatments and options and that we feel comfortable with our plan of care. He is positive yet realistic. He listens to our concerns and makes sure he addresses them. It is apparent that Dr. Miller cares about his patients and does everything in his power to help patients start a family.

Trust his advice but don’t be afraid to ask questions.

We had insurance coverage for part of our treatment. Our IUI cost aprroximately $500. The remaining balance for IVF was around $5,000 and $3,000 for medication. Due to being unable to do a fresh cycle due to issues with my lining being too thin we had to freeze our eggs which resulted in extra and unexpected costs. Eventually we ran out of money in the middle of a cycle and we had to pay an additional $1800 that was discounted.

Dr. Miller always suggested we transfer 2 embryos to increase our chance of success. He is always open to patients opinions and never pushed us to do anything we were uncomfortable with.

Initially, Dr. Miller was not as aggressive as I was hoping he would be. We had relocated to Greenville from Los Angeles and my doctor in Los Angeles was extremely aggressive with treatment. It took a few cycles but Dr. Miller did eventually get on board with a very aggressive treatment plan.

Trust him! He knows what he’s doing.

Our first protocol was an IUI cycle with femara and Follistim combined. I only got one follicle that cycle but ended up having a chemical pregnancy. Our second IUI cycle was all follistim and I had 4 follicles. We used an all injectable cycle because that is what worked having my older son. Unfortunately, this round didn’t work. We took a break to save some more money and I lost some more weight then we had a spontaneous natural pregnancy that ended in miscarriage. I had a laparoscopy done to clean out any endometriosis and scar tissue and we are planning to start back to IUI soon!

The cost with Dr. Miller was significantly more than it was having my son in California only because we did not have insurance coverage. Every baseline ultrasound or follicle check was around $300, IUI was around $300, and the sperm wash with around $80.

Dr. Likes has taken us in more as family than patients. He sits with us and answers every single question and concern we have. We've been on this journey for two years with one loss at the very beginning. He understands this and his number one priority is myself and my husband and getting us to a healthy pregnancy!

Don't hold anything back. Not emotions, questions, concerns, any of it. He can and wants to handle this for you and with you!

I don't ovulate regularly. We have gone from Chlomid, to Femara and then Femara with IUI. Each cycle seems to be getting better and better. We also do ultrasounds each cycle. I get to see my follicles and now I know exactly what they are measuring simply by viewing the screen during the ultrasound.

We do not have fertility coverage through insurance so this has all been out of pocket. Last month alone was $1,017. Each month is it upwards of at LEAST $500.

Dr. Forstein was easy to talk to and listened to me. He changed the protocol after the first failed round. Dr. Forstein came up with another idea to try before a third round of IVF. He showed compassion when he was unable to find a reason for our infertility.

Your time with the doctor will be limited. Try to come up with all questions ahead of time. Most questions will be answered by the nurse especially if you email.

I took Lupron shots every morning. I took Menopur and Gonal-F at night. The first round I had a shot that resembled the HCG shots. The second round I had the official HCG shot. The second round of IVF required me to take a medicine used to treat PCOS even though I do not have PCOS or any signs of it. I had to watch all my sugars on that medication or I became sick. He kept the protocol pretty much the same from the first one to the second one because he felt the first round didn't produce good egg quality so he just tried to increase my egg quality for the second round. Both rounds produced several eggs, most which died over night, with only two making it to the third day each cycle.

It cost $15,000 before insurance each round. The second round was more expensive since insurance ran out.

He transferred two embryos each time because that is all that survived.

Dr. Miller was a great doctor. He listened to all of my concerns and answered any questions I had. He is very smart and seems to love what he does. Dr. Miller came into the waiting room and walked me back for my first appointment. He described what PCOS is and some of the treatment plans. We talked about weight loss, but he wasn't rude about it. He went about it in a caring way and offered helpful advice. I was always aware of what to expect at each appointment. Dr. Miller is very informative. My insurance changed at work, and I no longer have the funds to seek fertility treatment at this time. I would love to return some time in the future. I highly recommend Dr. Miller. He is absolutely one of the best doctors I've ever met.

If you have any questions, do not be afraid to ask him. Dr. Miller is very informative and has a passion for his work.

I was placed on Metformin twice daily along with prenatal vitamins. I had ultrasound on Cycle Day 3. I took Femara Cycle days 3-7. I had one failed IUI.

I only had the chance to meet with Dr Lessey twice during my time trying to conceive. I did meet with him during every visit once I had conceived, and I felt so thankful to him for the pregnancy that resulted from his treatment.

I have heard he is retiring. He is a wonderful doctor, but if he has retired by the time you read these, please do check out the other doctors at FCC. The staff in general are really wonderful.

I had done fertility meds (Clomid) with an OB. Dr Lessey helped show me that Clomid was thinning my lining and making pregnancy unlikely. He switched me to Femara and then to Femara plus Ovidrel, both with timed intercourse. I got pregnant on my third round of Femara plus Ovidrel.

Many of my treatments were covered under insurance.

Dr Lessey requested I abstain from a cycle when I had 4 mature follicles. He indicated that the risk for multiples was too high.