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???????

<!-- / message -->

I guess I'm going against the flow on this one. I would look for a surgeon who has done many more than 13 lapband procedures.

I have seen a couple of medical studies which compare, for example, the first 200 lapbands done by a surgeon with the second 200. The results, mainly erosion and slippage are much better for the second 200. One such study is posted on the FAQs and References forum.

However, besides the doctor having more practice the lapband surgical technique (as practiced by all surgeons) may also have changed during this time. Of course surgeons new to lapband would be using the latest surgical procedures.