I am just starting down the road to getting banded. Went to my pcp and she said "Just go to WW" but that isn't stopping me. There are several doctors in Dallas who do the surgery but I have no way of deciding who to choose or how to go about it. I have my list of questions. Anybody have any experiences to share of hints?

Well. First, you have to consider if you have insurance or not and who will take it. If not, then I suppose you'd want to shop around for prices. Above all that, ask about experience, both from the docs themselves or their patient's.

I have met Dr Benevides who does surgery out of SCOR(Surgery Center of Richardson). He's very experienced and his patient's love him, however there are some insurance considerations to contend with.

I wound up using Dr. Veninga, who was initially a bypass surgeon but has switched his primary surgery over to lapband due to the safety/less invasive being more attractive. He's got quite a few under his belt now.

Dr. Cribbins/Hamm have a great practice and their patient's seem to love them too.

There are actually many in the DFW area. go to www.lap-band.com and click on the Surgeon Locator and they'll send you a complete list of all Inamed certified surgeons in the area. Good luck!

Has Anyone Gone To Mexico To A Dr. Rodelfio Sanchez? Its Dr. Maeses Uncle?

I had surgery at Surgery Center of Richardson (SCOR) with Dr. Benavides. He is wonderful and was partnering with Dr. Fred Maese when I started the process. Dr. Maese was actually the personality that made me decide these were the doctors to use.

I had no complaints until we got to the fill situation. Suddenly, Dr. Maese/Benavides patients were being guided to have their fills at SCOR instead of by Dr. Maese.

SCOR would not honor my insurance; Dr. Maese was in network. There is quite a difference in cost to the patient. I chose to have Dr. Maese do my fills, but it wasn't all the money; had he been the one out of network, I still would have gone to him for his personality and caring.

My recommendation is to see Dr. Maese for your pre-op and let him guide you through the process. He is gentle and caring. In fact, if you aren't eating right, he's quick to jump on your case in a caring manner. I thank God every day for steering me in his direction.

Aftercare by a physician has turned out to be my treatment of choice.

If you are in Dallas a good place to start is American Institute of Gastric Banding(AIGB) http://www.aigb.com/ They are located in Richardson in an office right behind Surgery Center of Richardson (SCOR). They answered all of my and my husbands questions. They also have a list of all the doctors in the area that preform banding, and co-ordinate with them for all of the testing. They also know which doctors work with different insurances. I called Dr. Benavides' office and was refered to AIGB. They are a great group of ladies.

I had Dr. Robert Powell. So far I have been very happy. I had my surgery done in Oak Cliff at Renissance (sp) Hospital. The hospital was very clean and newly remodeled. I was a little worried about having surgery in Oak Cliff, but was pleasantly surprised!

Best of luck to ya!