Mexico or States

[parrot0927 0]

A friend of mine had hers done in Mexico. She has had complications. She has not been able to find a doctor in VA that will touch her for the fill. Her insurance wouldn't cover the surgery which is why she went to Mexico. Her words to me when I told her I was looking to have it: Don't go to Mexico. I was lucky and my insurance covered it.

[FurEllie 0]

A friend of mine had hers done in Mexico. She has had complications. She has not been able to find a doctor in VA that will touch her for the fill. Her insurance wouldn't cover the surgery which is why she went to Mexico. Her words to me when I told her I was looking to have it: Don't go to Mexico. I was lucky and my insurance covered it.

My insurance would have covered it too but I still went to Mexico under the advice of my personal doctor whom I've known since I was 13. His words "Why have the student do it when you can have the teacher do it?"

There is a FillCentersUSA in VA Beach Fill Centers USA - Weight Loss Surgery - Bariatric Surgery - Gastric Bypass Surgery - Lap Band Surgery Information and Support Obviously you should always find aftercare BEFORE you made the decision to have any kind of medical work done far away from your home. This whole "But they won't treat me because I was banded in Mexico" doesn't make any sense to me. What if a Mexican citizen walked in there who had been banded or had had ANY sort of medical procedure - they'd just send them away? And I suppose if I have surgery in London and have complications later then no one in the US will treat me?

I have yet to find a doctor who won't "treat" a Mexican banded patient though many will TELL you they won't. In fact, if she's having complications and goes to an ER it's against the law for them NOT to treat her.

[Hastings 3]

Expecting a US doctor to care for you after you have surgery in a different country is kind of like tossing a dog a chewed on bone and expecting them to be happy to get it. Give the gravy and trust to someone else and be unhappy when the US doc doesn't like the left overs - especially if the left over is a big mess?

How realistic is this?

The best best is to make arrangements prior to going down to Mexico.

[kamicola 1]

Dr. Kuri is phenominal as well... everyone is partial. Just wanted to through that in... he is in Tijuana at Hospital Angeles

Kammi in Everett, WA

[dshyre 0]

I was banded in Mexico April 7,2008 by Dr. Zapata from Ready4Achange.com. Best experience ever. They were and still are very caring and wonderful. I had a slight problem and called Dr. Zapata on his cell phone on a Saturday and he called me back in less than 5 min. Called my Dr. here in the states on Thurs. and I am still waiting to hear from them. Hope this helps.

[MollieBeth 0]

I would definitely choose Mexico. I went down to Monterrey Mexico to have my surgery with Dr. De la Garza through the litenfree website. I have never seen such a beautiful hospital as OCA hospital. I was treated like a queen there, the nurses and everyone was so friendly. I couldn't have asked for anything better and it was about a 1/4 of a cost of what you can find in the states and you get a doctor that has done about 3 times as many surgeries as doctors in the states. My surgeon was one of the earlier pioneers as well and started about 12 years ago putting some of the first bands on in Mexico. I would love to talk to people interested in going. I am almost to my goal weight but I love going down there for fills/check ups since they are free. Email me if you want someone to talk to, I was very nervous in picking out a place to go as well. But I would over all chose Mexico to have my surgery.

[Lynn_Marie 0]

Four of us went to Monterrey and had surgery with Dr. Arturo Rodriguez....no complications...no problem finding after care in the Kansas City area...YEA DR. MALLEY! But there were several others we could have chosen from in the KC area as well as Topeka, etc...

Insurance wouldn't cover surgery and it was a heck of a lot less in Mexico where they have been doing them MUCH longer than here in the states. I also liked that the doctor we chose had not only done thousands, but is also a member of the AMERICAN BARIATRIC SOCIETY as well.

[Kat225 2]

I had my surgery April 2nd with Dr. Jose Rodriguez in Juarez, MX. I was also treated like a Queen!!! My patient facilitor gave me a complete list of docs that will work with his patients all over the US. I have an appt. May 21st for my first fill.

The truth is Mexico has more experienced docs but you can get good care in both US and MX.

In response to the person who wrote about the chewed bone...all docs get chewed bones. What if I had my band in PA but then moved to Texas. I would obviously have to see a new doc so what's tthe difference??? I'm tired of people putting down MX. I was never treated so well in my life when I went there. The quality of care was excellent!! I'm tired of the US superior attitiude. US docs need to stop being snobs!

[BandaCat 1]

Dr. Kuri's office in Tijuana is awesome! I can call them for anything. In September I had appendicitis and thought it was a band problem. I called Dr. Kuri at 9pm and it rang through to his home. He talked me through it and told me to call him back if the doctors at the hospital needed him for anything. I haven't ever gotten that kind of care from one of my doctors in the states. The whole team is great!

I do have to add that I only live 25 minutes from the border and can drive down to the office at any time. Also, I grew up camping in Mexico so I am not afraid of it. I'm sure that's a factor for some people. The only bummer is the border wait. I have to plan a whole afternoon to go down there because you can never know what the border wait will be.

[HeatherO 7]

I had mine with Dr. Corvala through Belite weight at Hospital Angeles in Tiajuana, Mexico and I am very happy with the entire experience and results. I would not have done anything interesting and I like that he was so much more experienced than local doctors here.

[BellaPerdente 0]

I was self-pay and had my surgery done in Denver with Dr. Kirshenbaum. He was only $9950 for everything (excluding airfare and hotel). He is sooo nice and has a HUGE thread on this site. He think he also takes insurance but I'm not sure. He has done ALOT of lapband surgeries. He does his consult over the phone personally and the nutritionist also does a phone consult.

[stephleon 0]

I also had my surgery done in Mexico by Dr Huacuz. His staff and him were great and I had no problems.

I also work in the health care. I also had to self pay. There can be complications whether you do it in the states or in Mexico. It is a chance you take. All you can do is research, research more and ask lots of questions. I called many different locations. Then when I decided who I was going to go with, I stilled called that surgeons office probably 20 times before going down. I called until I was comfortable with having him as my surgeon and thank god everything went perfect. Then after surgery I called many more times and am very pleased with the support I have received from them. And the cost of the entire thing was bearable. I would have never been able to self pay in the states at that time. Now there are a couple places in the states that lowered their prices. Even with the lowered process, they start out around 6K more than having it done in Mexico.

Just do your research and make sure you are comfortable with your decision

[goldpaw 0]

I live in Puerto Vallarta, Mx. Dr. Joya is the ONLY one to go to here. He has air/hotel/hospital/surgery packages that are WAY lower than the 2100 quoted above. Check out his website...

Why not come to a beautiful spot and relax at a great hotel by the pool for a few days afterwards?

[stephleon 0]

I live in Puerto Vallarta, Mx. Dr. Joya is the ONLY one to go to here. He has air/hotel/hospital/surgery packages that are WAY lower than the 2100 quoted above. Check out his website...

Why not come to a beautiful spot and relax at a great hotel by the pool for a few days afterwards?

What a sales pitch.... How much did u get paid to post that ad? Surgery for under $2100??? r u kidding me? I really wouldn’t go. I didn’t want to pay the $25000 either but $2100? Does he even sterilize the instruments? I have been to Puerto Vallarta and lived in Guadalajara for a year. Puerto Vallarta is expensive and so if someone is doing lap band for $2100 it must be in the bathroom of their home...

[goldpaw 0]

First of all, it wasn't a sales pitch. And if you had read both posts correctly... the $2100 was actually $21,000. USD that the party above had quoted that they paid somewhere in the states. If you have enough knowledge of the internet to pull up a website.... please go to Dr. Joya's website at www.drjoya.com

you will see that he has done well over 6,000 procedures. He uses 2 hospitals here and they are both state of the art. The surgery packages that he is currently offering are about $8,000.usd for lapband .

Why so low... well currently the peso is holding between 13 and 15 to 1 USD. So everything seems to be on sale for us that live here full time.