Ara Keshishian Bariatric Surgeon MD, FACS, FASMBS

I have only spoken to Barbara, his RN over the phone, but she is delightful. She has been so helpful in answering questions. I have my evaluation with Dr. K on Tues. Oct 24, so will have a better feel after that. I have emailed many of his patients and only hear wonderful things about him, his staff and the hospital.

My first impression of Dr. Keshishian was he was down to earth and didnt treat me like a number. He was a very friendly guy and his wife and the staff who where present at the seminar where all friendly and a great group of people. I had no dislikes about him at all. He tells you about the surgery in details and the risks in a way everyone can understand. He shown slides of pictures of the surgery and charts . I have not had the surgery yet but im sure his bed side manner is just as great. On a scale of 1 to 10 i would rate him a 15, extra points for down to earth friendly approach. This is only in my opinion but let me say this if i didnt like how he treated me as a person then i would not have chosen him as a surgeon. I will post more as i go along.
New information Dr. K called my house when he recieved some of my medical history and talked to me about coming to Delano and where i would stay the night before. I was very shocked when he called and it shows me he is concerned about my health and well being. I then saw him on the 3rd of Oct. Gave me a physical and was very concerned about a sore on my leg and said it was due to poor circulation and called the clinic i go to and made an appointment for me. He also had called my mother and talked to her about my past history he was concerned about. This has proven to me that i have made a good decision on my surgeon and im very happy with him. So far i have no negative things to say only that my impression of his office staff tends to be sometimes not all together. I had to fax my insurance 2 times because they said they lost the other fax. I was also not told about the fee you need to pay before the surgery till they said it was a go. But other than that im still happy with my decision.

My first impression of Dr"K" was that he was so nice,not only to the patients, but also to the nursing staff at the hospital where I recently became employed. He takes the time to really listen and makes each of the patients and the staff feel like they are the most important person(s) in the facility.My impression of him improves daily as I watched his care and concern for his patients, he is very involved in the continuim of care, not only the surgery. I have even seen him come to the nursing unit and transport his patient to surgery when staffing was low.
His office staff is very helpful and friendly, Barbara, his nurse walks you bravely thru each step.I can't think of a thing I've been unhappy with or disliked about Dr."K".He is very open and honest regarding the side effects and complications of surgery and if you are high risk he will put you thru a barrage of specialists and tests before he will proceed.His bedside manner is great and his surgical competence is outstanding. Overall I would rate him a 15 on a scale of 1 to 10. I trust him completely and would recommend him to the most important people I know, my family.Since my surgery, my admiration for him has grown even more. He was so attentive to me throughout my whole hospital stay and even now two months later. I have never felt so safe with any other doctor and hope that I never have to face any kind of surgery without him.

My husband and I first met Dr. Keshishian at a support group meeting. He explained the procedure that night and answered every question the group had. He was very knowledgable and even had a sense of humor.
Our impression of Dr. K has only improved more over time. His office staff was very helpful, especially Barbara Metcalf. She's also very knowledgable and very efficent.
What did I like least about him and his office?......I'll let you know when I know.
I would recommend my own Mother to Dr. K if she were looking for a surgeron.
As for aftercare, I've spoken to one or the other (mostly both) every day since my surgery. The aftercare program is very structured with a notebook that goes home with you. The notebook answers many questions and keeps you going in the right direction.
The risks of surgery were explained durning the group meeting, durning the 1st office visit and also on paper.
I would rate Dr. K and his staff on a scale of 1-10(10 being the highest) a 10.
I believe surgical competence and bedside manner are both very important in making the patient feel comfortable. I felt both of these from Dr. K