Does anyone have good information on how this works? What is included, how do you get from

airport, is it safe?

Who do you do follow up with back in the US?

I had surgery in Mexico and I have nothing but wonderful things to say about it! I was treated better there than I have ever been treated in a US hospital (with the exception of when I had my child). I was catered to constantly, taken very well care of, not scary at all, and even had staff pray with me. There are staff members that do not speak very good English, but there is always someone that speaks excellent English to help out. Its mostly just the staff that helps you bathe or takes blood pressure (but the hospital gives you a chart of things to point to if they are unable to understand or you are unable...example: if they are just there to take out the trash they just point to the paper they are taking out the trash). All of the doctors speak English perfectly. I went to Star Medica in Juarez across from El Paso. It was all facilitated through Belite Weight here in the US and I still speak with my patient facilitator here in US. I even was able to finance it. You do have to get a passport. The hospital has a driver that picks you up at the airport and takes you into Mexico and then takes you back to airport. It was all very safe and my doctors were amazing! I made a friend from Houston while there that I still talk to and another from Dallas that had surgery there the week before that I met on their website. I follow up with my general practice doc here in US. Please feel free to message me with any questions you have. I know Mexico sounds scary...at first I thought it was crazy...but after tons of research I know I made the right decision and have not regrets!! Hope this helps! K

I also went to Mexico & it was a wonderful experience. I was also picked up at airport, taken to hospital, then taken to recovery center, did some shopping & then was taken back to airport. The whole experience was wonderful. Everything was cleaner than the hospitals here & the Doctors, Nurses & staff were AWESOME!!! I highly recommend it to anyone interested in going to Mexico for the surgery. I follow up with my family physician & have had no problems whatsoever.

How much did it cost?

$8K total - $500 down to hold your spot, then $3K when I got to hospital and then financed the rest - $100 twice a month - This includes surgery, stay at hospital, all testing, and trasportation to and from hospital - you have to buy your plane ticket if you need to fly to ElPaso or whatever your boarder city is and $50 for medication.

I am schedule for January 9th in Puerto Vallarta so excited to go. Can't wait! I did most of my communication via emails. They were super fast to answer my questions and made me feel really comfortable so now I am just looking forward to it. Wait times were minimal within one to two months I think. I paid $1000 deposit and $5200 when I get there. It worked out perfect for me time wise anyway, didnt want to wait for years before I could get it done and a perk for me was to be able to spend a couple of days recovering on the beach. Good luck with your decision.

I am going to Dr. Alvarez who has performed around 4,000 vsg procedures and gets rave reviews. He is a little pricey at $8700, but the peace of mind is totally worth it. He has a YouTube channel called endobariatric with tons of testimonials on there. He also speaks very good English and seems like an overall great guy. Good luck with your decision!

What kind of tests do you have to do before they give you a date?

Depends on your health, and I imagine every doctor is different but the usual blood work, EKG

I went to Mexico and am extremely happy with my decision. I had my surgery done I. Tijuana with Dr. Almanza. The staff was very nice and took great care of everyone... better care than I received in US hospitals. They shared stories and many laughs.

The surgery was $4,500. I flew into San Diego and was picked up by the staff and taken across the border- about a 20 minute drive to the clinic. They took blood, did an EKG, and we went in order of BMI. There were 8 others there with me from the US getting the surgery done which was nice. Met friends and it made time fly by, especially when we would go out shopping at night.

The clinic holds a dinner cruise each year for patients to come back and show off their sexy selves

Lastly, my surgery was checked out by a US surgeon and the doc said it looks better than some of his colleagues work. Yay!!

I was just reading reviews online. It's scary to me that they do surgery in a strip mall.

I am going to Amerimed Hospital in Puerto Vallarta. It looks really nice, way nicer than the hospital here in Canada. Haha!

I am going to Dr Ariel Ortiz in TJ and he practices out of an Intl Center of Excellence.

There are lots of options in Mexico and they seem to range from $4k - $9k. I believe most of the surgeons are very reputable and will do a great job - you just have to research them all and go with who you can afford and are comfortable with.

All of them that I researched included everything but the airfare to San Diego and they will pick you up there and escort you across the border (and there is a medical line, so it's quicker than the general public).

Good luck!

My husband and I had surgery in Tijuana at the Obesity Control Clinic. We are both Board Certified Family Practice physicians in the US. We were very pleased with all aspects of our care. We did meticulous research and sent for their C.V's (resumes) to look at the education and training of the physicians involved. We felt their credentials were excellent. We then were very comfortable traveling to Mexico for our care. We flew into San Diego, were met at baggage claim at the airport and then transferred to the clinic via van. The clinic is a full service surgical center. This appealed to us because they only did bariatric surgery and plastic surgery which then prevented exposure to infection from "dirty" cases. This dramatically decreases antibiotic resistant infections. We spent one night inpatient and then were transferred to a wonderful Marriott Hotel. We had the physicians cellphone numbers and were brought back to the clinic daily for reevaluation. The postop recovery was easy and the pain involved very minor. Good luck with your surgery.

ATX Girl, my husband and I were very pleased with our experience at the OCC. Read my above post for more detail. The day after surgery we felt well enough to walk and found a little store up the street i block, cross at the light that had fabulous mango, watermelon, and lemon-lime popsicles. We loved the hotel and met really interesting people that were having the same surgery. Good luck, you will do fine.

Loose change, thanks! That's a good point about less exposure to bacteria.