Dr Malpani tells you why you must always get photos of your IVF embryos !

The failure of an IVF cycle always causes major heartburn. The next question is - Why did the IVF cycle fail ? What should I do next ? Did I get good quality medical care ? Or should I change my doctor ?

This is always a hard question to answer, because even if the quality of medical care provided is excellent, the IVF cycle can still fail. How is the patient to judge the quality of technical competence of the IVF clinic ? Did the cycle fail because the clinic was bad ? Or was it just bad luck ? You cannot rely on a doctor's bed side manner to judge his clinical skills - you need more tangible evidence - but what should you be looking for ?

Fortunately, the answer is very easy - you should ask for photos of your embryos ! The core competence of a good IVF clinic is to produce high quality embryos. Of course, whether these embryos will implant and become babies after they are transferred is not something which any doctor can control - but the quality of the embryos is a tangible end point which can easily be measured and compared.

I feel every patient should ask their IVF clinic for photos of their embryos - and most good IVF clinics will routinely provide these to their patients, even without being asked. Good clinics are proud of their skills - and are happy to show off the embryos they make in the IVF lab to their patients !

If your doctor refuses to give you a photo of your embryos, you should worry a lot ! What does he have to hide ? And why ?

And if you need help in making sense of your embryo quality, please email your embryo photos to me, and I'll be happy to help !