Nastaran Foyouzi

Tree of Life Center

Rated 8.5
Strongly recommend: 59%Neutral: 41%8.5
59% strongly recommend
4 reviews
Humanity
9
9
Humanity

Ratings of 1 mean patients felt this doctor treated them as "a number."

Ratings of 10 mean patients felt this doctor treated them as "a human."

Communication
9
9
Communication

Ratings of 1 mean poor communication.

Ratings of 10 mean excellent communication.

Frequency Seen
4.5
4.5
Frequency Seen

Ratings of 1 mean patients only saw this doctor once or twice during treatment.

Ratings of 10 mean patients saw this doctor at every appointment.

LGBTQ+ Care
8
8
LGBTQ+ Care

Ratings of 1 indicate an unsatisfactory LGBTQ+ care.

Ratings of 10 indicate an excellent LGBTQ+ care.

Responsiveness
6.5
OK
Responsiveness

Scale is "poor, ok, good, excellent" and measures how responsive a care team was when patients needed to speak to them.

Education

Medical School
Shahid Beheshti U.
Residency
Barnes-Jewish Hosp
Fellowship
U. of California

How Doctor Communicates

nurse available by email
doctor, nurse available by directline
doctor, nurse available by directline
not available by personal cell phone
not available by personal cell phone
Nastaran Foyouzi works in 1 office at

Tree of Life Center
Rated 8.1
Strongly recommend: 54%Don't recommend: 46%8.1

Explore Clinic
Tarzana
18370 Burbank Blvd., suite 511
Tarzana, CA 91356

4 patient reviews

Verified
Verified

This patient has provided documentation of treatment at this clinic.

2020 - 2021, 2 Eggs Frozen
NPS
9
NPS
9
Age 36 - 37
2 Egg Freezing
Diminished Ovarian Reserve
Endometriosis
East Asian
South Asian
Income $200K - $499K
Operations
Only Doc Seen
Strongly Recommends
Strongly Recommends
Successful
Dr. Foyouzi was very caring and because my first egg freezing cycle resulted in zero eggs, she knew my situation was dire...patiently answered my questions through Kindbody's portal, and sometimes called me late in her day to explain...During the 1st egg freezing cycle she asked if I wanted to stop midway since there were few follicles, but I wanted to go through with it in case we could get any viable eggs.
The entire Kindbody support staff was always very kind. Everyone I encountered - the front desk, the phlebotomists, Erica the PA, the sonographers,... I looked forward to my appointments because people were supportive and every appointment was a step forward in my journey. One of the clinic's strengths are that there are multiple locations.
How was your experience with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
Dr. Foyouzi and I knew I had DOR and a very low follicle count. During the 1st egg freezing cycle she asked if I wanted to stop midway since there were few follicles, but I wanted to go through with it in case we could get any viable eggs. In the end I didn't get any viable eggs from the first cycle. Since I purchased 3 egg freezing cycles upfront, I continued on to my 2nd egg freezing cycle, of course knowing the risks. I had so many questions before and during the 2nd cycle about what we could do to increase my chances and Dr. Foyouzi patiently answered my questions through Kindbody's portal, and sometimes called me late in her day to explain. At the end of the 2nd egg freezing cycle I had 3 eggs on the day of retrieval and 2 were viable and frozen down. From that 2nd egg freezing cycle, I actually found out I was pregnant! They tell you not to have sex during these cycles and obviously this is why, haha. Kindbody asked me to come in for an ultrasound that Dr. Foyouzi administered. She was ecstatic about the pregnancy, but I was not as (back then) my partner was not on board and I was not planning to raise a child by myself. I cried to her at the ultrasound appointment since I was actually considering to abort it. Dr. Foyouzi told me that of course it was fully my choice what I wanted to do, but she said that she wanted to have kids, however now at her age she could not have them and regrets it. She saw it as a miracle for me, and it really is since I have stage 4 endometriosis and DOR. She had little hope that the egg freezing we were doing would amount to anything, and it was clear... I only had 2 viable eggs. The chances were really slim. After my talk with Dr. Foyouzi and a nurse (Angela) at Kindbody, I decided to go through with the pregnancy. It was really the compassion that Dr. Foyouzi and Angela showed that made me change my mind. They made me realize that women are stronger than we know, and that we could make it happen if we wanted it.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
Ask a lot of questions! She will do her best to answer them.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
Dr. Foyouzi was very caring and because my first egg freezing cycle resulted in zero eggs, she knew my situation was dire. She and others at Kindbody discussed how to do my 2nd egg freezing cycle based on my DOR.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Kindbody - San Francisco. (Assigned nurse: Angela)
Angela was the nurse assigned to me at Kindbody. On her first week, I had my egg retrieval and she sat and waited with me to be picked up after the retrieval. She was always very attentive and compassionate. After my retrieval, I still didn't get my period within the 2 weeks as expected. I messaged Kindbody and Angela asked me to come in for bloodwork to be done. The same day she called me to deliver the surprising news that I was actually pregnant. I was not planning to have a child at the time, and definitely not by myself so the news was really hard to deal with. I came in to Kindbody for an ultrasound and caught up with Angela. I had a heart-to-heart talk with her and she told me about her story of being a mom and how unexpected things happened in her journey. But, she was able to move on and she told me that I could do it alone if I wanted to. I saw how strong she was and after that visit, I knew I could also be a single mom and handle this pregnancy. Thank you, Angela!!
Describe your experience with Kindbody - San Francisco.
The entire Kindbody support staff was always very kind. Everyone I encountered - the front desk, the phlebotomists, Erica the PA, the sonographers,... I looked forward to my appointments because people were supportive and every appointment was a step forward in my journey. One of the clinic's strengths are that there are multiple locations. I was going to be traveling during one of my egg freezing cycles and they contacted the Kindbody location in NJ to schedule a blood draw there for me. My work trip was cancelled so I never had to go to the Kindbody in NJ, but I was glad they could arrange for that. Also, now that I've moved to Mountain View, CA, there is a Kindbody location in Los Altos that I will go to moving forward since I have one more egg freezing cycle to go. I also like that they are transparent with pricing. This is how it should be! They have it on their website. I don't understand why others don't have it this way. I'm kind of scratching my head to come up with a weakness of Kindbody. They have expanded quickly in the last few years, but they are utilizing economies of scale. I haven't encountered issues yet, and I hope it continues that way! For new patients - if there are ever any questions, most communication is done through the Kindbody portal. They also have an app that is useful for making appointments and for messaging. One downside of Kindbody and the app is that not all of the detailed information about my egg freezing cycles were released immediately. For example, they recorded the # of follicles counted at each ultrasound however I never saw that # in any of my records. I think even to this day the information is difficult to find.
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at Kindbody - San Francisco.
Monitoring appointments were really efficient and always done in the mornings. They squeezed me in when they were able to based on their patient load.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco.
All costs are listed on Kindbody's website.
9
Doctor
Nastaran Foyouzi
NPS
Humanity
4 of 5
Communication
4 of 5
Frequency Seen
2 of 5
Trustworthiness
4 of 5
Compassion
5 of 5
Explained risks
5 of 5
Adaptability
4 of 5
9
Clinic
Kindbody - San Francisco
San Francisco
NPS
Operations
4 of 5
Scheduling
4 of 5
Billing Department
5 of 5
Nursing Staff
5 of 5
Clinic Atmosphere
6 of 5
Educational Resources
7 of 5
LGBTQ+
LGBTQ+
Verified
Verified

This patient has provided documentation of treatment at this clinic.

2021, 11 Eggs Frozen
NPS
7
NPS
7
Age 38
1 Egg Freezing
European
Income $100K - $199K
Only Doc Seen
LGBTQ+
Neutral
Neutral
Successful
I met the doctor [Dr. Nastaran Foyouzi] on the day of retrieval. She was very warm during pre-op. During post-op, she brought up the question of why I was freezing eggs instead of embryos. I felt that wasn't the appropriate time to talk to me about that as obviously we couldn't change course at that point for the cycle. I had talked to the physician's assistant about this previously, so I felt it was a poor choice to bring this up as I was just recovering from the procedure.
The [Kindbody San Francisco] clinic is very clean and aesthetically pleasing. I mainly chose it because it offers a very affordable egg freezing cycle... They made my partner and I feel welcome (we are LGBTQ) and my partner was able to come back with me for all my appointments which was huge for us...Angela was my nurse and she was amazing. She was very maternal and I felt like she was taking good care of me.
How was your experience with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
I believe the doctor is very competent and warm and set our minds at ease before the procedure. As I mentioned previously, my main complaint is that she broached a complicated subject matter that had already been discussed with the physician's assistant with my partner and me during post-op. It didn't feel like a good time and it felt like she was putting a damper on what we had just achieved with the retrieval by saying we should have frozen embryos instead, which wasn't an option for us at that point. I also think that I was started off on too high a dose of gonadotropins given my fertility. I'm coming to the fertility clinic as an LGBTQ person, not as a person with infertility. At the first monitoring appointment, they saw that some eggs were growing quite big, so they lowered my dose of medication, but I think we may have gotten a bigger cohort of eggs if I had been started on a more moderate dose.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
Research the medication protocols to make sure the protocol given seems appropriate for you, given your age, fertility markers, and any diagnoses you have.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
I met the doctor on the day of retrieval. She was very warm during pre-op. During post-op, she brought up the question of why I was freezing eggs instead of embryos. I felt that wasn't the appropriate time to talk to me about that as obviously we couldn't change course at that point for the cycle. I had talked to the physician's assistant about this previously, so I felt it was a poor choice to bring this up as I was just recovering from the procedure.
Describe the protocols Nastaran Foyouzi used in your cycles at Kindbody - San Francisco and their degree of success.
I did an egg freezing cycle and they chose a Luteal start for me. I believe they chose this due to my age (38 y.o.) and trying to get the most eggs possible. It was an agonist protocol, I believe, as I was started on Menopur (75 units) and Gonal-F (175 units). At the first monitoring appointment, they saw that some of the eggs were growing quickly and larger than the rest, so they lowered my dose of Gonal-F slightly (I'm not sure by how much). I never took an antagonist like Cetrotide, although they did have me buy that and I had it on hand. I was only stimulated for 8 days and then triggered the next night. The trigger was Novarel (5,000) and they had me do a Gonal-F booster of 450 units with the trigger. My stimulation period was on the shorter side (only 8 days) because the lead follicles were getting too large and they didn't want them to become too mature for retrieval. I originally had an AFC for the cycle of 21, but only 14 eggs were retrieved because the rest were too small. Of the 14 retrieved, 11 were mature.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Kindbody - San Francisco. (Assigned nurse: Angela Cheung)
Angela was my nurse and she was amazing. She was very maternal and I felt like she was taking good care of me. She was very responsive and called me on the weekend, at night, etc. I could reach her and the team at any time with questions. She gave me really good advice for avoiding OHSS in terms of diet and electrolytes. I was a little concerned afterwards that I was still bloated for many days, but when I contacted them, she told me it would be relieved after my period, which it was. I would have liked to have known that ahead of time, though.
Describe your experience with Kindbody - San Francisco.
The clinic is very clean and aesthetically pleasing. I mainly chose it because it offers a very affordable egg freezing cycle. The coordinator helped me a lot with getting the most affordable medications as well, which I really appreciated. She sent my prescription to several pharmacies so I could get different quotes. They made my partner and I feel welcome (we are LGBTQ) and my partner was able to come back with me for all my appointments which was huge for us. My mom also got to come back with me at one of my monitoring appointments! They were easy to get in contact with and all the pricing was very straightforward. I went back recently for an OBGYN visit recently and they were running about 15 minutes behind. I had to reschedule my appointment. But outside of that experience, they were always on time and fast during the egg freezing cycle.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco.
The egg freezing cycle was about $7,000. The medications, which I qualified for discounts for, were under $2,000.
Describe Nastaran Foyouzi's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Kindbody - San Francisco.
I didn't do any embryo transfer.
7
Doctor
Nastaran Foyouzi
NPS
Humanity
4 of 5
Communication
4 of 5
Frequency Seen
1 of 5
LGBTQ+ Care
4 of 5
Trustworthiness
4 of 5
Compassion
4 of 5
Explained risks
5 of 5
Adaptability
5 of 5
7
Clinic
Kindbody - San Francisco
San Francisco
NPS
Operations
5 of 5
Scheduling
5 of 5
Billing Department
5 of 5
Nursing Staff
5 of 5
LGBTQ+ Care
5 of 5
Clinic Atmosphere
6 of 5
Educational Resources
7 of 5
Verified
Verified

This patient has provided documentation of treatment at this clinic.

2021, Unsuccessful
NPS
10
NPS
1
Age 38
2 IVF
Poor Egg Quality
Income $200K - $499K
2nd of 2 Docs
1 IVF With Other Docs
Strongly Recommends
Doesn't Recommend
Unsuccessful
Dr.Foyouzi was incredibly caring, knowledgeable, warm and communicative...was the only reason we stayed with Kindbody. She explained to us her thinkin and was willing to adjust the protocol as needed...expertise, availability and warmth somewhat made up for all the inaccuracies in billing, clin ops and the portal.
Our overall experience with Kindbody clinic was really bad...The people we had interacted with in person were wonderful but the billing team was horrendous and incredibly difficult to deal with...portal tends to be very inaccurate...You need to always double check and triple check the dosage on portal vs with the team. This was an unnecessary and stressful burden.
How was your experience with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
Dr. Foyouzi and Angela was the only reason we stayed with Kindbody. She explained to us her thinkin and was willing to adjust the protocol as needed. Their expertise, availability and warmth somewhat made up for all the inaccuracies in billing, clin ops and the portal.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
Dr.Foyouzi was incredibly caring, knowledgeable, warm and communicative
Describe your experience with your nurse at Kindbody - San Francisco. (Assigned nurse: Angela Cheung)
Angela was always available and there to answer and clarify questions.
Describe your experience with Kindbody - San Francisco.
Our overall experience with Kindbody clinic was really bad. So just to clarify. The people we had interacted with in person were wonderful but the billing team was horrendous and incredibly difficult to deal with. They were trying to charge me 4500 USD for a PGT-A that we didn't do. They kept emailing me until I had told them to just check with the clinical team to verify that I did not get PGT-A for an embryo. They then adjusted the charge to 1900 because they realized they overcharged me with my office visits. If you chose kindbody, you need to always double check charges and compare it with your insurance company. They also submitted the wrong approval to our insurance company. Also their portal tends to be very inaccurate and doesn't follow the actual instructions and dosage given by the nursing team. You need to always double check and triple check the dosage on portal vs with the team. This was an unnecessary and stressful burden.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco.
Costs are reasonable and affordable
What specific things went wrong at Kindbody - San Francisco?
  • Lost paperwork
  • Failed to inform you of changes in protocol
  • Provided conflicting information
  • Failed to convey critical information
  • Canceled a cycle due to clinic error
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Kindbody - San Francisco.
Here are specific examples of what went wrong if people want to see 1) Discrepancies in Medication Instructions - We experienced several discrepancies in instructions between Portal vs. Medical Instructions. One of these discrepancies led to confusion on instructions for the initial Frozen Embryo transfer that resulted in its cancellation. In person instructions: I was told to take Endometrin on Thursday 12/9 Portal instructions: Take Endometrin on 12/7. Outcome: I messaged kindbody to double check why I was getting two different instructions andthe nurse on call clarified the correct start date was 12/9. Messaged instructions: I was told to take Progesterone in oil 1x per day Portal instructions: Take it 3x per day. Outcome: Angela responded and said to take progesterone in oil 1x per day and then sent a message for someone to correct the portal dashboard message. Messaged instructions: I was cleared to take 200 mg Utogestran Portal instructions: Take 100 mg endometrin. Outcome: I messaged the Kindbody team, who consulted Dr. Foyouzi. They responded with an instruction to take 1 x 200mg Utogestran that morning. After inserting the Utogestran, I then received another call telling me not to take Utogestran any more, but by that point it was too late. Since I had already taken it, I was advised to not take any more and to switch to progesterone in oil every day from the next day. Portal Instructions: 1 x 50mg/day. The full dosage instruction of 50mg (1ML) was only visible when clicking on the notes section of the dashboard or looking at the full messages sent by the nurse in a different section of the portal, but was not listed on the dashboard message to acknowledge instructions. Outcome: As the syringe had a marked scale from 1-3, my husband assumed that a 50mg dose must correspond to 0.5 ML on the scale. This led to me getting half the dosage I needed and therefore a canceled transfer. Second egg retrieval. Dashboard instructions: Take 375 IU of Folistim In person instructions on Friday prior: 300 IU of Folistim Resolution: I messaged through the portal and it was clarified that the correct dose was 300 IU Medical Billing - Incorrect insurance authorizations and charge for a procedure we did not do. After waiting a week for the medical billing team to submit preauthorization for a second cycle, I received a call from WIN fertility (my insurance) saying I was approved for embryo freezing instead of a second IVF cycle. I called Kindbody to inform them of this mistake. They corrected it the next day and after repeated calls to WIN Fertility to fast track the application I was able to get an approval for a second IVF cycle, but was barely able to get drugs delivered in time. I received a message from billing charging us 4500 USD for a PGT in October that was not performed or authorized. I was contacted by three different people asking me to authorize the charge to my credit card. It required 4 emails and 2 left voicemails to those 3 different people before this was finally corrected and the charge removed. The insurance preapproval form to WINFertility should have been submitted Thursday 23 December, but was not submitted until Tues 28 Dec. Outcome: This resulted in a delayed shipping of the time sensitive Prometrium and Ovidrel prescriptions. After multiple lengthy and stressful calls back and forth between WINFertility and Optum Rx, during which they at first refused to transfer the prescription since the drugs were already in transit, the Prometrium prescription was ultimately able to be switched to our local Walgreens. Ovidrel had to be borrowed from Kindbody and replaced when it finally arrived at our home address.
10
Doctor
Nastaran Foyouzi
NPS
Humanity
5 of 5
Communication
5 of 5
Frequency Seen
3 of 5
Compassion
5 of 5
Explained risks
5 of 5
Adaptability
4 of 5
1
Clinic
Kindbody - San Francisco
San Francisco
NPS
Operations
1 of 5
Scheduling
5 of 5
Billing Department
1 of 5
Nursing Staff
4 of 5
Clinic Atmosphere
6 of 5
Educational Resources
5 of 5
Verified
Verified

This patient has provided documentation of treatment at this clinic.

2020, Unsuccessful
NPS
7
NPS
0
Age 30
2 IVF
Diminished Ovarian Reserve
Endometriosis
Poor Egg Quality
European
Income $200K - $499K
1st of 2 Docs
2 IUI With Other Docs
Neutral
Doesn't Recommend
Unsuccessful
She [Dr. Foyouzi] had a great bedside manner and was very invested in our journey...She would call me personally to give us updates on our fertilization/embryo growth progress. She also spoke with colleagues outside the clinic to talk about my endo and to get their opinions on my protocol. Honestly, we probably would have stuck with her if she was at a different clinic...
They [Kindbody San Francisco] have a whatsapp where you can actually just message your nurse which is great. She [nurse] always found me some MDR coupons to use fro medication too, which was so nice...We were starting to get pushed to egg donation after only 2 cycles, which felt a little fast. They never recommended any supplements or helpful ideas, just to cut down my stress and see a therapist to help with anxiety...
How was your experience with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
She was lovely. Really invested in us. She would call me personally to give us updates on our fertilization/embryo growth progress. She also spoke with colleagues outside the clinic to talk about my endo and to get their opinions on my protocol. Honestly, we probably would have stuck with her if she was at a different clinic.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
She's great. But if she's still at Kindbody, pass.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco?
She had a great bedside manner and was very invested in our journey. I talked to her on the phone many times, and I like that she called me personally. We have since switched clinics to have access to a proven lab. We never made any good, tested, day 5 blasts. Our gripes lie primarily with the Kindbody company (so much miscommunication) and practices themselves. We are also concerned that they don't release their lab numbers. We also had a big issue with the embryologist, who thought it was a good idea to message me directly and straight up tell me "something must be wrong with my eggs because your husbands sperm are fine" in a REALLY thoughtless email. The receptionist also let my husbands sperm sit untouched on the front desk for over an hour before our second retreival. We expressed our discomfort with that and were just told "oh it's fine." Super strange and off putting.
Describe the protocols Nastaran Foyouzi used in your cycles at Kindbody - San Francisco and their degree of success.
Menopur + Follistim the first round, added HGH the second time, with a lupron start. She wanted to calm my endo before stimulation.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Kindbody - San Francisco. (Assigned nurse: Rachel Wiley )
Rachel was wonderful. They have a whatsapp where you can actually just message your nurse which is great. She always found me some MDR coupons to use fro medication too, which was so nice.
Describe your experience with Kindbody - San Francisco.
To be blunt, there are no strengths. Kindbody feels like an egg freezing scam, and IVF is an afterthought. They don't release their lab numbers (or they didn't at the time I was there) and I wish we would have known how important the lab is before we spent so much money with no result. On our second round, we weren't given any gradings of our embryos, and I got the WORST message from an embryologist I had never even spoken to before. They left my husband's sperm on the front desk for over an hour before my second retrieval.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Nastaran Foyouzi at Kindbody - San Francisco.
We did the two cycle package. We spent about 35k all said and done after medications and embryo testing.
Describe Nastaran Foyouzi's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Kindbody - San Francisco.
They only do 1 transfer at a time as a practice, which is what we would choose anyway.
What specific things went wrong at Kindbody - San Francisco?
  • Failed to call with results
  • Failed to send your chart to another clinic
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Kindbody - San Francisco.
We never grew any successful day 5 embryos after two rounds. Leaving my husband's sperm out on the counter for so long was really off-putting. There was just a lot of miscommunication. At one point, they sent my trigger instructions that said I should be on antibiotics, but I pointed that out since they hadn't mentioned it and they said "oh good catch, we'll take that out for next time, just ignore it." When we requested they send all of my information and history to CCRM, it took a super long time, and I had to follow up and remind them a bunch. It was just a headache. We were starting to get pushed to egg donation after only 2 cycles, which felt a little fast. They never recommended any supplements or helpful ideas, just to cut down my stress and see a therapist to help with anxiety. We switched clinics to CCRM. I didn't respond super well to my first protocol, so instead of retrieval, we pivoted and did an IUI. It actually worked and I got pregnant with twins. one stopped developing at 9 weeks, and we ended up losing our girl at a little over 20 weeks. I had previa and an abruption, and I bled basically my entire pregnancy. At a certain point, my membranes ruptured and I went into early labor. They have determined none of this was a problem with our daughter, just the placenta. And there was nothing wrong with it, just a really badly placed blood vessel and the fact that she was so low lying. I mention this to say that while I may not have many eggs retrieved per cycle, I can definitely get pregnant. Kindbody said an IUI would be pointless and pushed us to IVF right away.
7
Doctor
Nastaran Foyouzi
NPS
Humanity
5 of 5
Communication
5 of 5
Frequency Seen
3 of 5
Trustworthiness
5 of 5
Compassion
5 of 5
Explained risks
4 of 5
Adaptability
4 of 5
0
Clinic
Kindbody - San Francisco
San Francisco
NPS
Operations
1 of 5
Scheduling
4 of 5
Billing Department
1 of 5
Nursing Staff
3 of 5
Clinic Atmosphere
5 of 5
Educational Resources
5 of 5

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