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IVF services offered in San Diego, CA
IVF (in vitro fertilization) combines healthy eggs and sperm in a lab to help people conceive. Samuel Wood, MD, PhD, MA, MBA, HCLD/CC(ABB), FACOG, and his team at Gen 5 Fertility Center in San Diego, California, specialize in assisted reproduction techniques like IVF. They offer advanced ovarian rejuvenation therapy, and an advanced genetic testing program ensures only healthy embryos are used for implantation. To see if you’re a good candidate for IVF, call Gen 5 Fertility Center today or go online to schedule a consultation.
IVF Q&A
What is IVF?
IVF (in vitro fertilization) offers hope to people unable to conceive naturally.
It involves taking eggs and sperm from the intended parents or donors and completing fertilization in a special lab.
Who might benefit from IVF?
You could benefit from IVF treatment at Gen 5 Fertility Center if you’ve had no success with other fertility treatments or if you have a fertility issue that requires IVF. Prospective parents can use their own eggs and sperm or eggs or sperm from approved donors.
The team implants the resulting embryos in your uterus or someone who carries your child to term but has no genetic links to the baby, a gestational surrogate.
What does IVF involve?
IVF treatment consists of several important steps:
1. Ovarian stimulation
Although not critical, in general, successful IVF requires multiple eggs, but women typically produce a single egg in each menstrual cycle. Ovarian stimulation involves taking fertility drugs to encourage the ovaries to produce higher quantities of mature eggs.
2. Egg retrieval
When the eggs are mature, you undergo egg retrieval. The Gen 5 Fertility Center team fertility specialists sedate you and extract the eggs using ultrasound image guidance. The average number of eggs is 8-10.
3. Fertilization
After collecting the eggs, a highly skilled technician mixes them with sperm in the lab or sticks a single sperm into each egg (ICSI) and leaves them to incubate. The process usually takes five to six days.
4. Genetic testing
Once an embryo matures (known as the blastocyst stage), it undergoes testing to see if it has any genetic abnormalities. That involves sending small cell samples to a reproductive genetics lab for preimplantation genetic screening (PGS), now known as preimplantation genetic testing (PGT-A). The team freezes the embryos until the results are back, and an embryo transfer and implantation can occur.
5. Uterine preparation
To prepare your uterus for implantation, you take fertility medications. These help to build up the lining of your uterus and make it sticky so it’s ready to nurture the embryos.
To minimize the risk of multiple high-risk pregnancies, Gen 5 Fertility Center typically transfers only one embryo. Any remaining genetically normal embryos remain frozen, and you can use them for further rounds of IVF in the future.
In some cases, Gen 5 Fertility Center enhances your chances of successful IVF using one of five Ovarian Rejuvenation procedures, including advanced PRP (platelet-rich plasma), enriched platelet factors (EnPLAF), ULTRA, and ULTIMATE.