Needle-free IVF and the quiet revolution in fertility care

 

When people think about IVF, they rarely picture comfort. Needles, bruises, hormone schedules, the emotional toll of “what if this doesn’t work” – it can feel like a lot before the first appointment is even booked.

In a recent episode of The Pregnancy Paradox, we spoke with Dr Rachel Mandelbaum, an obstetrician, gynaecologist, reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at HRC Fertility in Beverly Hills and West LA. She is known for combining cutting edge science with deeply personal care, shaped in part by her own IVF experience.

She also created something game changing...

The world’s first needle-free IVF protocol.

This innovation is not about gimmicks. It is about removing one major barrier that keeps people from even walking through the clinic door.

 

HOW DR RACHEL FOUND HER WAY INTO FERTILITY CARE

Like many in her field, Dr Rachel began as an OBGYN, delivering babies and performing gynaecological surgery. What set her path apart was a deep love of research. She was drawn to the question: How can data and discovery transform real patient care?

Few areas of medicine have moved as quickly as fertility. IVF is still relatively young as a specialty, yet the advances have been enormous, from improving pregnancy outcomes to understanding more about egg quality and implantation.

Once she began working closely with fertility patients, the science and the human side collided. The highs and lows, the uncertainty, the hope. As she puts it, it is a privilege to walk alongside people in one of the most emotionally loaded seasons of their lives.

Today, more than 3 percent of babies in the United States are born through IVF, and that number continues to grow. With that growth comes a responsibility to make the experience kinder, not just more effective.

 

WHERE THE IDEA FOR NEEDLE FREE IVF BEGAN

The innovation that would become needle free IVF started in a very personal way.

As Dr Rachel approached her own IVF cycle, she realised something important.
Even as a specialist in this field, she was dreading the injections.

If she felt this way, how were her patients feeling...

Around the same time, she was working in a diabetes clinic for pregnant women. Many of her patients there were using insulin pumps and could not stop talking about how much easier the devices made their lives.

The lightbulb moment. If we can safely and effectively deliver insulin through a small wearable device, why are we still relying on dozens of injections for IVF medications

IVF and diabetes use similar types of subcutaneous medications. The delivery method was already proven. It simply had never been applied to fertility treatment. So she tried it in her own IVF cycle. It worked beautifully. From there, she launched a clinical trial.

 

HOW NEEDLE FREE IVF WORKS

Instead of injecting medications into the abdomen around 30 times over two weeks, patients wear a small, quarter sized device on the belly throughout the IVF stimulation phase.

You can think of it like a glucose monitor. A subtle, low profile port that sits on the skin.

All the IVF medications are delivered through that port. The drugs are the same. The timing is the same. The biology is the same. The only thing that changes is how the medication enters the body.

In the study Dr Rachel conducted, there were:

+   No differences in hormone levels or treatment outcomes between traditional injections and needle free delivery
+   Very high satisfaction from patients using the device
+   Patients who had experienced both methods overwhelmingly preferring the needle free protocol

Every patient in the study who used the device said they would recommend it to a friend.

WHY THE INJECTIONS MATTER MORE THAN MANY PEOPLE REALISE

From the outside, it can be tempting to say “It’s just a few needles. You do what you have to do.”

Dr Rachel suspected the story was more complicated. So she did something simple.
She placed a survey in the clinic waiting room for a month. Patients were asked to rank their anxieties around different aspects of IVF

Things like:

+   Will this work
+   Cost of treatment
+   Self-administering injections
+   Blood draws
+   Internal ultrasounds
+   Time demands
+   Relationship stress

Two things came out clearly

1.   Top concerns were “Will this work” and “How will we afford it”
2.   Self-administering injections ranked third

Two thirds of patients reported significant anxiety around giving themselves injections. Of that group, around 20 percent said this fear had actually delayed them from seeking treatment.

In fertility, time matters. Ovarian aging does not pause while we gather courage.

For some, that delay might be six months. For others, it might be two years. Either way, anxiety around injections can quietly push people further from the support they need. By replacing 30 needle pokes with a discreet port, needle free IVF removes a real, measurable barrier.

 

DOES REDUCING STRESS REALLY CHANGE OUTCOMES?

The relationship between stress and IVF success is complex. Researchers have tried to measure it in many ways, including tracking cortisol levels, and the results are still debated.

What is not debated. Many people stop treatment because it is simply too taxing.

In countries where IVF is subsidised or largely covered by the government, cost is less of a limiting factor. Even then, studies show that around 40 percent of patients still drop out of treatment before completing all the cycles available to them.

They are not leaving because the financial barrier is insurmountable. They are leaving because the emotional and physical strain feels like too much.

If we can make IVF less painful and less intimidating, people are more likely to stay in care long enough to reach a successful outcome. That is where innovations like needle-free IVF become about more than comfort. They become about persistence, and persistence is often where IVF finally works.

WHO CAN ACCESS NEEDLE FREE IVF RIGHT NOW?

At the moment, Dr Rachel’s clinic in Beverly Hills is the only place in the world where needle-free IVF is routinely offered as part of care.

Since publishing her study, clinics in countries like Egypt, Romania and the Philippines have begun exploring programmes of their own, and she has been supporting some of that early adoption.

The device itself is not the expensive part. The main cost of IVF still lies in the medications and procedures. The port adds a relatively small amount to the overall process.

So why hasn’t it been adopted everywhere yet. Mostly because change is hard. It takes time to:

+   Train staff
+   Create new protocols
+   Educate patients
+   Put systems in place to troubleshoot devices
+   Move a clinic away from “the way we have always done it”

The early response from other fertility specialists has been positive and curious. It is likely only a matter of time before more clinics bring this option to patients.

LIFESTYLE CHOICES THAT SUPPORT FERTILITY

Technology is only one part of the fertility puzzle. When we asked Dr Rachel what she recommends to people who are six to twelve months into trying to conceive and starting to wonder if they need help, she brought the focus back to the everyday environment of the body.

Her guidance is gentle and realistic.

+   Take a high quality prenatal so the body has what it needs nutritionally
+   Move regularly in ways that feel good and sustainable
+   Prioritise sleep where possible
+   Reduce avoidable toxins in cooking, cleaning products and what we put on our skin
+   Choose beauty and body products made with safe, thoughtfully selected ingredients

No single change is a magic switch. Quitting microwaved plastic is not going to instantly reverse long standing infertility. But small, consistent shifts can support egg and sperm quality and create a more favourable environment overall.

It is about moving in the right direction, not chasing perfection.

 

WHEN IVF FEELS LIKE A BIG LEAP

For most people, IVF sounds huge long before the first injection, port or otherwise.

Dr Rachel’s biggest piece of advice: Book an appointment with a fertility specialist.

Not to commit to treatment on the spot, but to get clear, personalised information from a reputable source instead of piecing things together from social media.

This is especially important if you are:

+   In your 30s and hoping for more than one child
+   Unsure how ovarian aging may affect your future options
+   Considering egg or embryo freezing as a way to keep doors open

For some families, it may make sense to freeze embryos for all the children they hope to have while working toward baby number one. That way, if it is harder to conceive a second or third child, there is already a plan in place.

Knowledge here is not about scaring yourself. It is about removing guesswork.

 

WHY THIS CONVERSATION MATTERS TO US AT PURE MAMA?

One of our favourite moments in the conversation came right at the end.

Before discovering PURE MAMA, Dr Rachel had actually considered creating a pregnancy skincare brand herself. She felt there was a real gap in the market for trusted, clean, pregnancy focused body care. As a fertility specialist, she is acutely aware of how much the skin absorbs and how important product safety is during this time.

It means a lot that she now chooses PURE MAMA as a consumer as well as a guest on the podcast.

At every stage, from trying to conceive to postpartum recovery, women deserve care that respects both the science and the lived reality of what they are going through.

Needle-free IVF is one powerful example of that. Thoughtful, pregnancy specific skincare is another. Both are about the same idea

You should not have to sacrifice safety, comfort or dignity in order to do what is right for your body and your family.

Listen to the podcast here.