I am reading way too much and making myself CRAZY! First I had my surgery all scheduled with Dr Ortiz, then I set up surgery with Dr. Rumbaut because it shaved off 3 hours flying time and I believed he was right up there with Ortiz, but I couldn't get the express passport in time. Now I have read and read and read all these damn postings till my eyeballs are popping out and am thinking - maybe I should go cheaper and get the hospital experience somewhere else in Tijuana- maybe Dr. Ortiz is too arrogant and they do treat you like cattle with dollar signs and no follow up at all and that damn lady witht the 10 page posting makes you think Dr. Ortiz' Mother is the wicked witch, so now I am juggling: Dr. Valencia, Dr Rodriguez, Dr. this. Dr. that..!! All I need is your basic experiences - nice facility, nice hotel, fair treatment, some genuine care, authentic concern, good price? PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR EXPERIENCES - I WILL PICK FROM THESE AND THAT WILL BE IT ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!

Hi noahsmom!

Without a passport you'll need to cross the border by car. I chose Dr Valencia who does surgery in Tijuana and Ensenada. You can fly in to San Diego for either place and they will pick you up at the airport so you don’t need a passport.

The number one reason I chose Dr. Valencia was for his credentials. I couldn't find any other surgeon in Mexico that came close to his credentials. My family doctor wasn't happy when I told him I was considering Mexico, but when I mentioned Dr. Valencia and UCLA, he gave his blessing. Dr. Valencia is very caring, provides great care before AND after surgery! He only does surgery in full hospitals not a clinic. He does the surgery with only 4 incisions. He teaches and proctors all over the world and is well respected not only in Mexico, but also at UCLA where he teaches. I would recommend him to anyone! You should call and ask to speak to him. I spoke to him before I scheduled and he answered all my questions. You couldn't be in better hands. That’s my 2 cents!

why not call dr. daniel huacuz. he did my surgery. no problems. great care and excellent after care. he is in tijuana and has his own private clinic/hospital. it is so nice. brand new and beautiful. he has a great staff and the best anesthesiologist. great nurses. everyone is super friendly and nice. check out his prices too. he is competetive. there are so many doctors to choose from so im sure it is hard to decide. good luck with whom ever you go to. i like to recommend my doctor since he is so kind and caring. let us know how it goes and dont forget to plan for your fills after your surgery.

I personally had an excellent experience with both Dr. Ortiz and his mother as well as the rest of the staff there.

I also went to Dr Huacuz in Tijuana with Group Trips To Mexico in August. I had a great experience. No problems what so ever. I would highly recomend them. Everyone was wonderful and I was able to communicate with everyone fine. Good luck with your decision. You won't go wrong with Group Trips To Mexico or Dr Huacuz.

I felt the same way after reading about all of the doctor options. I chose to go with Dr. Gonzales in Tijuana. I live in San Diego, so I preferred a surgeon in the TJ area, but was looking at some of the other Mexican surgeons. I went down to have the surgery myself. The experience was better than I was expecting. I had it done at the medical center, not the hospital -- it was so much nicer than I thought it would be. The staff was nice, helpful, and so on. The doctors checked on me constantly, even coming back at 10:30-11pm to make sure that I was good to go to bed. They have called every day and have given me a ton of support. If you want more of my experience, please feel free to PM me. I would definitely recommend Dr. Gonzales (and I am a very picky person). :eek:

The docs with the best credentials, affiliations, and set up IMHO are Rumbaut and Aceves.

The docs with the best credentials, affiliations, and set up IMHO are Rumbaut and Aceves.

My wife and I both used Dr. Rumbaut. Good experience, good facility, logistics were all taken care of, and English speaking. I have nothing but good to report and would recommend Dr. Rumbaut, though I am only speaking from my own experience and I'm sure there are other good and qualified docs available. I guess it falls back to you and your choice. I hope you find one you're comfortable with.

I felt the same way after reading about all of the doctor options. I chose to go with Dr. Gonzales in Tijuana. I live in San Diego, so I preferred a surgeon in the TJ area, but was looking at some of the other Mexican surgeons. I went down to have the surgery myself. The experience was better than I was expecting. I had it done at the medical center, not the hospital -- it was so much nicer than I thought it would be. The staff was nice, helpful, and so on. The doctors checked on me constantly, even coming back at 10:30-11pm to make sure that I was good to go to bed. They have called every day and have given me a ton of support. If you want more of my experience, please feel free to PM me. I would definitely recommend Dr. Gonzales (and I am a very picky person). :eek:

My experience was as yours, impressive!

The level of care before surgery and their awesome follow-up after!!!! I have, like you, been called so many times since my surgery, to ask about my recovery and diet and food tolerance by doctor V and doctor G or by Laura just to say Hi! The facilities are great (I had a great view) modern and very clean. Great caring, professional team that I have recommended several times now.

Doesn't Dr. Gonzalez have a 3-4% erosion stat? Global erosion stats are 1.3%. That seems very high to me.

Doesn't Dr. Gonzalez have a 3-4% erosion stat? Global erosion stats are 1.3%. That seems very high to me.

Where do you find stats like this on doctors? I need to do some research, but not sure where to start....

Where do you find stats like this on doctors? I need to do some research, but not sure where to start....

That particular stat comes from Dr. G's office. It is their claim.

Have to give them credit for honesty but the stat still concerns me.

You have to *really* seriously dig for most information. In my case I have a friend who is a trauma surgeon in Mexico and he did a lot of the digging for me when I was going to have surgery. He knows how to look up board actions, credit, he knows how to verify stats for slips, erosion, infections, etc. So I had advantages most don't when I was doing research.

You really do invest quite a bit of time trying to find dirt on Mexican surgeons don't you Bubblebutt? I did extensive research on Dr. Gonzalez before surgery with him and I think your stats, both global and Gonzalez's are wrong. I suppose your surgeon's stats are the best.........right?

You really do invest quite a bit of time trying to find dirt on Mexican surgeons don't you Bubblebutt? I did extensive research on Dr. Gonzalez before surgery with him and I think your stats, both global and Gonzalez's are wrong. I suppose your surgeon's stats are the best.........right?

I did a LOT of digging for dirt on a LOT of surgeons both in Mexico and the US before I chose one for my own surgery. Are you suggesting it is better to not research a doc and hope for the best? Seriously?

If you dispute the stats then I would urge you to verify them. Call Dr. G's office and ask for yourself. Find out what their erosion stats are. It's their claim, not mine. It's not my fault you went to a surgeon without verifying their own claims of their own stats so I'm not sure why you are taking this out on me.

Global stats... again, not my claim. It is Inamed's claim. If you don't like their stats you'll have to take it up with them because I simply can't change them.

Yes, I picked the doc with the best stats and the one that was best for me, something we should all do. Are you suggesting I should have done otherwise?

Speaking of "digging" I've been doing a little digging on your posts. As of this moment you have a total of 28 posts. Are you aware that 25 of 28 of your posts are selling Dr. Gonzalez?

Sounds a lot like a patient coordinator who makes money off of sending people to that doc along with the ID you choose. It just happens to be verrry similar to the name of Dr. G's clinic.

But hey, what do I know? I'm just a silly patient.

I did call Dr. Gonzalez before my surgery, and he clearly stated that his more than 10 year experience in lap band surgery showed a mean erosion rate of less than 3%. If you got anything less from your surgeon I do not think you got the correct information. Global statistics for band erosion has been shown in some studies to reach as much as 9.5% (Obes Surg. 2006 Jul;16(7):829-35.) while others have shown as little as 1%. It all depends who is giving you the stats my dear. Please do a little more research ant try to use a little common sense. Complication rates will be reported within a wide range, depending on a wide variety of factors involved in each study. You have to READ and gather as much information and then establish an average. You are being very simplistic when you state your global stats come from INAMED. They manufacture the lap band so they will obviously report the numbers most favorable to them. Gather more information and be a little more thorough. If you are going to dedicate your time to dirt shoveling it is not fair to the surgeons or to the members of this forum if you burp out comments before substantiating them with a little more bibliography. I would call this action in our lingo a UPB (Un-productive burp).