Hey all, I don't know if I have ever posted to this site, I must read in here. I was banded Oct. 25, 2003 and I just found out yesterday that my band is eroding and that I have to have it removed. I'm very frustrated, because I went to Mexico and paid out of my pocket for something that I thought would be there to help me the rest of my life, and here it is a year later and I have to have it taken out. A lady that went at the same time as me and had it done the same day by the same doctor also has to have hers removed this Thursday. Coincidence we think NOT. Has anyone else had this problem and if so did you contact Inamed and did you get any information that would be helpful? Please share your story with me. Thanks

Can you tell us who your band surgeon was? Have you had any other complications prior to this? What type of symptoms were you having? What surgeon is removing your band?

Chrissy, I see your surgeon was Dr. Lopez. There are two lapband surgeons by the name of Lopez. Can you clarify which one was yours? What dr. has been taking care of you for the last year, fills, post-ops, etc.? Would you mind deleting your other duplicate thread? It will avoid a lot of confusion and you will get more, efficient responses if Bandsters can post to one thread - regarding the same issue. Thanks so much!

:ermm sorry guys, i don't know where i put the other thread, or how to delete it. My doctor was Dr. Lopez Corvala in Tijuana Mexico, my follow up doctor is in my home state. I don't know if I should mention his name.

Okay I found it and i believe I deleted it. Thanks

Dr. Lopez Corvala is probably 'nuff said.....

Has your local follow-up dr. been taking care of you very long? Did you return to Dr. Corvala for any post-op care, any fills? Or has your local dr. been taking care of you full time since your banding? I am so sorry that you are having such serious problems!

FYI, Dr. Lopez Corvala would be called, informally, Dr. Lopez, not Dr. Corvala; Lopez is his father's last name, Corvala is his mother's. And women's last names get really complicated. We'd better call him Lopez Corvala to distinguish him from all the other Dr. Lopezes out there.

Catfan, I'm sorry to hear of your bad news. There are other people on this board who have also been diagnosed with erosion; you might want to check past posts to find out more. Good luck -- hope you can find a solution.

I'm so sorry to hear of your erosion.I can only imagine how you are feeling. I was a self pay in Mexico also and could not afford to ever get another band, losing my band would be devastatingto me.. I think it is NOT a coincidence your band has eroded. I know of 4 women who have had erosion with Lopez in the last 6 months who had their surgeries over a year ago to a year ago and now hearing this, you and the other woman makes 6. I spoke with my surgeon about this on Monday who is also a Dr. in TJ and was once a partner with Lopez and asked why certain Dr.'s have more cases of erosion then others and he told me very bluntly it is in the technique used in the original surgery when the band is placed. Erosion I was told is less then 1-3% with the studies my Dr. hs done but some Dr.s will have more cases then others because of technique. When was your surgery date? There are 2 other women here on this board who had erosion and Lopez was their surgeon also. I'm sure they can help you answer any questions. Again, Im very sorry to hear of your erosion. I wish you all the best..

This makes me very sad. I'm so sorry to hear of yet another person with this problem. This might have been a coincidence if there weren't so many.

Chrissy

I'm very sad over this also and feel your fustration.

I think it's good to warn the pubic of complications due to a particular doctor.

So sorry you have to have your band removed.

Please keep us informed.

Sorry you have to go through this. It must be painful and frustrating in many ways. Hope things work out all right for youl

Hi Chrissy,

I too am sorry about your situation and of course it causes some alarms for me since I also had Dr. Lopez Corvalla place my band this past May. I just had my first fill and they used flouro. The fill doctor I used also performs the surgery and said my band looked perfectly placed. I would think it might look different if he was using a different technique but it is odd so many have had this problem with Lopez. Definitely suspicious. Have you gotten a second opinion on the matter? Best wishes, Teresa

I too was banded by Dr. Lopez Corvala. I had my own set of complications post surgery related to the positioning of the band and placement of the port which resulted in a port revision in July. At that time I had an ENDOSCOPY done to rule out erosion. I did not have any signs at that time. I will ask for another ENDO in April which will be my year anniversary.

I would be devastated if I had to have my band removed. Please contact INAMED and let them know of your erosion issues and who your doctor was that placed the band initially. It is a well known fact that this surgeon does NOT report his complications at all to anyone.

You are in my prayers and anyone that has had their band placed by Lopez is in my prayers as well. Please do have a yearly Endoscopy just for peace of mind. It is considered maintenance of the band.

I was thinking about statistics and our Lopez dilemma and here is the mathematical approach to numbers of erosions that could occur. Also some hypothetical curiousities. If Dr. Lopez proctored in the United States wouldn't all the surgeons he trained use his technique? Lopez apparently trained a popular Oregon Dr. named Emma Patterson who evidently trained the fellow that I am using for my fills. Also depending on the number of patients Lopez does band every year, I wonder what the number would be if he did have the statistical 1-3% erosion cases? I guess if he did 3 patients a day even just four days a week that is 12 per week times 52 weeks in a year equals 624 I think. !% would be 6 and could go up to 18 erosion cases per year... HMMM. It is weird that they were placed at the same time and diagnosed almost at the same time. Anyway just wanted to toss that out there and give us more to think on. I will definitely try to get a yearly endoscopy. I mentioned that to my new fill doctor about getting those done and he doesn't consider it neccessary at all unless there is an obvious problem. I am sure I can fanangle my primary care physician into ordering one though. I am going in to see my primary next week for a complete physical and blood tests. Figure it hasn't been done in years and was curious to see where I was lacking or if I had anything I needed to worry about. Well, once again very sorry about your situation Chrissy, Teresa

Maybe it was the batch of bands Lopez used that year is the reason for the erosions?? It is strange that all 6 were banded nearly the same time frame. This is why it is so important to report these incidents to Inamed so they can track all of this....Dr. Ortiz trained Lopez so does that make his techniques wrong? I have not heard of any cases of erosion from Ortiz since I have been banded( doesnt mean there arent any) but it is just very odd to have this many with one Dr. in the same time period.. Like I said it could be a bad batch of bands??