What is a good/experienced banding surgeon?

Just FYI.. Dr C sees patients from Mexico.  I am driving one down with me next week. Amanda

You are right Amanda, Dr. C. is very special.  He is definitely worth a flight to Ohio to see someone so skilled.  Chances are this particular poster would classify him  as a "mass production" dr. even though he certainly does not do 15 bands a day.  He is very well qualified.....and was among one of my top choices when looking for a surgeon.. Luv ya, Dee

I never get involved with these kinds of stupid arguments but YOU Dee have officially ticked me off with this Mexico Doctor bashing.  YOU did not go to Mexico so YOU do not know what you are talking about.  Why do you keep on and on about it?  What do you really know about Mexico and their power sources?  My gosh.  Get a grip and hush.  Nobody is an expert on everything even if they try to be. Cassandra

Dr. Simpson (Diego) is the one that posted about the lack of auxiliary power....I merely stated what he did.  On the other hand, I've been to Mexico..I live a whole lot closer than you could imagine to that border, and both of my jockeys on my horses are from Mexico, so I'm not coming out of nowhere with this little bit of info.  I really was not bashing anyone...I merely agree with Steve I would never go there.  I also disagree with the woman that seems to think you need 2 days in a hospital for a lapband.  I think you need to read all the posts before you jump down someone's throat.  You also don't need to do 750 lapbands to be an expert.  I also countered her on saying that US doctors do 15 lapbands a day,....Dr. Simpson nicely corrected her.  Apparently you don't realize Diego is Dr. Simpson's dog and the avatar he uses.  He happens to be the foremost lapbanding surgeon in the field in Phoenix. Please read Dr. Simpson's post before you decide how angry you really want to be over nothing... Dee

Dee: 1/3 to 1/2 this board has gone to Mexico for their bands and speak highly of their experience. The hospital I stayed in was far more hi-tech than the one in my home town. My lap band surgeon is one of the most experienced in the western hemisphere.(at over 4500 band surgeries) He is not a "assembly line doctor". He does band surgeries 2 days a week. You feel very loyal to your surgeon, and U.S. docs..that is fine. But why bring all this on yourself? You will be arguing for days with people who love and are loyal to their docs and they have this right. Americans are currently going to Mexico in droves for plastic surgery, dentistry, cancer treatment, and obesity surgery. Those numbers are just going up. I chose Mexico not for the price, but because of the amount of experience my surgeon had. He has done more surgeries than the 4 doctors combined at the bariatric center closest to me and has had far less band slips than them also.

I will try and word this carefully so I don't get reported again for being unkind.  The thing about the discussion that makes me angry is someone who did not have surgery in Mexico and obviously knows nothing about it making comments on the conditions in the hospitals and surgical centers in Mexico.  Nothing Dr. Simpson said was remotely derogatory toward Mexican band surgeons and I did not refer to him at all.   I can't imagine your jockeys have given you very much info on bariatric surgery in Mexico but I could be wrong.   If living in Idaho and if that state has moved closer to Mexico or if you learned all there is to know about lapbands in Mexico on your visits there then I stand corrected. It would be better if we all talked about things we actually know something about.  Nobody can possibly know everything about everything.................................

There's some truth to what you are saying and I realize that you are responding to Nancy.  But I wanted to clarify my post.   The doctor that I was speaking of is very experienced.  He just has, IMO, a whacked approach that consistently causes problems for his patients down the road.  His aftercare approach is horrible and so is his staff.   So maybe it's a crap shoot.  But I'm happy with my experienced surgeon who had a different aftercare program for Lap band patiends than for RNY patients (he does both) that was reasonable and practical for my life.  I felt comfortable approaching him.  Patients are not comfortable with this other doctor. And for the record, one of my 22 neices and nephews is a doctor.  He's young.  I'm biased toward giving young doctors a chance.  Or maybe I'm a hypocrite.  But when I was choosing doctors, there was a younger doctor that I liked but he just hadn't done enough lap bands 2 years ago. He'd done tons of RNYs.   I went with experience.  In the end, it was about me doing my research first, about the band and about surgeon criteria.  It was also about my gut.  And my gut said...go with the right type of experience.

Simone, I haden't even read your post sweetie.  I just did.  I understand your concern for that poor woman....what a way to live.  I think you should go with your gut feeling...it is really important to trust your dr. completely. Luv ya, Dee

If I was getting the band now, I would seriously consider that younger surgeon now.  And I do know that you speak from experience also in that you were a nurse.  I'm sure you have had your fill of doctors with the 'god complex'.  I have a nephew that's a doctor of medicine and another one who's a doctor of pharmacy. They both have been told that I don't care how old they get.  If I EVER find out that they are playing God with their patients, I will slap the snot out of them!  And yes, I'm that type if aunt!

They sound like 2 great doctors that will never get the God complex...and yeh a lot of them have it.  There are truly a lot of young surgeons out there that have had proctors with them teaching them and they are truly more consious of learning the lapbanding procedure.  I think you should always trust your instincts though...if you feel something isn't right it probably isn't.  I can just see you hitting them upside the head...too funny.  I just feel in some cases some doctors are looking at this surgery as mass production and doing it automatically, which isn't always bad, but all anatomies are not all the same either.  I just think honestly I would rather chance the younger one who can still be taught new tricks :) It's very true though that because a dr. has done thousands of RNY's doesn't mean he knows a hill of beans about lapbanding.  Some people think that qualifies as experience and they may be his first or second patient. Luv ya, Dee