Add-ons
Add-ons, explained honestly
The honest headline
No IVF add-on currently has strong evidence that it improves the chance of a for most patients. That doesn’t mean they are all useless, and it doesn’t mean your clinic is acting in bad faith. It means the burden of proof has not been met, and you are entitled to know that before you pay. We use the ’s public traffic-light approach as our framing; check their current ratings, as they change.
IVF or ICSI?
This is the one almost everyone meets, so it is worth its own section. means an embryologist injects a single sperm directly into each egg, instead of leaving sperm and egg together in a dish. It was developed for — where something about the sperm is the main obstacle — and for that it was a genuine breakthrough.
Where there is no sperm problem, the evidence generally shows no improvement in live birth rates compared with conventional IVF. It is nonetheless used in a very large share of UK cycles, well beyond the group it was designed for.
None of that means ICSI is wrong for you. It means that if it is suggested, it is entirely reasonable to ask which of your results points to it, and what would happen if you didn’t have it.
This maps what the two options are and which questions the choice turns on. It does not tell you which one is right — nothing here is a recommendation, and there are no outcomes or odds in it.
How the eggs are fertilised in the lab
The question the clinic is weighing up: is something about the sperm the main obstacle to fertilisation? That is a clinical judgement based on your own test results.
Conventional IVF
Eggs and sperm are put together in a dish and fertilisation is left to happen on its own.
What to ask
What in our results points towards this?
A conversation for you and your clinic
An embryologist injects a single sperm directly into each egg.
What to ask
What in our results points towards this, and what would happen if we didn't have it?
A conversation for you and your clinic
Both paths end in the same place on purpose. Which route fits your situation is decided with your clinical team, not from a diagram.
Decisions about your treatment are for you and your clinical team.
Every add-on below, with the general evidence position and a typical UK cost range. Nothing new is claimed here that isn’t explained in full further down the page. Select a row to jump to the honest version.
- ICSIEvidence points away from benefitAround £1,375 on top of the base cycle
- PGT-ANo evidence of benefitRoughly £2,000–£4,000 depending on how many embryos are tested
- Time-lapse imagingToo little evidence to sayAround £500–£850
- Endometrial scratchNo evidence of benefitAround £200–£400
- EmbryoGlueConflicting evidenceAround £150–£350
- Assisted hatchingNo evidence of benefitAround £300–£600
- IMSINo evidence of benefitAround £500–£1,000 on top of ICSI
- Endometrial receptivity testingNo evidence of benefitAround £700–£1,200, plus the cost of the practice cycle
- Immunological treatmentsEvidence points away from benefitRoughly £100 to well over £1,000 depending on which is used
Common add-ons, one by one
Costs are general UK reference ranges, not quotes. Open any entry to read the detail.
If you feel pushed
Extras are often raised when you are already emotionally committed, or after a cycle that didn’t work, which is when it is hardest to say “let me think about it”. You can say it anyway. Ask for the information in writing and give yourselves a few days. A treatment that only makes sense under time pressure was never a good decision.
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