Ok I went to see my surgeon for the first visit today. He is Dr. Schmidt in port neches ,Texas. I found him because there is a big new hospital in the area that has an obesity wing all made for lapband and gastric bypass patients. There was an ad on tv to go to his seminar so i went. Well i had my appt today and he was very nice Said I was a perfect candident (spelling) for the band Then i asked him if lap band and gass by pass was all he did He said no, he does all kind of surgerys and he has only done 12 LAP BANDS BEFORE!!!! I dont know if that is good or bad I mean i dont want to go to someone that i will one be 1 of a million lap bands he has but i want to make sure he knows what he is doing I mean the hospital hired him to be the dr for ther obesity center So!!!!!! what do you think???????

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I would feel confident.

I sew, if you made me sew a similar dress 13 times, I'd say I have it down pat.:biggrin1:

My surgeon had only done 40 lapbands before and I had complete confidence in him. I would go for it myself.

Good luck!

ooh that is a tricky call. I have to agree with Paulax about the dress making, however I would want the knowledge that my surgeon had much more experience than that.......eeeek! that is a hard one!

no, I wouldnt do it. All the statistics for errors are usually in the category of unexperienced or little- experienced doctors. I wouldnt want to be a guinea pig on this.. maybe if it was a microderm abrasion or something.. but not the lap band

Medicine is a practice. Whether its thirteen or thirteen hundred - something can go wrong, everything can go right.

Experience can be a good thing, it can also be a bad thing. Consider doing the same thing thousands of times. Are you as focused as you were the first twenty times?

The medical community are made up of dedicated (but eminently fallible) humans.

In my opinion, you take the same risks by having surgery.

If you feel good about him, and he inspires confidence in you, use him.

I would be ok with it, my surgeon hadn't done very many either ( like 30) the good thing is that because this is new they will be extra careful to make sure they are doing it right and there should be a procter there who is watching to make sure things are done right.

Wow Thanks for all the great answers! It sure gives me a lot to think about. Ya'll are great. I love this web site. I have learned so much:)

I have heard many good things about Dr Schmidt. He is very nice......and caring. Good Luck in whatever decision you make. Dr. Spiegel did my band and unbanding.

If it helps any---Dr. Schmidt in Pt Neches did my surgery at the new Med Ctr....he is wonnnnnnnnderful!!! Best bedside manner you could ever dream of, but most importantly a VERY respected surgeon here......I was one of his first ten patients.....and I am super pleased (and down 45 lbs-yeah!)

I personally view this as being as difficult for an experienced doc as a tonsilectomey.......if you know what your doing it isnt that big of a surgery. If you trust him, go for it.

My doctor and his partner assist on each others surgeries plus the both take turns assisting with the new doctor they added to their practice. They've don'e over 500 combined but both been there for all of them.

Maybe you should ask if your doctor will have another (maybe more experience doctor) with him during you surgery. My doctor said it's standard practice for them.

charlee It is so good to here from someboby that has used Dr, schmidt THanks so much for your post. I have read some of your other post and you were having trouble with restriction, IS that solved now??? You say you are happy with the Band so i guess it must be. PS i am also a nurse(lvn) I would be happy to here any advise you have to give me THANK

Hi!

My surgeon had only done 40 bands and I was really scared. But when I posted about it, several people wrote and said that they were their doctor's first, tenth, or fourteenth patient and all was fine. I also talked to another girl who had him do her band and she was doing great and was very happy. If the surgeon is good, and you feel confident in him, I would go for it. However, I agree with other people about asking if he has another doctor assisting. Mine did and the assisting doctor had done over 100, so between them I figured they pretty much knew what they were doing. At thirteen bands I would probably want another doc assisting. One girl posted on here and said her surgeon said that compared to other surgeries, putting on a LAP Band was like clipping a toenail. My surgeon thought that statement was slightly cavalier, but agreed that it was a pretty simple surgery compared to others. The main thing is that you feel confident in the surgeon himself. I agree too with what Dawg said; a more inexperienced surgeon might be paying more attention than someone who has done 1,000's. There is such a thing as being overconfident and then losing focus. Good luck with your decision.

I would check out the doctor's other qualifications. How long has he been doing surgery in general, laproscopic surgery, other WLS, etc. Personally, I would prefer a bit more experience. Asking if another surgeon will be assisting sounds like a good idea too. Good luck!

Generally, surgeons feel it takes 100 surgeries to be proficient. That being said, if he's done a quantity of gastric bypass (laproscopic), I would imagine the actual number of lap bands vs. gastric bypass would be less important. It's really the laproscopic part that's the big deal, in my understanding.

Not trying to talk you out of it and I know nothing about your dr, but if it were me I probably would try to find someone else -- UNLESS I had met with him and a few others and he inspired the most confidence.