I am researching surgeons for my lapband since I have decided not to use my first choice. One of the reasons why I liked him was because he had performed sooooo many successful surgeries.

My question to you is, how many successful surgeries is enough experience for you? 1,000? 500? 50? 500 lap bands or 500 bariatric surgeries total?

My thought is that if the person has performed hundreds of gastric bypasses but maybe not as many lapbands, then I still feel comfortable. But maybe I am wrong in that thinking and that the band is soooo different from the bypass that I shouldn't even take that into consideration. I don't know.

How many has YOUR doctor performed???

I went to my seminar so long ago (October) that I can't even remember what he told me was his number for Lapbands. I want to say 400, but I could be SO wrong on that. I asked what the learning curve was and I want to say he said about 100. Again - I could be so wrong on this number, I'm just trying to remember what was told to me 6 months ago. Whatever the number was, his number compared to the learning curve sounded good to me.

And by the way - GBP is a lot different from Lap Band. I would not count it as LB experience.

I agree with Steph, I've heard around 100 is the norm but as I have no choice on my surgeon personally and I can't exactly change him at will if I heard he's done at least 250 I would be happy, I've also heard that you can ask to talk to success stories from your doctor, if they deny well then theres something to worry about.

My doc has something like 1400 surgeries. The practice has had one death (not sure what happened).

I'm not sure what I would consider the magic number of surgeries. I made my decision based on what I'd heard around town, my PCP's opinion, proximity to home and (most importantly?) the professionalism of the office.

What I look for....

* Well-organized office

* Staff can answer most questions very quickly

* Phone calls returned promptly

* Helpfulness with insurance

* Low staff turnover (speaks volumes about the doc -- at least in my world)

I've only met with the surgeon once and won't see him again until the day of surgery. I trust that he is skilled. He seems kind (secondary, but still important to me).

Good luck, SanDiego. I know this is frustrating for you because of your other experience.

I am researching surgeons for my Lap Band since I have decided not to use my first choice. One of the reasons why I liked him was because he had performed sooooo many successful surgeries.

My question to you is, how many successful surgeries is enough experience for you? 1,000? 500? 50? 500 lap bands or 500 bariatric surgeries total?

My thought is that if the person has performed hundreds of gastric bypasses but maybe not as many lapbands, then I still feel comfortable. But maybe I am wrong in that thinking and that the band is soooo different from the bypass that I shouldn't even take that into consideration. I don't know.

How many has YOUR doctor performed???

My dr. and his partner have done over 2,000 lapbands with minimal (like.02%) complications. That number satisfied me.

That being said, I agree that it's also important to get a feel for the office. Also, remember that the more patients, the busier the office.

Good luck to you.

Rainer

I have wondered this myself. I had my surgery in Mexico with a doc who has done thousands. But my husband's insurance will pay for his and he is starting this process to get approved now. The surgeon he has been referrred to has done less than 100. His success rate is good, but with so few, long term stats are not available. He has his first surgeon visit in 3 weeks. If all is a go, his surgery should be in Nov or Dec. I am hoping the doc will have lots more bands "under his belt" by then. Of course, if my husband isn't comfortable with the surgeon after meeting with him, it will be a moot point. We will be searching elsewhere.

I would want my surgeon to have done at least 250 Lap-bands. I would prefer if they did RnY or other bariatric surgeries too, but I wouldn't count it as lap-band experience.

I insisted on having someone who had done at least 1000 LAPBAND Surgeries. I couldn't have cared less about experience with other bariatric surgeries. My theory was - I know how to work on a PC, but give me a MAC and I would be useless. I think the learning curve is exclusively on the surgery they are performing.

jmho

Hi SanDiegoPhotog, to start I commend you for taking such a huge step in not going with your first choice. I hope you find the right surgeon and with all the reasearch that you are doing I'm sure you will. My surgeon, Dr. Bhoyrul from Alvarado Hospital in San Diego has done over 700 Lap-Band surgeries. I had researched him before my surgery. He has written several journals on Laparoscopic surgery and is very knowledgeable in this field. I asked him if he had any deaths or serious complications and told me he hadn't. Sooo... to answer your question on how many surgeries are enough to make a doctor competent, 700 was good enough for me. Had it been 200, 300, 400 may be I would had thought about it twice. Good luck on your journey to Lap-Band land.

Thank you so much for your feedback, everyone! acstllns, I have a consultation with him next week. I liked the amount of surgeries he has performed, the reviews I have read, your recommendation, and the fact that when I go there next week, I actually get to meet with HIM.

He's not at Alvarado anymore, though. At least, not as far as I could tell. He's up in La Jolla, and I'm pleased because I've been to Scripps before and I like the facility.

This has nothing to do with anything, but when I lived in your area, I could see Grossmont Hospital from my front lawn. :rolleyes2:

haha. That's funny. I was born there and so were all 3 of my children! :rolleyes2: [i used to always say that I was born to shop because I was born across the street from a mall].

My ds was born at Mercy.

Anyway, Wasa says your lapband surgeon should have done at least 300 bands in her Researching Mexican Doctors thread.

I was told to try to find a doctor with 1,000 lap band surgeries. I believe my doctor has done around 2,000.