Q: We’re having trouble conceiving but I’m hesitant in seeing a fertility specialist as I don’t think we are ready for IVF. To be honest, I don’t even really know what IVF is?

A: I think first up, its important to know that a visit to a fertility specialist doesn't always mean you will embark on an IVF cycle.

​

Fertility clinics offer cycle monitoring, ovulation induction (where ovulation is stimulated by clomid for example), intrauterine inseminations (where sperm is washed and inseminated into the uterus) and of course, IVF. Your specialist will order a range of tests for both you and your partner. These results can help to identify a reason for infertility and guide them in deciding the right treatment cycle for you.



IVF, or in vitro fertilisation, is the process where an egg from the female partner is placed together in a culture dish with many thousands of sperm prepared from a semen sample provided by the male partner. Over the next few hours, fertilisation takes place and a number of embryos are formed.

The fertilised embryos are developed in the laboratory over a period of two to five days, and then transferred to the woman’s uterus in a simple procedure called an embryo transfer.

​

Embryos are usually grown in the laboratory until Day 5, known as the Blastocyst stage, because there is strong evidence that these embryos are more likely to implant into the uterus during a fresh transfer. If more than two embryos develop, we can freeze those that are surplus for use in subsequent cycles.



​This science has come a long way since the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, was born in 1978. We now can also add various techniques to the IVF process to help improve success rates:



• Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) where a single  sperm is injected into each egg by an embryologist.

​

• Polscope which uses polarised light to study the genetic material in the egg.

​​