Matt Coward

Dr. Coward is very knowledgeable and appears to be a very skilled surgeon, but I always felt he was quick to promote drastic procedures without evidence to justify them. It's always felt as if he's pushed me to different surgeries, not out of necessity, but more out of a hope that it may do something. I understand male factor infertility is hard to diagnose, but he would recommend surgeries with no clear benefit, but was simply hopeful that after the surgery I "may" see an increase. The surgeries were also booked months out and also require months of recovery before seeing benefits, so pursuing any of the surgeries would put us behind another year in our fertility journey. I frequently felt like I was not heard and I was being steered towards surgeries with no clear benefit. I started seeking consultations with other urologists.

If you have a clear diagnosis for male factor infertility, I'm sure he is a great urologist to operate on you. If you have unexplained male factor, I would take all recommendations with a grain of salt and seek a second opinion before pursuing a surgery.

I was diagnosed with minimal varicoceles although my semen analyses were fine. He recommended I pursue a varicocele repair although there was no evidence it was necessary or would improve my already acceptable semen quality. I was told my numbers were definitely good enough for IVF so we pursued that. We had a failed transfer and in the review he again recommended varicocele repair as well as TESE. Upon receiving second opinions from two other urologists, I am comfortable declining the two procedures as their is no known advantages from either procedure to my specific case.

Consultations are $350 for an hour, possibly more now.

Dr. Coward did a varicocele repair, and it went very smoothly, and recovery was relatively easy. I wish that was all that mattered, but during this emotional time, bedside manner also matters. And Dr. Coward is great. He isn't overly emotional or warm, but he has a way of showing respect and kindness. He was easy to talk to and seemed present during appointments. I trusted his medical advice and skills. He was clear about what he knew vs what he didn't, and it seemed like he was up to date on literature and also weighing general recommendations with our particular situation. I would definitely recommend him for any male-factor needs!

Like many fertility doctors, it takes time to get in. Otherwise, this advice isn't specific to Dr. Coward, but it has helped me with him and other doctors. And that it is important to do your own homework too and be prepared with questions. In this instance, it was helpful to look at the semen analysis and other labs ahead of time. Then I could be prepared to ask him if something looks off but he hasn't brought it up. He was always willing to explain why that didn't concern him or thank me for bringing it to his attention.

Dr. Coward wasn't exactly involved in cycles. He addressed male factor issues, primarily through varicocele surgery. It is too early to say if it has helped.

About the previous group of questions - I'm not sure if I could answer them all appropriately given we haven't undergone assisted fertility treatment yet. But related to costs, it wasn't always clear what was happening. For example, one time the front desk said we have a "credit", but we had never really gotten a bill for any of the clinic visits. The varicocele surgery was a different story as it was conducted in a different facility. We got bills and financial information from that, but that was luckily covered by insurance (after deductible and coinsurance).

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I felt that Dr. Coward did a great job, and we love having him as our doctor. We walked away from our appointment feeling confident that one way, or another we would have a family. He was very explicit and thorough during our appointment, and was positive about the options that we had. We would recommend him to any friends or family struggling with male factored infertility.

Go in with your paperwork, and with questions you are ready to ask.

Dr. Coward wanted to do a surgery to fix some varicose veins that could be causing infertility. It would take about a year to see results, and he felt strongly that we would see an increase in our numbers and quality of sperm. We decided that we wanted to do IVF before the surgery, and Dr. Coward was supportive of our decision.

We had to pay over $200 for our consultation visit for bloodwork, and a vein analysis. We will be paying for a semen analysis, and to bank sperm as well in the future. We will be paying for various scans, tests, and IVF in the future as well.

I trust Dr. Coward. He’s knowledgeable, helpful, and encouraging. He’s also honest about whether or not he thinks a course of treatment will end up being successful. I saw him while participating in a fertility study, but would consider becoming a regular patient.

Be prepared. He will tell you when he does not think a procedure will be successful.

I was a participant in a fertility study during which I received three rounds of Clomid, Novarel, and IUI. It wasn’t until we were in our second cycle that Dr. Coward had to explain to my partner and me that we had male factor as well, because my husband’s numbers were very low. He suggested a course of action for us and gave us facts for our chances of success with the IUI moving forward.

I’m not a reliable source here; my procedures were of no cost to me because I was participating in a study.