Hello my name is Misti I am planning on Lap Band Surgery. This will be Self Pay so could you please give info on your experience and state, doctor, facility. and cost. I live in Tennessee and looks like Mexico might be my best bet.

Thank you

Misti

I used Dr. Sanchez in Monterrey. The price was $8000, including two nights in the guest house and one night at the very nice hospital he uses. The care was great and I had a very good experience overall. I spoke with the people at Inamed before deciding on Dr. Sanchez and did a lot of research. I e-mailed several people on this board and they were very helpful. I believe Dr. Sanchez includes a year of fills in the price but I go to a doctor in Dallas. Good luck in your search!

Hello

Thank you all so much for my earlier post on lap band in Mexico.

I'm really enjoying this forum, so many caring people how wonderful each

and everyone of you are. Thank you so much for your replies.

Misti

I also am a loving bandster by Dr. Sanchez - he's wonderful and very affectionate. I've never had US dr.'s run up and hug me in the first meeting. I had nooooo worries whatsover - the worst part was the plane trip from my home in Kansas City - KC made me miss my connecting flight in Dallas! Everything else was a breeze - even the language barrier at the hospital stay is not that bad - Dr. Sanchez's team will give you a cheat sheet with common requests for you to relay to the nurse in Spanish. They were all wonderful too. His private guesthouse where you stay before and after surgery is very cozy and nice - the back patio faces the beautiful mountains in Monterrey. my cost was $900 deposit to reserve surgery date - $7000 upon arrival and the cost of your own airfare rountrip. which mine was $500 so total of $8400 and he gives free fills for life - you only have to pay for the flouro which is like $100 but I can get fills here in the US for $100 so I don't go back to MX. Everyone you deal with from start to finish with his team is superb! I filled out an application and Judy called me the very next day - everyone else took up to a week to call me back. His website is www.ready4achange.com if you have any further questions please PM or email! Will be happy to assist.

I had surgery in Mexico but ran into complications. A small percentage of us will, in fact, run into complications. By the time you add up all my additional traveling and surgical expenses, I would have done better to pay $12,500 locally instead of the $8,000 I paid in Mexico.

So, grab the dice and roll 'em. It's all a crap shoot. If you know that going in, you'll be prepared for the best or the worst. My best advise is to prepare for the worst but hope for the best. Good luck with your decision.

I paid cash in Dallas - 15k with fills for a year.

I highly considered Mexico, but after much math and condieration, we decided to spend the money to have it here. When we started running the math, there wasn't as much $$ difference as you would think.

So, most of the places in Mexico that I would consider were about 10k + flight (about $300) and about at least another 50-75$ in misc. expenses for the trip. If my husband would have gone, add another 400$ or so.

Then, when you take into consideration the fills - with mine in TX, they are included for one year.

If I would have had to go back - $250-300/flight at about 4-5x = another 1-1.5k

If I would have had to pay for fills here - they were about $150 at the least with no floroscopy - mine here includes it.

I have had two fills already and I still am feeling little to no restriction ( I know that most people say that Mexican Dr.s are more aggressive with their fills, but I have 2.8ccs in a band that holds 4ccs, that is not at all conservative), so I would have been recking up fill expenses already.

My biggest concern was aftercare if something were to happen. i am only in my 30s and I am going to have this thing for a long time - long after the Dr.s in Mexico, or here are still practicing. I know that because of liablilty issues and malpractice, it is only going to get harder to find Dr.s that will take a serious complication for a patient that is theirs, much less for a surgery performed out of the country.

SO - as i mentioned, I don't doubt the competency of most of the Dr.s in Mexico - this was just my personal line of reasoning when making my decision.

Good luck!!

I am being banded tomorrow by the S.F. Laprscopic Associates Dr. Jossart. I also was self pay and my total was $13,600 including a year of fills. That was not including that I had to pay $375 for my consultation , $186 for blood work, $130 for a psych clearance so the grand total was $14,291 out of pocket expenses. I was too chicken to go to Mexico but if I had read all the posts here from people who had gone there I would of thought differently about it! I also saw that another lady went to sweden to get it done??

I went to Mexico and paid 8995.00 and had an awesome experience.

I financed 2000 of the 8995.00 and just paid it off last month, some MX docs have financing plans available through US companies.

I used obesity goodbye in Tijuana, and have had great results. If I could have afforded it I think I'd rather have it done here, just for the availability of aftercare. I haven't needed any fills or aftercare yet, but when I do, it's back to Tijuana for me.

I had my surgery in Tijuana Mexico by Dr. Ortiz. I paid $9,500 for everything except air fare. Fills cost $100. Overall I'm very satisfied and would do it again. My only caution to you is that depending on your location, your local aftercare options may be limited and costly. With the price of band surgery dropping in the US, Mexico isn't exactly the value it used to be. I go back to Ortiz for fills, partly because I like his care, but mostly because its an excuse to get away to the west coast for the weekend.