When you are having trouble conceiving, IVF treatment may offer a solution. With these treatments, skilled embryologists select the healthiest embryos for transfer to your uterus, helping to increase your chance of successful conception.
Finding the right IVF clinic can make the process less stressful. Use these tips to ensure that the clinic that you choose meets your expectations and provides a safe environment to assist with your fertility issues.
How Do You Know If You Are a Candidate for IVF?
Choosing to seek assistance is not always easy. Many women deal with their fertility issues for years before seeking help. Unfortunately, waiting can decrease the chances of pregnancy.
Fertility experts often recommend that women who are thirty or older and have not gotten pregnant after trying for at least six months should schedule a consultation at an IVF clinic. Women of any age with existing fertility issues or who have had multiple miscarriages may also benefit from IVF.
IVF treatments are not just for women over the age of thirty. Younger couples may seek IVF treatments when the fertility issue is related to male infertility. In these situations, the clinic may offer ICSI treatments to obtain healthy sperm for fertilization.
If these details apply to your situation, you may be a suitable candidate for IVF. To learn more about IVF, you should start your search for the best IVF clinic.
Ask Your Friends and Family for Referrals
The first place to start searching for fertility clinics is close relations. You may know someone who has gone through the IVF process. Whether she successfully got pregnant or not, she may be able to share her positive or negative experience with the clinic.
After you find a clinic, you should view their social media profiles and website. Look for customer reviews and comments to learn more about other people’s experiences.
Visit IVF Clinics to Evaluate the Environment
You should never choose to seek treatment from a clinic without visiting the location and evaluating the environment for yourself. The environment is a good indicator of the quality of the clinic.
There are several details that you should pay attention to when you enter the clinic, starting with your gut feeling. When you walk into the IVF clinic, you should consider whether you feel comfortable. This may be influenced by your interactions with the receptionist and the overall state of the facility.
You may see staff busily running around. They may seem agitated, unfriendly, or in a hurry. These are signs that the clinic is unorganized. While the fertility experts may be fully qualified to assist with your fertility issues, you may not want to trust your embryos to an unorganized staff.
Review the Credentials of Key Staff Members
When you seek IVF treatments, you will work with several skilled professionals. Besides the doctor, you may work with nurses and embryologists. As these people are going to handle your eggs and embryos, you should ensure that they are qualified for the job. You can review their qualifications to evaluate the competency of the clinic.
If possible, you should also try to meet these staff members. In-person interaction will help you decide whether you feel comfortable with the nurses and other employees at the clinic.
Determine What Treatments Are Offered
The primary reason for visiting an IVF clinic is to receive IVF treatments. Before choosing a clinic, you should ensure that they offer the right approach to fertility issues.
Qualified fertility experts understand that every woman is different and experiences different fertility problems. Due to these differences, more than one treatment option may be necessary.
For example, many women require hormone treatments to promote healthier eggs before the egg retrieval process. You may also require a sperm donor or donor eggs. Some clinics may not offer these options.
Explore Male Infertility Treatment Options
Men are an equal part of the fertility equation. Besides treating female infertility, the best clinics provide treatments for male infertility, such as low sperm count or low-quality sperm.
While ICSI treatments are commonly used for these issues, a quality clinic may also offer IMSI, PESA, or TESA treatments to increase the likelihood of successful fertilization with lower-quality samples. Discuss treatment options with a fertility expert to gain a better understanding of the solutions that they will use to assist with your fertility issues.
Determine What Treatments Your Insurance Covers
In some states, insurance providers must provide coverage for IVF treatments. However, patients often need to pay out of pocket. Before you select a clinic, you should determine what treatments are covered by your insurance. Your insurance may also only provide coverage when you visit certain clinics.
While insurance coverage can help reduce the cost of IVF treatments, you should use this as your primary method of selecting a clinic. The most important details include the experience of the staff and how comfortable they make you feel.
Evaluate the Rate of Successful Pregnancies
You should also review the success rate of the clinic. While the federal government requires clinics to report their success rates, not all clinics measure this success accurately.
Some IVF clinics measure successful pregnancies based on the per cent of positive pregnancy tests. The problem with this method is that it does not account for the increased risk of losing the pregnancy before the first anatomy scan.
For a more accurate indicator of success, IVF clinics should measure their success rate based on the number of pregnancies that make it past the first eight weeks.
Last Thoughts on Choosing the Best Fertility Clinic
IVF treatments are responsible for the births of millions of healthy babies. However, choosing to visit an IVF clinic is a major decision. These treatments can be costly and do not guarantee pregnancy.
Before selecting a clinic, you should learn more about the treatment plans offered by the clinic as well as the details discussed. Find out if your insurance covers IVF treatments. Visit the clinics in person to meet with the staff. If you take the time to find the right clinic, you will feel more comfortable throughout the IVF process.