Reviews and forums on IVF in Greece: what can you trust, and how can you verify what you read there?

When looking for reviews on IVF in Greece, you’ll find them everywhere: on online maps, in discussion groups, and on forums in every language. I read them too, and I don’t dismiss them. But you need to know what a review can tell you – and what it cannot.

The short answer: a review is a good indicator of a clinic’s hospitality, organisation and communication. It says nothing reliable about the quality of the laboratory or your chances of success, and some of the reviews published online are not genuine. To make a decision, you need verifiable information: accreditation, precisely defined results, and a written quote.

What forums and reviews do well

• Logistics: where to stay near a clinic, what a day of egg retrieval is like, what documents were requested, how long it took to get a response.
• Personal experiences: reading about other people going through the same waiting period helps you feel less alone, especially when you don’t talk about it with those around you.
• Questions: other people’s questions help you prepare your own for the consultation.

This is information that a patient can truly assess, as she has experienced it first-hand. This is where reviews are valuable.

What they cannot tell you

The quality of the laboratory. No patient ever sees the embryology laboratory, yet it plays a major role in the quality of a clinic. Whether someone achieves a pregnancy or experiences a failure does not reflect on the laboratory: the outcome depends primarily on age, ovarian reserve, the embryos and the uterus.

Your chances. The story of a 34-year-old woman who became pregnant on her first transfer tells you nothing about your chances at 44 using your own eggs. The figures that matter are broken down by age, by transfer and by births, as I explain in how to interpret a success rate.

What other patients think. The people who post are not a representative sample: people are more likely to write after a very positive or very difficult experience.

Your treatment. A protocol, a dose or an additional test should not be decided on a forum. Ask your doctor, taking your medical records with you.

IVF in Greece: why clinics do not publish their success rates

You will search in vain for a success rate on a Greek clinic’s website, and this is no coincidence. The code of practice of the National Authority for Medically Assisted Reproduction, as amended in 2022, prohibits any public disclosure of success rates or the number of cycles carried out by individual units, apart from in scientific publications, and any comparison between clinics. A figure such as ‘80 per cent success rate’, seen on a forum or on an intermediary’s page, therefore does not correspond to any authorised publication, and no one can verify it publicly. It can be verified during a consultation by asking the doctor exactly what that figure measures.

The Greek Code of Medical Ethics takes a similar line. It prohibits doctors from engaging in self-promotion, and similarly penalises the publication, with the doctor’s knowledge, of letters of thanks or accounts of therapeutic ‘successes’ intended to promote them. It also prohibits doctors from giving a share of their fees, or paying a percentage, to people who refer patients to them. An enthusiastic testimonial that refers to a specific contact should therefore be treated with caution.

Fake reviews: what the law says

In the European Union, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive has been strengthened on this point; Member States were required to apply the new rules from 28 May 2022:

• a business providing access to reviews must state whether, and how, it verifies that they come from people who have actually used the service;
• It is prohibited to claim that reviews come from people who have used the service without having taken reasonable and proportionate steps to verify this;
• Posting or arranging for the posting of fake reviews, or distorting reviews, to promote a service is prohibited in all circumstances.

In the United Kingdom, a law passed in 2024 has, since 6 April 2025, prohibited writing or commissioning fake reviews, concealing that a review was obtained in return for payment, or publishing reviews in a misleading manner, for example by removing negative reviews.

These rules exist, but they do not sort through the reviews for you. During a coordinated inspection carried out in 2021 by the authorities of 26 Member States, Iceland and Norway, at least 55 per cent of the 223 major websites examined were likely to be in breach of the directive. This inspection did not specifically target the health sector, but it gives an idea of the scale of the problem.

Warning signs on a forum

• The same two or three clinics recommended in every discussion, particularly by recent accounts or those that talk of nothing else.
• An invitation to continue ‘by private message’, where you are offered a contact, a price or a ‘coordinator’.
• A former patient who refers you to a paid service without saying whether she is being paid. Ask the question; the subject is covered in detail in using an agency or an intermediary.
• Very high success rates without any definition, or a promise of a specific outcome.
• A price without details of what it includes. On this website, for example, I quote 5,000 to 8,000 euros for an egg donation cycle in Greece, based on price lists published in 2026, excluding medication and travel; further details can be found in the cost of IVF in Greece.
• An offer of ‘private’ sperm donation, via an app or a group. On 31 August 2026, the National Authority reiterated that donation outside approved units and banks is prohibited in Greece: no compulsory screening, no legal protection of parentage, and no entry in the national register. The legal process is described in sperm donation in Greece.

How to verify what you have read

1. Accreditation: search for the clinic at the official list of licensed clinics, under its company name; the method is described in how to check if a clinic is accredited.
2. The results: request in writing the number of births per transfer for your age and circumstances, specifying the period and the number of cycles involved.
3. The quote: a written document, itemised line by line, stating what is not included. See preparing for the first consultation.
4. The staff: who will be your doctor, and who will be available to answer your queries once you return home.
5. Financial ties: if someone recommends a clinic to you, ask them whether they receive any payment or benefit from that clinic.

Other selection criteria are summarised in choosing a clinic abroad.

Support free from commercial interests

When it comes to personal experiences, patient organisations are often a better place to turn to than open forums: they do not sell treatments. Fertility Europe, which brings together patient organisations across Europe, has 30 full member organisations in 26 countries or territories, including two in Greece. As always, do check who their partners are.

To be transparent, as this question concerns me personally: I am not paid by any clinic, and I always give you the name of the clinic we are discussing, so that you can check it for yourself. If you have read something about a clinic and would like us to check it together, please write to me.

Frequently asked questions

Source: https://fertilitegrece.com/en/blog/ivf-greece-reviews-forums/ — Triada Baloukoudis, IVF patient coordination in Greece. General information, not medical or legal advice. Printed on

Triada Baloukoudis
Independent IVF patient coordinator in Thessaloniki, with 24 years of experience supporting patients travelling from abroad. More · Contact · Facebook