Open or Lap...I'm Confused???!!!!!!!!

I am having surgery in about 10 days from one of the top surgeons in N.Y. State. He's been doing surgeries for 30 years! With only 1 fatality! He only does open RNY. All his patients love him. My confusion lies in the fact that I have had a concern raised by some forum members who are curious why I chose to have open when lap is much better! Heal quicker, not as painful... me real scared now... So my question is for all the Open RNY'ers out there, why would you chose a method that is supposedly antiquated?? Are all the Laper's smarter??? I am so confused. I want what is best for me but I also want a surgeon that patients rave about...whats the deal?? P.S. I understand some surgeries must be open if there are other issues or complications to deal with but in general what makes someone choose open over lap? Jennifer

A former patient of Dr. Oh sent me an email and has eased my mind!!!!!!!!! Thankyou Diane!!!!!! This is what she had to say... ************Doing a RNY via laparoscopy takes a bit longer and is actually more dangerous than with a regular incision. It takes longer because it takes longer to visualize everything through the lap equipment. And it's more dangerous because when you go to do the cutting inside, you can't visuallize the back of the stomach through the lap equipment. This way, he can feel the entire area at once. He (DR. OH) has very small hands and an almost 100% survival rate for surgery (the only patient he lost was well over 500 lbs and quite ill already, I believe). So with the increase safety and the shorter surgical time and the relatively small incision, I figured it would be the way to go.*********************** P.S. I am from Northern Canada and will not meet my surgeon until the week of my operation down in the States. It seems he would have told me this when I saw him but I'm glad my confusion and concern has been cleared up now!! O.H forums are great!!! Jennifer

Some Drs are not trained to do lapro. surgery. Could be an issue with insurance companies in that area not paying for lapro. As far as I know, most surgerys are done larpo unless the patient is over a certain weight. In those cases the laproscope isnt long enough to get where it needs to go and they have to do the surgery open. Id talk to your surgeon and see why he does it that way. Im sure he could explain much better