I am trying decide on the lap band and have been in contact with cibo clinic in Toronto.

Has anyone had theres done with them? how was the experience?

Hello all,

I'm having the same dilemma as coleeb.

I decided to have the surgery, but I'm having trouble choosing bet. CIBO and SWLC...only because I am not getting much feed back on the after care @ CIBO, however I love the fact that they offer life time after care. I really wish more CIBO bandsters would give their opinions regarding their experience and specially the after care.

Still trying to make a decision but when I called the other clinic they only offer support for five years I like that CIBO's is lifetime. I am a four hour flight from T.O so all my care will be by phone or email and a doctor in the community to do the fills.

SWLC has lifetime fills...they can choose to end that in 5 years. Dr Conurn works extremely well with Drs all over Canada for those who fly in to have this procedure.

Have you had a phone consult yet with Dr Coburn? If not, I encourage you to set one up. He is amazing and he will help work you through it, even if you end up with the decision not to use SWLC. Nis track record is amazing

Hello Coleeb,

After much research and thought.....I went with SWLC,

I realized that CIBO does offer a life time and that's great, but as a fellow member mentioned, the clinic may one day go out of busines and they can change their policy as they wish.

So then I looked into the surgeons experiences at CIBO...and they really have done about 700 bands or so combined, thogh they are great surgeons as well, but for me I felt safer doing this procedure with a surgeon with much much more experience..

I also loved the fact that my first consult was with the actual surgeon himself, he answered all my questions. After my consult I got home and had tons more, so I emailed him my question list; he did not email me back but called me instead to explain everything in details to ensure I was clear on the questions I asked.

Also I found out that they use the top of the line band (the AP system - third generation band and it comes in 2 sizes) and charges 16,000....but at CIBO they used both second and third generation........and CIBO charges 18,000 for the AP and 16,000 for the second generation. Why would I want to pay 16,000 for second generation when I can get third for the same price with a much more experienced surgeon.

Now, I am not bashing CIBO or anything, I am an individual, when making huge decisions such as this one, I dig and dig, compare compare as much as I can to find answers.... so based on my research and personal opinion, I feel that SWLC was the best place for me.

I wish CIBO had won the argument lol because they are 10mnts away from me....and WSLC is about 45mnts.

As for the after care, I can not comment on either because I am not banded yet, however, based on numerous threads I read on this site as well as others, SWLC seems to take the lead in aftercare, I found 1 neg. comment regarding the after care from there. As for CIBO, not many individuals are coming forward with their after care or over all experience for me to judge....and we all know which other clinic has the worst rep for aftercare....and them I stayed away from lol....

It's realy good to do your research, gather as much info as you can, then call all the clinics you are considering and ask questions based on your research and see how they answer and what their answers are, that worked for me cause I realy did love CIBO because of the life time aftercare.....

wow LYDSS you have under 2 weeks to go! Let us know how you make out.

I will be banded at SWLC on October 19th.

Dr. Coburn and all his staff are awesome!

Lydssss...couldn't have said it better myself!

I have so much respect for Dr Coburn and his dedication to not only his patients, but patients banded by other Drs as well. I wasn't originally banded by Dr Coburn, but I was "fixed" by him.

SWLC is tops in my book and Dr Coburn is ( I believe) the lead surgeon for # of lapband procedures in Canada.

Just curious if anyone has made a down payment to one clinic and then had second thoughts and opted out of the surgery. Is it possible to get down payment back? Feeling like I haven't been given all the information I need for this. Had a previous consult with other company and feel like I would be better off going to them.